217,673 asylum applications by refugees were received in 2022 in Germany — according to UNHCR. Most of them came from Syria, Afghanistan and from Turkey. A total of 85,489 decisions have been made on initial applications. Around 45% of them were answered positively.
As of 2022, most of those applying for asylum in Germany were from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey. While the number of refugees arriving in Germany may change depending on developments both in their home countries and in Germany.
Syrian nationals are not only the largest refugee group in Germany but also the third largest group of foreigners living in Germany.
Turkey has provided protection to more refugees than any other country in the last ten years. But in terms of refugees as a proportion of the total population, no country comes close to Lebanon.
Germany is not only UNHCR's second-largest donor, but also has become the third largest refugee-hosting country in the world, with 2.2 million refugees, and an important resettlement country. Since the outbreak of the war on the Ukraine, over 900.000 refugees from Ukraine have received temporary protection in Germany.
In Western Europe, it is Portugal that has received the fewest refugees, at 0.61 per cent.
In order to formally make your application for asylum, you will receive an appointment with the Federal Office through the reception centre or the registration office. For this you have to personally appear at the specified branch of the Federal Office. Each adult has to file his/her own application in person.
While in 2011 circa 56,500 Afghan citizens resided in Germany, the number increased to 253,500 in 2016 and to 377,000 in 2022. These numbers only reflect Afghans holding Afghan citzenship. There were 351,000 people (called people with migration background in German) of Afghan decent living in Germany as of 2021.
The German city which has most immigrants is Frankfurt.
It is continental Europe's largest financial center and has a population of approximately 2.5 million in the city and surrounding urban area.
Bonn, Düsseldorf and Cologne are setting a good example: In a joint initiative, the three Rhenish cities have signalled their willingness to receive boat refugees who fled their homelands via the Mediterranean Sea. Other municipalities in Germany are also working to help refugees.
As Figure 6 shows, the three city-states (Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg) receive disproportionally more refugees per square kilometer than the other German states and the nation as a whole. The differences are enormous: Berlin, for instance, hosts 64.5 times more refugees per square kilometer than Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Collective accommodation centres
Once the Obligation to Stay in Initial Reception Centres ends, asylum seekers should, 'as a rule', be accommodated in 'collective accommodation' centres (Gemeinschaftsunterkünfte, GU).
Gallup's updated Migrant Acceptance Index ranks North Macedonia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro – southeast European countries that along with Greece and Italy faced the initial waves of refugees – as the least-accepting countries for migrants.
In 2021, the relative share of national immigrants (immigrants with the citizenship of the EU Member State to which they were migrating) within the total number of immigrants was highest in Romania (76.8 % of all immigrants), Portugal (75.3 %), Slovakia (65.1 %), Bulgaria (56.0 %) and Lithuania (52.9 %).
You can apply for asylum in Switzerland if you are persecuted in your native country (or last country of residence) on account of your race, religion, nationality, political opinions or membership of a particular social group, or if you fear for your liberty.
Germany's 5.5 million Muslims are often exposed to everyday, structural racism, report finds.
As a recognised refugee or an individual entitled to asylum, you will be issued a residence permit which is valid for three years. The residence permit issued for individuals with subsidiary protection or a national ban on deportation is, in principle, valid for one year.
Can I stay in Germany permanently? If you came to Germany as a refugee and have been issued a residence permit for political or humanitarian reasons, upon fulfilment of certain pre-conditions, you can apply for a permanent residence permit (“Niederlassungerlaubnis”) after 3 or 5 years.
Syria. Over 25% of the total global refugee population are part of the global diaspora in the wake of the 10-year Syrian crisis.
By early November, according to the UNHCR, the number of Ukrainian refugees recorded across Europe was around 7.8 million. The countries receiving the largest numbers of refugees were Russia (2.9 million), Poland (1.5 million), Germany (1 million) and the Czech Republic (0.4 million).