4
 Pending Cases

First instance

While an asylum application is awaiting a first instance decision, it remains part of the caseload of applications under examination by the asylum authorities. The number of pending cases serves as a key indicator that reflects the workload faced by national authorities and the strain on national asylum systems, including reception systems. We estimate that, at the end of November 2025, the number of first instance pending cases stood at 857,000 – more than double the number between 2018 and 2021 and at an extremely high level. It is notable that an increasing proportion of pending cases have been awaiting decisions for more than 6 months, which is the maximum duration of the examination procedure, stipulated in Regulation (EU) 2024/1348.

In general, citizenships lodging the most applications tend to have the most cases awaiting decisions. For example, at the end of November 2025, Venezuelans (114,000), Syrians (104,000), Colombians (69,000) and Afghans (47,000) had the largest volumes of first instance pending cases together representing 39% of pending cases in the EU+. Several citizenships had many more cases pending than a year ago. These included Venezuelans (+28%) and Sudanese (+52%) but many others had caseloads much reduced, such as Colombians (-28%), Afghans (-25%) and Turks (-65%).

In the aftermath of the fall of President Assad’s regime in December 2024, several EU+ countries temporarily suspended (fully or partially) the processing of asylum applications from Syrian nationals citing the need to reassess the situation on the ground before making informed decisions. At the time of writing, 22 EU+ countries were processing some Syrian claims, but to a limited extent. Under these circumstances, the Syrian caseload (104,000) was initially growing because applications continued to be accepted but were not being processed or concluded. However, more recently the number of pending cases started to fall somewhat, as some countries resume processing while new applications remain low. UNHCR urges nation states to refrain from forcibly returning Syrian nationals until a comprehensive assessment of the situation confirms that it is safe to do so.

All instances

Under the Early warning and Preparedness System (EPS), EU+ asylum authorities regularly report to the EUAA the number of cases that they have pending at first instance—that is, newly lodged applications still awaiting an initial decision. However, this indicator does not reflect the full scope of the caseload being processed across the EU+ because there are also many cases pending in appeal and in review: cases pending in appeal refer to those that have been challenged before the judiciary, where applicants contest the first instance decision on points of fact and/or law. At the same time, other cases are pending in review, meaning the asylum authority has been requested to re-examine its original decision—often due to procedural concerns or new information.

To get a more comprehensive picture of the total number of all pending cases, Eurostat maintains an indicator, which tracks the number of asylum cases pending at all procedural instances. According to this indicator, at the end of October 2025 (latest available data), there were approximately 1.2 million asylum cases pending across the EU+. As shown in the chart, this number is now at near record levels, and even exceeds the refugee crisis of 2015–2016.