Duration of detention

Germany

Country Report: Duration of detention Last updated: 10/07/24

Author

Teresa Fachinger, Paula Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik and Marlene Stiller

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.

Table of contents

  • Statistics
  • Overview of the legal framework
  • Overview of the main changes since the previous report update
  • Asylum Procedure
  • Reception Conditions
  • Detention of Asylum Seekers
  • Content of International Protection
  • ANNEX I – Transposition of the CEAS in national legislation