New official figures expose the scale of Germany’s migration crisis: 934,553 foreign nationals with rejected asylum applications were living in the country as of October 31st, 2025. The numbers, released by the federal government in response to an Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) inquiry, show a renewed rise despite political promises to tighten control. In the summer of 2023, the figure stood at 896,065.
The largest groups among the rejected applicants are Afghans (153,550), Turks (93,762) and Kosovars (68,261). Yet despite their asylum rejections, the vast majority remain in Germany—often for many years. By the end of 2024, 72,500 people who were supposed to be deported had already lived in the country for at least six years.
Legal scholar Daniel Thym from the University of Konstanz stated that “there have been many problems with the obligation to leave the country for years. Only a minority comply with the legal obligation to leave, are deported, or leave voluntarily with financial support.”
Alongside the nearly one million rejected applicants, Germany also hosts 2,386,267 foreigners with recognized protection status. This includes 1,063,976 people with temporary protection under the Mass Influx Directive, primarily Ukrainians, as well as 43,203 asylum beneficiaries, 696,985 recognized refugees, and 420,358 individuals under subsidiary protection.
AfD MP René Springer, who initiated the inquiry, criticized the government’s handling of immigration: “If rejected asylum applications have no consequences and protection becomes the rule instead, that is not humanism, but a loss of state control.”
AfD leader Alice Weidel reacted on X saying: “1 Million rejected asylum seekers live in Germany, but they are not deported: Is this the ominous ‘migration turnaround’ that Merz and the CDU promised during the election campaign?”
The numbers come at a time when Germany is also facing growing security concerns. As previously reported, the country has witnessed a new surge in violence against women committed by non-German suspects. In 2024 alone, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) registered 266,000 victims of domestic violence, including 187,000 women and girls—a 3.8% rise compared with the previous year.
According to Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), 37% of the suspects in partner violence cases were non-German, despite foreigners making up a much smaller share of the population.
The federal government is increasing deportations—19,538 between January and October 2025, more than in the previous year—though it barely compensates for years of political inaction.
