According to Section 24(1) of the Asylum Act, the BAMF:
‘… [S]hall inform the foreigner early on in a language he can reasonably be supposed to understand about the course of the procedure and about his rights and duties, especially concerning deadlines and the consequences of missing a deadline, and about possibilities to return voluntarily.’
The provision was changed with the entry into force of the 2022 Act on the acceleration of asylum court proceedings and asylum procedures on 1 January 2023.[1] The reform introduced the requirement of informing applicants “early on” instead of “after the lodging of the asylum application”, which was the previous wording. Information is to be provided orally in groups (see below, Oral Information). Another change introduced by the reform is the duty to inform not only about the asylum procedure, but also about possibilities to return voluntarily after the rejection of the asylum application.
Written information
Various other sections of the Asylum Act also contain obligations on the authorities to inform asylum seekers on certain aspects of the procedure. Accordingly, asylum seekers receive various information sheets when reporting to the authorities and/or upon arrival at the initial reception centre,[2] including the following:
- An information sheet on the rights and duties during the procedure and on the proceedings in general (‘Belehrung nach § 10 AsylG und allgemeine Verfahrenshinweise’), to be handed out by the authority where an applicant first voices the wish to apply for asylum (the border police, the local immigration authority, the police, the reception centre or the BAMF; see Making and registering the application);[3]
- An instruction on the obligation to comply immediately with a referral to the competent branch office of the BAMF and to appear in person immediately or at a date determined for the formal registration of the asylum application (‘Belehrung nach § 14 Abs. 1 und § 23 Abs. 2 AsylG’);[4]
- An instruction on the obligation to comply immediately with a referral to the initial reception centre (‘Belehrung nach § 20 Abs. 1 AsylG’)[5];
- An instruction on the obligation to comply with a decision to be referred to another reception centre, including the obligation to register with the authorities in case of such a referral (‘Belehrung nach § 22 Abs. 3 AsylG’).[6]
These information sheets are available in German and 44 other languages.[7] In BAMF branch offices in arrival centres, a video available in six languages is shown to applicants explaining the asylum procedure as well as their rights and duties.[8]
In addition, other leaflets and publications by the BAMF are available in several languages, although they are not systematically handed out to all asylum seekers.[9] These include:
- Information on the appointment for the interview in the asylum procedure (Informationsblatt zum Anhörungstermin),[10]
- Information on the asylum application (Informationsblatt zur Asylantragstellung).[11]
- The stages of the German asylum procedure (Ablauf des deutschen Asylverfahrens).[12]
Furthermore, asylum seekers are handed out instructions concerning the Eurodac Regulation (in accordance with Article 18 of the Eurodac Regulation) and on the data collected in the course of the asylum procedure by the BAMF. These instructions are available in 44 languages.
The applicant has to sign an acknowledgment of the receipt of the information leaflets. In some reception centres, further information is handed out or made available through notice boards or posters (e.g. information on the office hours of authorities, NGOs and other institutions), but there is no systematic practice for the distribution of such additional information.
It has been a long-standing criticism from lawyers and NGOs that both the written instructions and the oral briefings provided by the Federal Office are ‘rather abstract and standardised’.[13] Since autumn 2015, the BAMF has developed a number of new, more accessible information products, including information on the website, leaflets, explainer videos and an app for newly arrived refugees.[14] Nevertheless, stakeholders reported that especially for asylum seekers with disabilities, such concerns persist to date.[15]
Oral information
Oral information for asylum applicants now mainly consists of the ‘voluntary independent state-run counselling’ that was introduced with the so-called ‘Orderly-Return-Law’, in force since 21 August 2019 (Section 12a Asylum Act). With the entry into force of the 2022 Act on the acceleration of asylum court proceedings and asylum procedures[16] on 1 January 2023, the state-run counselling was replaced by independent counselling, financed by the Federal Government but carried out by welfare associations or ‘other civil society actors’.[17] This is in line with long-standing demands form welfare associations (see below). Counselling consists of two stages: group sessions with basic information on the asylum procedure as well as on return procedures, followed by the second stage of individual counselling sessions. The BAMF will continue to carry out the first stage of counselling as described below, whereas independent organisations will carry out individual counselling.[18] In an answer of the Federal Government to a request by the Left of July 2024, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees assessed the cooperation and exchange with these independent organisations in the field of asylum procedure counselling as “good and trustworthy”.[19]
The funding process for independent counselling associations began in February 2023, when associations could first express interest in receiving funding.[20] Following this initial registration, the BAMF required associations to submit comprehensive applications for financial support. Since 2023, EUR 25 million has been allocated for this purpose.[21] Welfare organisations criticized that the funds were only disbursed in the summer of 2023, delaying the availability of independent counselling and creating financial gaps for associations that had provided services prior to the official distribution of funding.[22]
NGOs have also criticized the amount of funding, arguing that EUR 25 million is insufficient for nationwide independent counselling. For example, in the AnkER centre in Manching-Ingolstadt, the NGO in charge currently offers two full-time counselling positions for up to 600 asylum applicants, despite the BAMF’s general recommendation of one full-time position per 180 asylum applicants.[23] The budget for personnel suffices only to hire early-career staff, making it difficult to attract experienced employees. Combined with the high number of cases, this situation overburdens the counselling staff.[24] Likewise, in its contribution to the EUAA Asylum Report 2025, the NGO Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen e.V. highlighted significant practical shortcomings in the implementation of independent asylum procedure counselling in Germany.[25]
Despite federal efforts to fund such services, the organisation noted that the EUR 25 million allocated by the BAMF for nationwide counselling remains insufficient to establish a truly comprehensive system accessible to all asylum seekers.[26] On the ground, only a small fraction of individuals arriving at initial reception centres actually gain access to asylum procedure counselling, and even where counselling is available, awareness among asylum seekers is low.[27] The NGO also emphasized the high costs of legal representation in asylum court appeals — typically EUR 1,000 to 2,000 — which effectively limits access to judicial review to those who can afford it. While pursuing a legal challenge without a lawyer is technically possible, Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen e.V. observed that such cases are generally much less successful, highlighting a de facto inequality in access to justice for asylum seekers.[28]
According to information provided by the BAMF in May 2026, the findings of the Federal Court of Auditors indicate that the initial funding for Asylum Procedures Counseling programme was not sufficiently substantial and that demand was not adequately calculated.[29] In 2024 and 2025 over 200 projects nationwide have been founded by the programme and more than 70,000 individual asylum seekers benefitted from counselling. The programme is currently being evaluated and its continuation will depend on the result of this evalution. Against the background of continuedly declining asylum applications in 2025, the BAMF holds that there is no need to increase the budget for the programme. With regard to staffing, the BAMF notes that many counsellors have long-standing experience and that remuneration can reach up to E11 TVöD (Collective Bargaining Agreement for public officials) which it considers at the higher level of case worker salaries.[30]
According to welfare associations, the insecurity as to how much funding will be provided in the upcoming years and under which circumstances the funding will be awarded has led to associations withdrawing their funding applications for the counselling service. For the funding periods 2025 and 2026, the AVB operates as a project-based federal grant scheme under § 12a Asylum Law, administered by the BAMF and governed by the revised Funding Guideline of September 2024. Counselling providers may apply either individually or via umbrella organisations through a centralised application procedure, with projects bundled and coordinated by centralised hubs. Funding is granted as non-repayable subsidy covering up to 90 per cent of eligible costs, with a mandatory own or third-party contribution of at least 10 per cent, subject to limited exceptions. Eligible costs primarily include personnel expenses for asylum procedure counsellors and central administrative staff, capped at detailed maximum amounts aligned with standardized federal salary groups, as well as rent for counselling spaces, language interpretation, legal supervision, training, and limited supervision measures. Additional administrative costs are covered through a flat-rate lump sum. Payments are made through an on-demand procedure rather than upfront disbursement, and beneficiaries must comply with federal budgetary rules, including the betterment prohibition where applicable. The scheme reflects the post-audit restructuring of the AVB, with stricter cost ceilings, standardised salary references, and reinforced oversight, and its continuation and scope remain formally tied to ongoing evaluation and annual budgetary approval.[31]
Another problem arises due to the absence of rules on the access of welfare associations to arrival and AnkER centres. Since there are no federal rules governing the access, it is up to the discretion of the local authorities whether welfare associations have access to the centres. In Munich, the Refugee Council tried to provide independent mobile counselling prior 2023 and has been denied access. The Federal Administrative Court upheld the denial in 2023. The court decided that access must be granted in individual case after registration and only where an asylum applicant has demanded counselling. However, local authorities are not obliged to grant open access to the facilities.[32] This leads to legal uncertainty as to whether systematic access will be provided to welfare associations under the new rules on counselling. Overall, several associations criticise that due to the lack of funding, the uncoordinated funding process and the legal uncertainty as to whether access to accommodations centres is provided, access to individual counselling cannot be guaranteed in Germany.
Prior to the reforms in January 2023, government advice covered the period from the lodging of the asylum application to the explanation of a first instance decision; now the legal counselling can also cover appeal proceedings.[33] According to the BAMF, the staff who offered the counselling underwent a one-week training and was ‘organisationally separated from the asylum area’. For further information on counselling before 2023, see previous versions of this country report.[34]
In addition to the counselling services as regulated by the asylum act, asylum applicants are orally informed about ‘the significance and the proceedings of the interview’ and they are instructed about their rights and obligations at the beginning of the interview.[35] A more detailed overview of which instructions are given at the beginning of the interview are included in the internal guidelines of the BAMF.[36] The internal guidelines indicate that the applicant shall be informed about the procedure, the importance of the interview and their duty to cooperate.
Finally, access to information at the airport is described as particularly difficult, inter alia due to the speed of the procedure. Asylum seekers reportedly undergo the airport procedure without understanding the applicable rules and steps[37] (see also Border procedure (border and transit zones)). The welfare association Caritas hopes that the funding for independent counselling will also enhance the availability of counselling services at the airport but asserts for 2023 that there is not enough available data yet to evaluate whether there have been any improvements.[38]
[1] Official Gazette I no. Nr. 56 (2022) of 28 December 2022, 2817.
[2] BAMF, DA-Asyl (Dienstanweisung Asylverfahren) – Belehrungen (internal directives of the BAMF), version as of 1 January 2023, available in German at: http://bit.ly/3J5jPTA, 151.
[3] DA-AVS (internal directives for the asylum procedure secretariat), 80, version as of March 2014, available in German at: https://bit.ly/3QPQZsl, 80.
[4] Available on the BAMF website at: https://bit.ly/2U0lyyv.
[5] Available on the BAMF website at: http://bit.ly/3XGnpYs.
[6] Available on the BAMF website at: http://bit.ly/3IWpqM0.
[7] As of January, these were Albanian, Amharic, Arabic. Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bambara, Bosnian, Burmese, Chinese, Dari, English, Farsi, French, Fulani, Georgian, Hausa, Hindi, Italian, Croatian, Kurdish-Badinani, Kurdish-Kurmanji, Kurdish-Sorani, Kurdish-Zaza, Lingala, Macedonian, Mongolian, Nepali, Oromo, Pashto, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Sinhalese, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, Tigrinya, Turkish, Twi, Uyghur, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Wolof.
[8] The video is available in German, Albanian, Arabic, English, French and Persian on the BAMF website, https://bit.ly/3tz57Nd.
[9] According to information provided by the BAMF on 9 March 2023, the leaflets ‘can be handed out to the foreigner in case of individual need within the framework of the asylum procedure counselling or the information in group discussions’.
[10] Available on the BAMF website (only in German) at: https://bit.ly/3wa8Osv.
[11] Available on the BAMF website at: https://bit.ly/3bok08E.
[12] Available in English at: https://bit.ly/3drFPWF.
[13] Amnesty International et al., ed. Memorandum zur derzeitigen Situation des deutschen Asylverfahrens (Memoranda on current situation of the German asylum procedure), 2005, available in German at: https://bit.ly/4buofPY, 21.
[14] Janne Grote, The Changing Influx of Asylum Seekers in 2014-2016: Responses in Germany,
Focussed Study by the German National Contact Point for the European Migration Network (EMN), October 2017, study available in English at https://bit.ly/33iJAO8, 39.
[15 See e.g. Handicap International, Grundlegende Informationen zur Lebenssituation geflüchteter Menschen mit Behinderung, available in German at: https://bit.ly/4a7aIft and German Institute for Human Rights, Geflüchtete Menschen mit Behinderungen – Regelungen zur Identifikation, Unterbringung und Versorgung gesetzlich verankern, 16 June 2022, available in German at: https://bit.ly/3UP2JxS.
[16] Official Gazette I no. Nr. 56 (2022) of 28 December 2022, 2817.
[17] SPD, BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN and FDP, Draft Act on the Acceleration of asylum court proceedings and asylum procedures, 20/4327, 8 November 2022, available in German at: at: https://bit.ly/48hQe2k, 22.
[18] SPD, BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN and FDP, Draft Act on the Acceleration of asylum court proceedings and asylum procedures, 20/4327, 8 November 2022, available in German at: https://bit.ly/48hQe2k, 28.
[19] Federal Government, Reply to small request by the Left, 20/12228, 8 July 2024, available in German here.
[20 Asyl.net, Bundesregierung startet Förderprogramm für behördenunabhängige Asylverfahrensberatung, 1 February 2023, https://bit.ly/47XkRdp.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Federal Government, Information from the Federal Government, 20/14479, 23 December 2024, available in German here.
[23] BR.de, Hilfe beim Asylverfahren: Zwei Berater für 600 Flüchtlinge, 1 November 2023, available in German at: https://bit.ly/3u42vJT.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen e.V., Input by civil society organisations to the Asylum Report 2025 (10 Jan. 2025), available here.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Ibid.
[29] Bundesrechnungshof, ‘BMI stellt Wirtschaftlichkeit der Asylverfahrensberatung nicht sicher’, 11 December 2024, available in German here.
[30] Information provided by BAMF on 22 May 2026.
[31] Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF), Förderaufruf zur Durchführung der Asylverfahrensberatung (AVB) und der Rechtsberatung für vulnerable Antragstellende (RB) im Förderzeitraum 2026 (2025), available here.
[32] Federal Administrative Court, Decision 1 C 40.21, 28 March 2023, available in Germant at: https://bit.ly/480lN0o, para. 27f.
[33] Section 12a (2) German Asylum Act.
[34] See AIDA, Country Report Germany – Update on the year 2022, April 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3UChWUr, 99.
[35] Section 24 (1) Asylum Act.
[36] BAMF, DA-Asyl (Dienstanweisung Asylverfahren) – Belehrungen (internal directives of the BAMF), version as of 1 January 2023, available in German at: http://bit.ly/3J5jPTA.
[37] ECRE, Airport procedures in Germany Gaps in quality and compliance with guarantees, April 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/2QgOmAH.
[38] Caritas, Auch im Schnellverfahren am Flughafen die Rechte wahren, 11 December 2023, available in German at: https://bit.ly/49eEcHY.