page_title: Asylum in Germany
section_title: Processing
hierarchical_section_title: Asylum in Germany / Application procedures / Processing
caption_attribution_description: English: Negative decision by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (“Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge”, BAMF, Germany) against an asylum seeker. Personal information removed. Deutsch: Ablehnender Bescheid des Bundesamtes für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF) gegen einen Asylbewerber. Persönliche Daten entfernt.
context_page_description: The right of asylum for victims of political persecution is a basic right stipulated in the Constitution of Germany. In a wider sense, the right of asylum recognises the definition of 'refugee' as established in the 1951 Refugee Convention and is understood to protect asylum seekers from deportation and grant them certain protections under the law. Generally, these protections are a part of the asylum procedure itself and are verified by the Federal Office For Migration and Refugees without any further application.
  In 1993 and 2015, the initially unlimited right of asylum was revised in essential points and also limited. In light of the refugee crisis in the second half of 2015, a transformation of the fundamental right of asylum into an objective guarantee was demanded in order to give the state the legal opportunity to impose an upper limit or quota.
context_section_description: Applications for asylum are processed by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
  According to section 10 of the Asylum Procedure Act (AsylG or AsylVfG,) asylum seekers are required to disclose any change in address to the aforementioned migration agency (BAMF) without delay for the entire course of their asylum in Germany; this also applies to any move that was dictated or enacted by the agency itself.
  The most important aspect in gaining asylum is the official hearing in front of the migration office.
  In the summer of 2015, the average processing time of an application for asylum was 5.4 months, as reported by the migration office BAMF. However, experts claim the number is actually significantly higher, closer to one year. The difference in these figures is said to be due to the fact that BAMF measures the processing time starting at the moment an asylum seeker files with the migration office; this can be many months after they enter the country. Furthermore, the office processes those applications which are easier to decide on more quickly, putting them in front of a pile of about 254,000 unprocessed applications.
caption: Example of a letter received by a refugee informing of a denial to the right of asylum
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