Appeals in asylum cases at the Saxon administrative courts in Dresden, Chemnitz and Leipzig are continuing to increase. "The trend is rising sharply," said a spokesperson for the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Bautzen on request. At the end of September, the number of cases received was 5,844, a good 400 more than in the previous year. For the current year as a whole, the OVG is expecting a total of just under 6,000 applications - with a further upward trend in view of the developments in the summer.
The majority of cases currently involve people from Venezuela - these proceedings are concentrated in Saxony - as well as Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iraq who are contesting the decision from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
Inadequate staffing for tasks
According to the OVG, the staffing of the asylum chambers at the administrative courts was already inadequate a year ago. "It is no longer possible to cope with the influx of cases with the existing staff." The situation is also having a negative impact on other areas.
According to preliminary figures for the first half of the year, the duration of proceedings is 18.5 months, which is above the national average - and has increased by one and a half months compared to 2023. The reasons for this are the current situation, but also the strain caused by understaffing in the years 2015 and the following years, which had a high number of asylum cases, as well as insufficient staffing, said the OVG spokesperson.
Leipzig responsible for proceedings involving Turkish applicants
The number of asylum applications received at Leipzig Administrative Court is also "quite high". Since May, it has been exclusively responsible for the proceedings of Turkish applicants in the Free State and initially took over 800 pending proceedings from Dresden and Chemnitz. Since then, around 400 new cases have been added. If this trend continues until the end of the year, the court expects to receive twice as many asylum applications. From around 2,500 new lawsuits and summary proceedings in traditional areas of law and in the area of asylum each year, this could rise to around 3,700. This would mean a considerable additional workload, despite the increase in judicial staff in the meantime. Additional posts would be necessary to maintain the reduced duration of proceedings - in the first half of the year, the average duration of a lawsuit was only 240 days.
Only a tenth of lawsuits in Dresden upheld
The average at the Dresden Administrative Court was 17.5 months in the year to the end of September, but 14.7 months in the third quarter. In 2023, it was 17.1 months and summary proceedings took 1.2 months. In 2024, it is 1.8 months so far, with only one in 10 lawsuits and a third of all summary proceedings being successful.
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