BERLIN – The length of asylum procedures in Germany fell last year despite the rising number of applications.

The official application took an average of 6.8 months in 2023, compared to 7.6 months the year before, according to information from the government provided in response to a parliamentary question.

The government said the duration of court proceedings for appeals against an asylum decision also fell by about five months in 2023.

However, lasting on average 20.7 months, compared with 26 months in 2022, the whole asylum process is still lengthy and varies greatly across the country.

In the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate it is around five months, while in the central and north-western states of Hesse and Lower Saxony the average duration is more than two years. The longest is in Brandenburg, surrounding Berlin, where applicants generally wait more than three years. 

Speaking to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland editorial network (RND), Clara Bünger, a member of the hard-left Die Linke party who requested the information from the government, called for “better staffing and organization of the administrative courts, in particular to reduce the length of court proceedings.” 

Long asylum procedures are agonizing for refugees because they prevent them from integrating and keep people in uncertainty, Bünger said.

“It is unacceptable that asylum seekers have to wait an average of one and a half years until their status is clear,” she said.