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. At the end of June 2025, the number of first instance pending cases stood at 918,000 – more than double the number between 2017 and 2021 and among the highest on record. At this time of year, the number of first instance pending cases has only been surpassed once in 2024 and once during the peak of the refugee crisis in 2016.

In general, citizenships lodging the most applications tend to have the most cases awaiting decisions. For example, at the end of June 2025, Syrians (111,000), Venezuelans (110,000) and Colombians (83,000) had the largest volumes of first instance pending cases together representing a third of the total. Several citizenships had many more cases pending than a year ago. These included Venezuelans (+44%), and Ukrainians (+53%), while others had many of their cases decided upon such as Turks (-51%) and Iraqis (-23%).

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. Hence the Syrian caseload (111,000) is anticipated to grow, as applications continue to be accepted but are not processed or concluded. 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.

Among the main receiving countries, the largest absolute increase in pending cases over the past year occurred  in Italy  (+19%) where the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Peruvian and Egyptian caseloads dominate, in Spain (+6%) where Venezuelans, Colombians and Peruvians prevailed in the pending cases, and in France (+14%) where most pending cases belonged to Ukrainians, Congolese (DR) and Guineans. In contrast, Germany's pending caseload declined by a non-trivial -37% between June 2024 and June 2025.

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 May 2025 (latest available data), there were approximately 1.3 million asylum cases pending across the EU+. As shown in the chart, this number has been increasing at a rapid rate since 2021 and is now at a record level, even exceeding the refugee crisis of 2015-2016.