Germany's asylum approval rate rises to 47% as new applications nearly halve

New German government data shows asylum approval rates rose to 47.4 percent in the first half of 2026 even as first-time applications fell sharply.

• Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees approved 47.4 percent of asylum applications in the first half of 2026, up from 37.5 percent during all of 2025.
• First-time asylum applications dropped to 39,646 in the first half of 2026, down from 72,818 in the same period of 2025.
• The German government said 89.3 percent of protection requests from Afghan nationals were approved, with Afghanistan the leading country of origin.
• Protection status was granted in 21,195 cases on family-protection grounds, accounting for 45.6 percent of positive decisions, in data released in response to a parliamentary inquiry.