EU asylum approvals for Syrians plunge in 2025 amid policy shift
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Syrian asylum approval rates across Europe fell sharply in 2025, as several governments tightened assessments and questioned whether protection is still automatically warranted following political changes in Syria, a report by Reuters revealed on Wednesday.
According to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), 27,687 out of 38,407 Syrian asylum decisions issued in 2025 were negative, leaving a 28 percent success rate compared with 90 percent in 2024. The agency said many rejections were based on procedural grounds, including cases where applicants had previously sought asylum in another EU country or withdrew their claims.
The overall first-instance success rate for all nationalities across the EU, plus Norway and Switzerland, fell to 29 percent in 2025 from 42 percent a year earlier, largely driven by the decline in positive decisions for Syrians. In February alone, only 19 percent of Syrian applications were approved.
A Reuters review of decision files and interviews with asylum seekers and lawyers in Britain, France, Germany and Netherlands documented 18 rejected cases involving Syrians from minorities that have historically faced persecution, including Alawite, Druze, Kurdish, Christian and Shia communities. Reuters also identified an Alawite in the Netherlands and a Christian in France who were granted protection.
EU guidance issued in December 2025 states that Alawites, Druze and Kurds may face persecution if returned, but stresses that claims must be assessed individually.
Anti-immigration rhetoric has intensified in Europe since more than one million people, mostly Syrians, arrived in 2015, strengthening right-wing nationalist parties and prompting governments to adopt policies focused on deterrence and returns.
In Germany, minorities received protection at higher rates than Syrians overall, but most applications were still rejected. The success rate was 20 percent for Alawites, 9.1 percent for Druze and 11.8 percent for Kurds. Germany’s interior ministry said the federal asylum office had resumed interviews for Syrian applicants.
Britain’s Home Office said it had resumed processing Syrian applications on a case-by-case basis, while interior ministries in France and the Netherlands did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. A spokesperson for the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) said about 85 percent of Syrian applicants were granted protection in 2025.
European Commissioner Magnus Brunner told Reuters that the situation in Syria remained “highly challenging” and decisions were based on individual assessments, not arbitrary criteria.
Fionnuala Ni Aolain, a commissioner on a United Nations inquiry on Syria, said that while there had been progress in human rights reform under President Ahmad al-Sharaa, tensions between segments of society, recent outbreaks of violence in coastal areas, Suwayda and the northeast, and questions about state control over armed forces should be considered when evaluating asylum claims.