Federal Government Lifts Previous Restriction
Background: After the Taliban seized power in August 2021, Germany initially suspended all deportations to Afghanistan. In August 2024, the first deportation flight took place. At that time, 28 convicted criminals were transported to Kabul.
In its coalition agreement, the current federal government agreed to resume regular deportations to Afghanistan and Syria —“starting with criminals and individuals posing a threat.” According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, an additional 173 men have been deported to Afghanistan since May 2025. All of them had prior criminal records.
In the future, however, a criminal conviction will no longer be a prerequisite for deportation to Afghanistan. The change was announced last week in a decree issued by the Hessian Ministry of the Interior. The decree states that the Federal Police has lifted the previous restrictions on the preparation of deportations.
This means that, in the future, not only convicted criminals and individuals deemed a threat will be deported to Afghanistan, but also Afghan nationals required to leave the country who have no criminal record.
Who is affected by the new measure—and who isn't?
According to the information available so far, the new measure primarily affects male Afghan nationals who are of legal age, single, and subject to an enforceable order to leave the country. A prior criminal conviction will no longer be required.
A person is subject to an enforceable obligation to leave the country, for example, if their asylum application has been definitively rejected, they have no other right of residence, and the deadline for voluntary departure has expired. An enforceable obligation to leave the country may also arise following the loss of a residence permit.
According to the information currently available, women, minors, and families are still not affected by deportations to Afghanistan. People with a valid Residence permit or whose asylum proceedings are ongoing are also generally not affected.
Furthermore, a deportation may not be carried out if a Tolerance permit or a ban on deportation is in effect. A ban on deportation may apply, for example, if a person faces torture, the death penalty, or a concrete threat to life or limb in Afghanistan. A serious illness may also be grounds for refusing deportation. Whether a ban on deportation applies is always assessed on a case-by-case basis and depends on the individual circumstances of the person in question.
According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) , there are currently about 452,000 Afghan nationals living in Germany. About 15,300 of them are required to leave the country. About 11,400 hold a Tolerance permit, and just under 4,000 do not have Tolerance permit.
These federal states want to take advantage of this new opportunity
Several federal states have already announced that they will also deport Afghan nationals without criminal records in the future. However, criminals and individuals posing a threat are to continue to be given priority.
Hesse's Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) stated that his state would take advantage of the new options. According to Poseck, anyone required to leave the country following an asylum proceeding must, as a rule, leave Germany.
Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia also plan to deport not only criminals but also other Afghans subject to deportation to Afghanistan in the future. Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland have likewise announced that they will implement this new policy.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) defends the new policy. According to Dobrindt, anyone who has definitively failed to obtain asylum and is subject to an enforceable order to leave the country must expect to be deported if they do not leave Germany voluntarily.
Conclusion
The German government plans to expand deportations to Afghanistan to include a broader group of people. In the future, not only criminals and individuals posing a threat will be deported, but also Afghan men required to leave the country who have no criminal record.
People with a valid Residence permit or whose asylum proceedings are still pending are not affected. This also applies to people with a Tolerance permit cannot be deported as long as the reason for the Tolerance permit exist. The same applies if there is a ban on deportation, for example, due to the threat of torture, a concrete danger to life or limb, or a serious illness.
Based on the criteria currently known, women, minors, and families are also not the primary focus of the new deportation policy. Whether a deportation may actually be carried out must still be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
