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 Applications

Main citizenships

As of late 2025, Europe’s asylum landscape remains under heavy pressure and has shifted in character. In November 2025 alone, EU+ countries (EU Member States plus Norway and Switzerland) received 68,000 asylum applications – down by 19% from the same month a year before. Notably, for the first time in years, in 2025 Syrians were no longer the top nationality of applicants; following the end of the Assad regime, far fewer Syrians have been seeking asylum, and Afghans and Venezuelans each lodged more claims than Syrians since the second quarter of 2025. The following section highlights how political upheavals, conflicts, legal rulings and migration policies are directly shaping who seeks refuge in Europe.

Asylum in the EU+ affected by political rupture and displacement dynamics in Venezuela

The protracted collapse of Venezuela’s economy and governance has rendered Venezuelans the largest group seeking refuge globally. During the first half of 2025, Venezuelans were also the largest group seeking asylum in the EU+, where they lodged 49,000 asylum applications, surpassing even Syrians and Afghans. In the EU+, Spain continued to be by far the main destination, receiving the vast majority of applications due to linguistic and cultural ties, an established diaspora, and its practice of granting humanitarian protection to those not qualifying for international protection. In November 2025 (latest data), Venezuelans lodged 8,200 applications — the second highest among all nationalities. This trend underlines how political and economic breakdown – in Venezuela’s case, a years-long crisis under President Nicolás Maduro – can drive mass migration even across the Atlantic.

A stunning geopolitical development in early 2026 has now upended Venezuela’s trajectory. On 3 January, US forces captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, removing them from Venezuela to face drug and weapons charges in New York. The arrest sent shockwaves through Caracas. In the immediate aftermath, hardline elements of the regime moved to fill the vacuum. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez – herself a long-time Maduro ally – asserted authority and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello appeared flanked by armed officers vowing to resist US intervention. Opposition forces initially celebrated Maduro’s ouster, yet President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would “run Venezuela until a safe, proper transition” – without backing opposition leader and winner of the last election, Edmundo González – introduced new uncertainty. Rather than a clear restoration of democracy, Venezuela now faces a power struggle among Chavista remnants and questions about US intentions in the country’s governance.

Expert analyses warn that Maduro’s removal, while ending one authoritarian era, may herald a period of instability and fragmentation rather than a quick democratic transition. If chaos and repression persist under competing regime remnants, Venezuelans may flee in large numbers. Over 7.9 million Venezuelans have already left their homeland in recent years, mostly to neighbouring Latin American states – a displacement on par with Syria’s war. Now, with a sudden power vacuum in Caracas and no consensus on legitimate leadership, conditions could deteriorate further. Humanitarian observers are bracing for a new wave of migration out of Venezuela in 2026, especially if clashes or governance breakdown deepen in the coming months.

Global disparities in migration policy have increasingly shaped where asylum seekers choose to go – and the Venezuela crisis illustrates this clearly. Over the past decade, Latin American nations adopted rather generous refugee policies for Venezuelans. Countries like Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and others extended temporary protection, work permits and residency to millions of Venezuelan migrants. For example, Colombia’s Temporary Protection Statute (ETPV) granted legal status to over 2 million Venezuelans, allowing them to work and access services. Brazil’s Operation Welcome provided documents, shelter and relocation support.

More recently however, several countries in Latin America have reintroduced or imposed visa requirements for Venezuelan nationals, narrowing mobility options across the region. In Colombia, many initiatives once aimed at helping Venezuelan residents have been dismantled. While some voluntary return movements have taken place, many Venezuelans remain stranded outside their country, facing limited access to protection or livelihoods.

Simultaneously, the United States has shown no sign of loosening its hardline posture – if anything, the Trump administration’s forcible removal of Maduro signals an emphasis on intervention and domestic security over refugee resettlement. US officials have not offered special asylum programs for the anticipated outflow; instead, President Trump indicated a preference to impose order in Venezuela directly rather than absorb migrants, even suggesting his team would manage Venezuela’s oil resources to finance reconstruction.

Asylum in the EU+ affected by political and security developments in Syria

Alongside developments in Latin America, Syria remains a core driver of EU+ asylum dynamics, with intentions shaped by the interaction between political transition, security conditions and the credibility of return options.

In Syria, hopes for a sustained peace after the December 2024 ousting of Bashar al-Assad have faltered. Through much of 2025, Syria experienced an uneasy pause in major hostilities, which had a notable impact on asylum trends – Syrian applications in the EU+ dropped sharply, while many Syrians waited to see if it was safe to go home. Indeed, by mid-2025 Syrians had fallen from the top rank of EU+ asylum seekers to just 25,000 applications during the first half of the year (a 66% plunge year-on-year) and just 2,600 applications in November 2025 (latest data). At the same time Syrians were much less frequently detected at the external border. One year into the transition, UNHCR has recorded the return of over 1.2 million Syrians from abroad and 1.9 million internally displaced persons within Syria. The UNHCR has welcomed voluntary returns as part of Syrian reconstruction, but says there must be no forced returns of refugees.

The renewal of conflict across Syria is already testing previous assumptions about refugee returns and asylum needs. Syria’s transitional government had been advocating for refugee repatriation and reconstruction, prompting some EU+ countries to explore repatriation deals (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands). But the escalating violence raises grave protection concerns. Many Syrians abroad remain fearful that going back could make them targets, especially minorities and former opposition-affiliated groups. The recent turmoil will likely reinforce those fears.

For updated analysis of the situation in Syria following the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad, read two EUAA Syria Country Focus reports from July 2025, and March 2025, and for an analysis of the main profiles in Syria read EUAA’s Syria Country Guidance.

Asylum in the EU+ affected by conflict in countries of origin

Beyond Syria, several large-scale conflicts continue to drive displacement and protection needs, with spillover into EU+ asylum systems.

Sudan has been ravaged by a brutal civil war since 2023 when a struggle for power broke out between its army, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and a paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Services (RSF). According to the UN, the war is entering a deadlier phase with intensified fighting, mounting civilian casualties and growing risks of regional spillover. For the third consecutive year, Sudan sits at the top of the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) Emergency Watchlist. Overall there are an estimated 9 million internally displaced persons across Sudan making it the world largest displacement crisis. This, amid an unprecedented fall off in aid expenditure by donor governments worldwide. In November 2025, applications from Sudanese nationals in the EU+ reached 2,100, more or less double the same period in 2024. For an analysis of the main risk profiles and the security situation in Sudan read the EUAA Country Guidance.

Although most displaced Ukrainians in the EU+ benefit from  (currently 4.5 million Eurostat data), the number of those lodging asylum applications has fluctuated as the war continues and displacement patterns evolve. In November 2025, Ukrainians lodged just 1,500 applications — half as many compared to the same month in 2024. France and Poland received most of these claims (see also: section on Migrants from Ukraine). For more information read the EUAA report on the Situation in Ukraine.temporary protection (currently 4.5 million Eurostat data), the number of those lodging asylum applications has fluctuated as the war continues and displacement patterns evolve. In November 2025, Ukrainians lodged just 1,500 applications — half as many compared to the same month in 2024. France and Poland received most of these claims (see also: section on Migrants from Ukraine). For more information read the EUAA report on the Situation in Ukraine.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thousands have died and many more have been displaced especially in Burundi, amid ongoing conflict. A peace agreement was signed in June 2025, followed by a ceasefire in July. However, the reality on the ground continues to be marred with violence. Applications in the EU+ remained high in November (1,100), though recognition rates were low, possibly because some applicants were not from conflict-affected areas. France received nearly three quarters of these applications, but travel histories are unclear given very few detections of irregular arrivals at the EU external border.

Beyond the major conflicts highlighted above, Iran merits monitoring as renewed unrest could alter outward movement dynamics despite currently low asylum volumes in the EU+. In November 2025, Iranians only lodged 590 applications in the EU+ (latest data), well below levels seen during the last wave of protests in 2022–2023. The UN Human Rights Council has documented serious violations linked to the last protest response, including excessive force and due process concerns, and has repeatedly warned of continued repression and narrowing civic space. Human Rights Watch also underscored serious abuses tied to the 2022 protests. The ongoing economically driven protests have spread across multiple provinces, suggesting potential for renewed volatility and displacement to the EU+ if the repression escalates.

In Haiti there has been a rapid deterioration in security and humanitarian conditions driven by armed gangs, alongside rising asylum demand in the EU+. In November 2025, Haitian nationals lodged around 1,200 asylum applications, almost entirely in France and nearly half repeated (latest data). The context is a severe crisis: IOM assessed that internal displacement reached a record high of around 1.4 million people by September 2025, as gang violence expanded and displacement sites multiplied. UNICEF also points to a rapidly worsening poly-crisis for children in Haiti including large-scale displacement, school closures and rising recruitment of children by armed groups.

Asylum in the EU+ affected by a landmark court ruling

Finally, legal developments within the EU+ continue to shape asylum systems directly by harmonising and clarifying protection thresholds.

The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has fundamentally changed the asylum outlook for Afghan women in Europe with a : on 4 October 2024, the CJEU held that Afghan women face a general risk of persecution under Taliban rule, such that nationality and gender alone are sufficient grounds for refugee status. In effect, Afghan women and girls are now recognised as a particular social group at acute risk, given the Taliban’s systematic oppression that the European Parliament described as gender apartheid. The increasingly repressive conditions in Afghanistan, with a systematic exclusion of women and girls from public life under Taliban rule, have been reflected in EUAA Country Guidance emphasising that gender-based restrictions can amount to persecution. UNHCR also released guidance supporting similar conclusions.

As a result of these policy changes, Afghan women have been seeking asylum in greater numbers, driving a notable shift in EU+ asylum trends. Many who might previously have been denied refugee status, even those with subsidiary protection, are now reapplying. In particular, in Germany authorities reported a sharp rise in Afghan women’s asylum claims in mid-2025, noting that nearly half of these were repeat applications made after the law changed in their favour. The peak of this trend was in September and subsequently numbers have started to decrease though by November they still remained much higher than in the spring. At the same time, detections at the external border remain at a low level.

Destinations

In November 2025, Germany was once again the foremost destination for asylum seekers in the EU+, receiving 14,000 applications or 21% of all applications lodged in the EU+. In Germany, Syrian applications have decreased but Afghan applications have increased, keeping Germany as the main receiving country in the EU+ despite a 20% decrease in the total number compared to November 2024. However, Italy also recorded many asylum applications, 13,000 in total, representing 19% of all applications lodged in the EU+ but this number was rather stable compared to a year previously. Spain and France both received around 12,000 applications a piece, and both with reduced volumes compared to November 2024.

Many citizenships tend to lodge the majority of applications in a single EU+ country. For example, in November 2025:

  • Nearly all Venezuelan applications and more than four fifths of Malian applications were lodged in Spain.

  • Nearly all Haitian and nearly three quarters of Congolese (DR) applications were lodged in France.

  • Around four fifths of all Peruvian and Bangladeshi applications were lodged in Italy.

These concentrations can also be seen in the Overview section. 

Applications per capita

Evaluating which EU+ countries tend to receive the most applications for asylum is important but to some extent a simple like-for-like comparison is not appropriate because the EU+ countries vary wildly in terms of the size and capacity of their asylum and reception systems. As a rough measure of their overall capacity and a more nuanced estimation of the pressure exerted on national authorities, this analysis takes into account the number of asylum applications lodged per million inhabitants (Eurostat population data).

In November 2025, Greece received the most applications per capita: 4,800 actual applications for asylum which equates to 457 applications per million inhabitants, or one application per 2,190 persons.

Slovenia and Germany, despite receiving vastly different numbers of applications in total (350 and 14,000, respectively), experienced similar per capita pressure, each country with around 165 applications per million inhabitants.

At the EU+ level, the total population of 465 million and 68,000 asylum applications during November 2025 translate to nearly 150 applications per million inhabitants, or one application per 6,800 residents.

Hungary stands out among EU+ countries for allowing an exceptionally low number of asylum seekers to lodge applications, just 9 in November 2025 despite a population exceeding 9.5 million — 10 times that of Cyprus. This is due to Hungary's special rules which limit access to the asylum procedure by requiring applicants to submit a letter of intent at a Hungarian diplomatic mission in a non-EU country prior to their entry to Hungary No 233/2020 (V.26). However, this did not prevent Hungary granting asylum to a right-wing Polish politician currently under criminal investigation in his own country, a development that threatens to turn asylum into a political tool. Hungary also hosts among the fewest displaced Ukrainians per capita, probably with knock-on effects on next-door Czechia which hosts the most displaced Ukrainians per capita in the EU+ - see section on Temporary Protection. In June 2024, the European Court of Justice fined Hungary for breaching EU asylum rules. For more information consult the National Asylum Developments Database.