Germany opens the door for the deportation of migrants who were granted protection in Greece
Germany’s highest administrative court has ruled that asylum seekers previously granted protection in Greece can still be deported to their home countries if German authorities decide they no longer qualify for protection under German law.
The judgment was delivered on February 19 by the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht – BVerwG) in Leipzig. It concerned two Iraqi nationals who had received refugee or subsidiary protection status in Greece before traveling to Germany and submitting new asylum applications there. German authorities rejected their requests and issued deportation warnings.
Lower courts had previously disagreed on whether Germany must respect Greece’s protection decisions. A court in Stuttgart ruled that Greece’s refugee recognition should be binding, while a court in Cologne supported Germany’s right to issue deportation orders. The BVerwG sided with the Cologne ruling, stating that Germany is not automatically bound by another EU country’s asylum decisions.
The court based its reasoning on a 2024 ruling by the European Court of Justice (Europese Hof van Justitie – EuGH), which allows EU states to independently assess asylum claims even if protection was granted elsewhere. However, the German court stressed that authorities must carefully examine Greece’s earlier decision before ordering deportation to the applicant’s country of origin.
Germany has seen large numbers of migrants who were already protected in Greece reapply for asylum. More than 26,000 such applications were recorded in 2024, with thousands more in 2025. Many of these individuals can travel freely within the Schengen area, but filing a new asylum claim conflicts with the EU’s Dublin system, which assigns responsibility to the first country of entry.
Human rights groups criticized the ruling, arguing that conditions for refugees in Greece remain poor, with limited housing and social support. The decision comes as Germany pushes for stricter deportations and prepares for new EU rules under the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation, set to replace the Dublin system in July 2026. The ruling is expected to intensify debate over migration control and responsibility-sharing across the European Union.