THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
German administrative courts are pushing back on political calls for drastically faster asylum decisions, arguing that achieving such targets is both unrealistic and likely to compromise the quality of justice.
Germany is preparing to implement the Common European Asylum System reform (CEAS/GEAS) by mid-2026. Among its requirements is a goal that asylum applications should be decided within six months at first instance. But at the recent meeting of administrative court judges in Lower Saxony, concerns were voiced that the target is unworkable under present circumstances. The region’s seven administrative courts are confronted with more than 34,000 unresolved cases, despite recent hires of additional judges and support staff.
One judge summarised the challenge bluntly: only by letting other categories of administrative litigation take a back-seat could asylum cases ever reach the six-month goal — a trade-off deemed unacceptable because it would delay justice for other applicants. The problem is compounded by the fact that nearly every negative decision by the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF) is contested in court, forcing the judicial system to absorb a growing volume of appeals, even as the number of new asylum applications has declined.
That trend is supported by comparative data: although Germany has established a legal six-month ceiling for processing in first instance, actual durations remain well above this threshold when appeals are included, and structural delays persist due to staff and court capacity constraints. According to the latest overview, average processing times for full asylum procedures in Germany have risen.
In response, the federal government pushed ahead in September 2025 with draft legislation to transpose the CEAS reform into national law. Key elements include expedited border procedures for applicants with “low prospects” and a stronger focus on early screening, identity checks and returns. Yet administrative-court leaders argue that speeding up decision-timelines won’t succeed unless investments are made in courts, legal aid, and procedural infrastructure.
For refugees and migrants, the stakes are significant. Delayed decisions prolong uncertainty, accommodation costs, and limit access to the job market and integration services. For diaspora organisations and networks such as ours – working with Africans in Germany – this means that even reduced application numbers may not translate into faster outcomes, and the institutional burden of accelerated processing could undermine safeguards of fairness and legal protection.
As Germany readies itself for the next wave of asylum-law reforms, the voices from the courts serve as a caution: realising six-month targets demands much more than legal deadlines. Without expanded capacity, streamlined procedures and adequate funding for both institutions and those seeking protection, the ambitious deadlines may fall short—raising questions about equity, access to justice, and the quality of the decisions being made.
Sola Jolaoso
