In 2025, EU member states complied only to a very limited extent with Germany’s request to return asylum seekers for whom Germany deemed it responsible under the Dublin Regulation.
According to the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), Germany sent 35,942 transfer requests to 26 other EU countries. Of those, 23,912 applications were approved, yet only 5,377 asylum seekers were actually transferred. Italy performed the worst, receiving just one transfer despite 6,229 requests.
The situation was even more pronounced in 2024. Germany submitted 74,583 transfer requests and 44,431 EU partners agreed to a transfer, but only 5,827 asylum seekers were relocated.
The Dublin Regulation is a key part of the EU asylum system. It states that, normally, the first EU country where an asylum seeker enters is responsible for processing their case. If the applicant then moves to another EU state, that initial country must largely return them.
In the same period, Germany itself received 16,530 transfer requests for asylum seekers. German authorities approved 10,512 of those requests, but only 4,865 people were actually transferred.