Number of asylum applications in Germany down by 16% in 2018

The number of asylum applications filed in Germany fell by 16.5 percent to a total of 185,853 applications in the year 2018, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) announced on Wednesday.

Most applications came from asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The declining number of asylum applications in 2018 showed that "after the peak of the refugee situation in autumn 2015, a continuous decline in the number of asylum seekers could be observed", stated German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.

Back in 2016, the German office for migration BAMF registered more than 700,000 applications from asylum seekers in Germany. Many of these asylum seekers came to Germany during the so-called refugee crisis in 2015, but did not submit their applications until the following year.

According to interior minister, net immigration would be "well below the corridor for immigration of 180,000 to 220,000 persons per year as agreed in the coalition agreement". This showed "that the many measures we have introduced are taking effect increasingly and sustainably," Seehofer added.

A total of 34.7 percent of asylum applications in Germany were rejected while 30.2 percent were closed for reasons such as withdrawal of the applications or provisions under the Dublin procedure stating that the responsible member state will be the state through which the asylum seeker first entered the EU.

Despite the declining number of asylum applications, Seehofer called for an "ordering, controlling and limiting refugee policy", as many people would continue to come to Germany asserting "a need for protection".