Over 100000 Syrian lives on hold in EU and UK amid lingering asylum freeze

More than 100,000 Syrian lives remain on hold after the UK and several European countries paused asylum claims following the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Many of the countries, including Germany which has the largest Syrian population outside of the Middle East, froze applications days after the rebel takeover of Damascus in December 2024.

In the months that have followed, Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was named Syria’s transitional president and an interim constitution with a five-year plan was signed.

The situation is also turbulent. Israel has repeatedly targeted Syria with hundreds of air strikes and seized parts of the Golan Heights. Sectarian violence has erupted in recent weeks which has not been fully contained.

International sanctions against Syria too are still largely in place, although on Thursday the UK lifted sanctions on Syria's defence and interior ministries and a range of its intelligence agencies.

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HTS, however, remains a designated terrorist organisation by the UK, the UN, and other European countries.

Syrian advocates and asylum seekers warn that it is not safe to return to the country, but they have little clarity about when - or if - the application processes may resume.

“How could Syria be any better while it’s still under sanctions?” said Abdulaziz Almashi, founder of the UK-based Syria Solidary Campaign, which has been fielding calls from Syrians looking for help.

“How could Syria be any better and until now it has no government elected by the people? How could Syria be any better and Assad loyalists still exist, and Israel continues its attacks?” he added.

'Slapped in the face'

Salma* and her husband were anticipating a decision from the British Home Office in December 2024, a year after they had applied for asylum in the UK.

But before they heard back, the unexpected happened: Syria was liberated from the 53-year rule of the Assad family as the rebels took Damascus and Bashar al-Assad fled.

“We were happy, scared, and not sure what would happen to us. It is like all traumas we have had stored in our body started coming out,” said Salma, a Syrian graphic design consultant.

Salma and her husband left Syria during the war. They travelled to Turkey, where they lived together for nearly three years.

In February 2023, they were living in southeastern Turkey when a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck killing more than 50,000 people across Turkey and Syria.

Afterwards, she and her husband relocated to the UK where they were hopeful about starting a new, stable, and safe life.

But these hopes faded after the Home Office announced it was freezing Syrian asylum applications on 9 December.

“When the decision was made, I felt I was slapped in the face. It took me back to the moment of the earthquake,” Salma said.

The couple are among 7,000 Syrians waiting on a decision about their paused asylum applications, impacting their right to work, rent and study in the UK.

'His chance of getting his doctoral is gone, and my chance of applying for master’s is also gone'

- Salma, graphic designer and asylum seeker in the UK

They were also in the process of applying for funds to continue their educations, hoping that by the time they filed their applications, they would have received their refugee status. 

“To get these funds for the courses, we had to be refugees to be eligible,” Salma said.

“Suddenly, this decision has been made, meaning his chance of getting his doctoral is gone, and my chance of applying for master’s is also gone,” she said.

In response to questions from Middle East Eye about the decision to pause applications and plans for Syrians in the UK who have no option of returning, a Home Office spokesperson said only that the government is still assesssing the situation.

“We keep all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review so we can respond to emerging issues," the spokesperson said.

Wasted years 

Like the UK, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Greece and Sweden also immediately suspended the processing of Syrian’s asylum applications in the wake of Assad’s toppling.

It is unclear exactly how many Syrian asylum applications have been impacted across EU countries by these decisions, but the UN Refugee Agency has put the figure at over 100,000.

In Germany, more than 47,270 applications alone were affected, including Haya’s.*

Haya studied architecture in Syria, but moved to the United Arab Emirates after losing family members in the Syrian war.

In 2021, she moved to Germany to study, hoping to pursue a master’s in architecture and work in the field.  

But her studying was delayed as she went through a divorce and was ill. Once her student visa expired, her only option was to apply for asylum. She received a six-month permit, which expired and was renewed until September 2025. 

So now Haya is under pressure to get her permit extended or find a job. She doesn't see how she can return home, even as she and others are celebrating the fall of Assad.

“The return to the country is impossible to think about for the coming two to three years,” she said.

“I want to establish my life here. At the end, I moved, learned the language, and so it is not logical not to get experience. You would feel like you wasted your years.”

Also in limbo in Germany is Mouaz who has been studying environmental science in the country since 2023. He declined to give his last name, given the precarious situation he finds himself in right now.

'I want to establish my life here'

- Haya, student and asylum seeker in Germany

Mouaz left Syria for Turkey when his father, who had ties with groups opposing Assad, was able to get them out of the country. 

His current permit to live in Germany expired in March and was extended in April for another three months. What happens after that is unclear to Mouaz.

“It is normal that they will restudy our applications. At the same time, it will be four months, and we have no news from them. They are not communicating with us,” Mouaz said.

Assad may be gone, he said, but there are still significant risks to living in Syria.

He said: “I am living in limbo. I do not know what is happening.”

In a response by Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, they said Syrians can still apply for asylum, but they won't take decisions on them. The office described the situation following Assad's fall as “dynamic, confusing and difficult to assess”.

“Decisions for asylum applicants from Syria, which also take into account information on the situation in Syria, will be postponed until further notice,” they said.

“The Federal Office is continuously reviewing the situation in Syria and will resume processing the asylum procedures concerned as soon as the reasons for the postponement no longer apply. It is currently not possible to predict when a viable assessment of the situation under asylum law can be made again.”

Facing uncertainty

Almashi said the Syria Solidarity Campaign, a grassroots initiative which offers free legal support through voluntarily lawyers, has been urging Syrians living abroad to keep speaking out, despite the uncertainty they now face.

“We ask Syrians, if you hear about protests on the rights of refugees, join. If you hear about a demonstration, join,” he said.

“Don’t be afraid, go out and speak up loudly, because you are a person who has the right [to be] a refugee. Syria is unsafe, in terms of security, economically, and living conditions,” he said.

For Salma, it is difficult to move on from what she endured in Syria under Assad’s leadership and in Turkey, yet alone face the prospect of returning to either country. That’s not an option for her.

“The racism we have faced [in Turkey] is no less cruel than the war. Plus, the earthquake makes it extremely hard to return to that country,” she said.

She said it was important for laws to consider not only whether risk is gone from a country like Syria, but also the impact on people “who have been constantly migrating”.

“Every beginning is harder. This is time that is gone from people’s lives,” she said.

“I feel no one is seeing how hard beginnings are.”

*The name has been changed to protect identities

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