Asylum seekers in Syria are in a strange place as countries freeze applications

Many European countries, including the UK, have suspended the processing of asylum applications from Syrians, after the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad.

The ruling government in Austria has stopped all asylum applications from Syrians and says it is making plans to return or repatriate people to their country, saying the situation has changed a lot in the country.

Germany (home to a million Syrians), the United Kingdom, France, and Greece have all said they will suspend asylum decisions for now.

The measures could leave thousands of Syrians in limbo, following the fall of the Assad regime after 50 years of brutal rule.

Since 2011, the UN says more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety.

The Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer, who remained strong on immigration, said on the X website that the government “will support all Syrians who have found refuge in Austria and want to return to their country”.

He added that “the security situation in Syria must be re-examined in order to prevent further deportations in the future”.

In a statement, the Austrian Ministry of the Interior said “the political situation in Syria has changed significantly and, above all, rapidly in recent days”.

About 95,000 Syrians live in Austria, most of whom arrived during the migrant crisis in 2015 and 2016. they have mobilized support for the far right and conservatives in Austria.

Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has suspended all pending applications from Syrian asylum seekers.

Officials say the political situation in Syria is so uncertain, that it is impossible to reach an accurate decision about whether the country is safe or not.

Currently 47,270 Syrians in Germany are waiting for a response to their asylum applications. Those who have been granted asylum are not affected.

Germany has the largest Syrian population outside the Middle East, with around one million Syrians living in Germany. About 700,000 are counted as refugees.

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed that the UK has “suspended asylum decisions on cases from Syria while the Home Office reviews and monitors the current situation”.

Cooper said the situation in the country is “moving very quickly after the fall of the Assad regime” and added that some people are already returning to Syria.

Between 2011 and 2021 more than 30,000 Syrians have been granted asylum in the UK.

Most of these were resettled under humanitarian aid programs and came directly from other countries they had fled to, such as Turkey and Lebanon.

In 2019, it was estimated that around 47,000 Syrians were living in the UK, but that number is thought to have dropped to around 30,000.

France is working on a policy similar to that set by Germany, with a decision expected in the next few hours, according to the Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, thousands of Syrians who had been deported to Lebanon and Jordan were returning home. But at the Lebanese border, the flow has been in both directions.

A BBC reporter there said that an increasing number of Syrians were trying to enter Lebanon, which led to the strengthening of the Lebanese army. He says that others fear an increase in chaos or crime in their homes, although they say they have received assurances that this will not happen.

Lebanon hosts more than a million Syrian refugees but has been tightening the rules for them to enter the country.