Germany has tightened its immigration policy, including reduced opportunities for family reunification and tightened border controls that prevent people from entering the country.
This has resulted in a sharp decline in the number of asylum seekers. After receiving 329,000 asylum seekers in 2023, only about a third as many sought asylum in the country last year, German media report, citing Bild am Sonntag.
The fact that the civil war in Syria is over, since the overthrow of dictator Bashar al-Assad, has also affected the flow of refugees to the country, which was previously one of the most generous asylum recipients in Europe.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said last November that "there are now absolutely no grounds for asylum in Germany." At the end of last December, a person was deported to Syria for the first time since 2011.
