NRW chartered 15 aircraft for 130 Dublin deportations
Since 2025, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has chartered an aircraft fifteen times to deport a total of 130 refugees. The Ministry for Refugees in Düsseldorf confirmed this upon request. All fifteen flights were returns under the Dublin system: the individuals were not taken to their countries of origin, but to the EU state where they had first been registered upon their arrival in Europe. The first of these flights took off about a year and a half ago, carrying four Syrian and three Afghan men to Sofia. The state had rented an entire Airbus for this purpose, which, apart from those affected, carried only escort personnel and the crew. The fourteen subsequent flights had not previously been made public.
On average, there were fewer than nine people on board. According to the ministry, this is not due to a lack of demand, but to the destination states: they often allow a maximum of ten people per flight, and the state has no influence over this. What is new, therefore, is not the Dublin procedure itself, but the fact that a federal state is organizing its own charter flights. Transfers that previously failed due to a lack of seats on scheduled flights are now taking place as a result.
Those affected are individuals who were first registered in another EU state—such as Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, or Croatia—and whose asylum applications in Germany are therefore rejected as inadmissible. For those affected, the deadline is the most crucial factor. If the other state agrees to the transfer, a six-month transfer period begins; if this period expires, responsibility shifts to Germany. Anyone considered to be in hiding risks having this period extended to 18 months—therefore, going underground does not help, but rather causes harm.
Anyone who receives a Dublin notice should do three things immediately: note the date of delivery, read the legal instructions at the end of the notice carefully, and contact an advisory center or a lawyer specializing in migration law that same day. A lawsuit can be filed against such a notice, and an urgent application can be submitted at the same time; the deadline for this is very short—usually only one week from the date of delivery. Health reasons, minor children or family members in Germany, and the threat of homelessness in the destination state should be presented early and in writing.