Changes following the Act on the Improvement of Removals 2024:
- The maximum duration of custody pending removal increases from 10 days to 28 days.[1]
The maximum duration of pre-removal detention (Abschiebungshaft) is 6 months, subject to a possibility of extension to a total of 18 months if the person hinders removal.[2]
The maximum time limit for the duration of custody pending departure (Ausreisegewahrsam) is 10 days as of 2023 (see blue box above).[3]
Between 2018 and the first quarter of 2021, the average duration of detention was 22.1 days (see table below for a breakdown by year and Federal State). Statistics made available by Federal States further show that detention for a period of less than six weeks seems to be the rule, while cases of detention lasting longer than 6 months seem to be exceptional with only a handful of cases reported every year overall.[4]
| Average duration in days of pre-removal detention: 2018 – Q 2021 | ||||
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Q1 2021 | |
| Baden-Württemberg | 33.8 | 29.7 | 22.3 | N/A |
| Bavaria | 33.3 | 30.1 | 19.5 | 19.2 |
| Berlin | 59 | 17 | 28 | 20 |
| Brandenburg | – | – | – | – |
| Bremen | 18.5 | 21.4 | 15.8 | 8 |
| Hamburg | 16 | 17 | 12 | 14 |
| Hesse | 22 | 23 | 22 | 16 |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | N/A | N/A | less than 2 weeks | 2-6 weeks |
| Lower Saxony | 20 | 22 | 21 | 19 |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 29 | 26 | 25 | 25 |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 33.8 | 29.5 | 23.1 | 15.8 |
| Saarland | – | – | – | |
| Saxony | 8 | 22 | 16 | 17 |
| Saxony-Anhalt | 24.6 | 23.5 | 13.42 | 9.57 |
| Schleswig-Holstein | 23 | 26 | 22 | 23 |
| Thuringia | 30.7 | 19.1 | 22.2 | 20.3 |
| Overall average | 27.1 | 23.6 | 20.2 | 17.2 |
Source: Federal Government, Reply to parliamentary question by The Left, 19/31669, 4 August 2021, available in German at: https://bit.ly/4awfTGM, 67-68.
[1] Federal Government, Draft Bill of the Act to Improve Removals (Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Verbesserung der Rückführung (Rückführungsverbesserungsgesetz)), available in German at: https://bit.ly/49CaKMs, 11; Section 62b (1) Residence Act.
[2] Section 62(4) Residence Act.
[3] Section 62b(1) Residence Act, as amended by the Law of 20 July 2017.
[4] Federal Government, Reply to parliamentary question by The Left, 19/31669, 4 August 2021, available in German at: https://bit.ly/4awfTGM, 38 et seq.