# Nearly as many Syrians left Germany as arrived this year, Destatis says

Net migration of Syrian citizens fell to about 100 from January to September, as the government presses reviews of protection status and critics say Syria is still unsafe.

By 567 Politics staff · 567politics
Published: 2026-11-09T20:15:22.900488Z
Updated: 2026-11-09T20:15:35.751632Z
Canonical: https://567politics.com/news/germany-syrian-net-migration-near-zero-destatis-asylum-applications-protection-reviews-november-2026

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Almost as many Syrians left Germany as arrived in the first nine months of 2026, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Monday. Registration offices recorded just under 23,800 arrivals of Syrian citizens from January to September and just under 23,700 departures. That left net migration of about 100 people, down from about 18,100 in the same months of 2025 and about 58,500 in 2024, before the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government in December 2024.

The figures arrive as the federal government presses ahead with reviews of Syrians' protection status and plans for returns. The Interior Ministry's spokesperson told reporters on Monday that he did not know the new statistic. Refugee groups and the Left party say Syria is still unsafe and that pressure on settled Syrians should stop.

## What Destatis reported

The [Destatis press release](https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2026/11/PD25_N077_12.html) (No. N077, November 9) is based on provisional migration statistics. It said arrivals of Syrian citizens fell 40.6% compared with January to September 2025, when there were just under 40,100. In the same period of 2024, there were just over 74,600.

Departures moved the other way. They rose 7.6% to just under 23,700, from just over 22,000 in the first three quarters of 2025 and just over 16,100 in 2024.

For the whole of 2025, the first full year after the change of power in Damascus, Destatis counted just over 49,400 arrivals and just under 29,100 departures, for net migration of just over 20,300. Arrivals fell by about half (−50.6%) from 2024, while departures rose by about a third (34.8%).

The office added a caution. The migration figures count people with Syrian citizenship. They say nothing about the residence status of those who come or go, and they include cases where the origin or destination country is unknown. The September figures come from accelerated processing.

```chart
type: column
title: Syrian citizens moving to and from Germany, January to September
note: Provisional registration data; counts people with Syrian citizenship regardless of residence status
source: [Destatis press release N077, November 9, 2026](https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2026/11/PD25_N077_12.html)
---
Period | Arrivals | Departures
Jan-Sep 2024 | 74600 | 16100
Jan-Sep 2025 | 40100 | 22000
Jan-Sep 2026 | 23800 | 23700
```

## Asylum applications down by two-thirds

Destatis also cited figures from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). Syrians filed just over 6,700 first-time asylum applications from January to September 2026. That was 65.1% fewer than the 19,200 a year earlier and far below the 58,400 in the same months of 2024.

Syrians were still the second-largest group among the 52,000 people who applied for asylum in Germany for the first time in that period, with 12.9% of applications. Afghans were the largest group, at 24.6%.

Across the European Union, Eurostat data run to July. In the first seven months of 2026, Syrians filed just under 10,800 first-time asylum applications in the EU, 59.6% fewer than a year earlier. Syria fell to sixth place among origin countries, behind Venezuela, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and Egypt. About half of the Syrian applications in the EU (50.3%, or just over 5,400) were filed in Germany.

Destatis also quoted UN refugee agency figures. About 1.3 million refugees returned to Syria in 2025, most of them from Turkey (556,000) and Lebanon (465,600). About 5 million Syrian refugees still lived abroad at the end of 2025.

## Who is already in Germany

The release gave a profile of Syrians who already live in the country. At the end of 2025, the Central Register of Foreigners listed just under 668,700 Syrian "protection seekers," a legal category for foreigners who stay in Germany on international law, humanitarian or political grounds. That was 20.7% of the 3.2 million protection seekers in the country, second only to Ukrainians (36.0%).

Of the Syrian protection seekers, 42.9% had first arrived in 2016 or earlier. A large majority (593,800, or 88.8%) held recognized protection. That included 207,500 with refugee status under the Geneva Convention and 292,400 with subsidiary protection, a status for people who face serious harm at home but do not qualify as refugees. For just under 67,000 people, the status was still open. Just over 7,900 had been refused. Destatis said 91.6% of the recognized protection grants were time-limited.

The wider Syrian community is larger. According to the 2025 microcensus, about 1.28 million people in Germany either immigrated from Syria themselves (81%) or were born in Germany to two Syrian immigrant parents (19%). Thirty percent held German citizenship. In 2025 alone, 65,800 Syrians were naturalized, the largest single group at 19.7% of all naturalizations.

The group is young, with an average age of 26.8 years, against 47.6 for people without an immigration history. Among about 898,000 people of working age (15 to 64), 46% were employed. That rate rose with time in the country, from 35% for those who had been in Germany less than five years to 55% for those with 10 to 15 years. Destatis said 59% of working-age people with a Syrian immigration history had no vocational qualification, compared with 8% of people without an immigration history.

## The government's line on Monday

At the regular federal government press conference on Monday, a reporter asked how the government assessed the new Destatis figures. Interior Ministry spokesman Bowinkelmann said, according to the [FragDenStaat transcript](https://fragdenstaat.de/pressekonferenzen/regierungspressekonferenz-vom-09-11-2026/): "I must admit that I do not know this statistic." He added that he did not know how the ministry could or should assess a migration statistic. He agreed to provide a later answer to a follow-up question on whether the figures change the government's approach to deportations and voluntary return programs.

Asked about overall asylum numbers, he said the ministry sees the decline "as a lasting trend." He said asylum figures were at their lowest level since 2011 and that from January to October the numbers were about 70% lower than in 2024. "We have turned the migration wave into a migration turnaround," he said, adding that Germany and partner states hoped to reach an agreement on "return hubs" in third countries before the end of the year.

Asked whether a tougher policy might deter people with real grounds for asylum, he said the government's migration policy rests on "the basic principles of humanity and order." He said the individual right to seek protection from persecution "still applies."

## Reviews of protection status

Interior Minister [Alexander Dobrindt](/politicians/alexander-dobrindt) of the CSU has made Syrian returns a priority. In November 2025, Chancellor [Friedrich Merz](/politicians/friedrich-merz) said: "The civil war in Syria is over. There are now no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany, and so we can also begin with returns," as [n-tv quoted him](https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Syrien-Dobrindt-will-Schutzstatus-von-670-000-Syrern-aufheben-id31408536.html). The Munich-based Merkur reported that Merz named the return of up to 80% of Syrian refugees as a benchmark in April 2026.

According to n-tv's October 12 report, Dobrindt planned to present a bill this autumn to make it easier to lift Syrians' protection status. The broadcaster said the plans could affect almost 670,000 people, roughly the number Destatis counts as Syrian protection seekers. Each case would still need an individual review, and those affected could appeal in administrative courts. n-tv also reported that only five people had actually been deported to Syria from 2025 through the end of July 2026, citing the Interior Ministry. 567politics has not confirmed whether the bill has been sent to the Bundestag.

The pace of revocations has already risen. The government told Left party MP Clara Bünger that 23.2% of 8,320 reviews in the first half of 2026 ended with protection being revoked or withdrawn, [the Frankfurter Rundschau reported](https://www.fr.de/politik/jede-vierte-ueberpruefung-deutschland-entzieht-syrern-den-schutzstatus-94445718.html) in August. In 2024 and 2025, under 4% of reviews ended that way. A revocation does not automatically mean deportation: it can be challenged in court, and people with a settled residence permit may not need protection status at all.

In October, [Merkur reported](https://www.merkur.de/politik/bamf-entzieht-syrern-schutzstatus-viele-klagen-erwartet-94538879.html), citing Bild, that BAMF had started sending 16-page decisions to some Syrians. The letters argue that the end of fighting removed the basis for their status and that a return is reasonable despite shortages of food, housing and energy. Merkur said the letters went mainly to people who had come to police attention or had traveled to Syria and back. Alexander Throm, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group's spokesman on domestic policy, said reviews should focus on single young men without jobs who receive welfare, while "very well integrated Syrians" should get a right to stay.

In a separate labor migration decision, the cabinet recently voted to halve the work quota for the Western Balkans, as [567politics reported](/news/germany-cabinet-halves-western-balkans-work-quota-25000-bundesrat-november-2026).

## Critics: Syria is not yet safe

The refugee rights group Pro Asyl has argued against the policy in its own statements. In a [September 22 press release](https://www.proasyl.de/pressemitteilung/pro-asyl-zur-debatte-ueber-abschiebungen-nach-syrien-und-den-widerruf-des-schutzstatus-syrien-ist-instabil-und-gefaehrlich/), it called Dobrindt's plan to have more Syrians stripped of protection, with a focus on "young men traveling alone," "alarming." It said decisions on protection depend on the situation and individual risk in the country of origin, not on "political targets." It cited UN figures that about 15.6 million people in Syria need humanitarian aid in 2026 and that more than 5 million are displaced inside the country.

Pro Asyl's managing director Karl Kopp told the Frankfurter Rundschau that the reviews were about "pressure" and "unsettling" people. He called mass revocation procedures "politically disastrous." Bünger, deputy leader of the [Left party's](/parties/germany/left) parliamentary group, said forced return was unreasonable. She called on the government to support "lasting protection and options to stay" for Syrians who have lived in Germany for a long time.

The [Greens](/parties/germany/greens) have also criticized the government. Their migration spokesperson Filiz Polat said in October that Dobrindt was causing "great uncertainty in the Syrian community," n-tv reported. 567politics did not find a statement from the AfD or the governing SPD on Monday's Destatis figures by publication time.

## What to watch

The Interior Ministry has promised a follow-up answer on whether the figures change its return strategy. The planned law on protection status, the court cases against revocations and any EU deal on "return hubs" are the next markers. Readers can find background on the [CDU](/parties/germany/cdu) and on how 567politics handles official statistics in our [editorial standards](/editorial-standards).