Asylum: application, interview, refusal

• You apply for asylum inside the country or at its border. Before applying, gather evidence: case files, summonses, police reports, medical records of injuries, publications, witness statements.
• Since 12 June 2026 the EU migration pact applies: Russians' approval rate (18% in 2025) is below the 20% threshold, so claims go through an accelerated procedure (up to 12 weeks, often in closed centres near the border).
• After a refusal you may be sent to a 'safe third country' (such as Serbia, Armenia or Georgia), and an appeal no longer automatically stops removal. Lawyers advise explaining from the start why the countries you travelled through are unsafe for you.
• At the interview, be consistent and detailed: contradictions with your forms are a common reason for refusal. Human rights groups advise not contacting the Russian consulate or travelling to Russia during the procedure.
• Where to turn: PRO ASYL and Connection e.V. (Germany), VluchtelingenWerk (Netherlands), inTransit, Reforum Help (designated 'undesirable' in Russia; contact it from a phone that is unlikely to be seized); country-by-country rules: AIDA.
• On 23 July 2025 Germany stopped issuing humanitarian visas under section 22 of the Residence Act. The fast-track procedure for Russians and Belarusians no longer applies; according to human rights groups, visas are now granted only in a few high-profile cases. What remains is an ordinary asylum claim or a regular visa for work, study or family reunification. The rules keep changing, so check with PRO ASYL.
• If you survived torture, violence or long pressure, say so at the start of the procedure. Under the new EU rules (Regulation 2024/1348, art. 24, in force since 12 June 2026) the authority may order a free medical examination for signs of persecution; if it does not, you can have one at your own cost. Torture survivors are entitled to treatment and rehabilitation (Directive 2024/1346).
• A doctor's or psychologist's report under the Istanbul Protocol (the UN standard) helps explain why you mix up dates: trauma affects memory, and the absence of marks does not mean there was no torture. Such reports are made free of charge by: the Bundesverband PSZ network in Germany (XENION in Berlin), Freedom from Torture and the Helen Bamber Foundation in the UK, PHR in the USA, and iMMO in the Netherlands. Almost everywhere a lawyer has to make the request, and waits run to weeks or months.
• In Germany, a medical certificate about an illness that stands in the way of removal must be submitted without delay and state the diagnosis, the method of examination and the consequences (section 60a of the Residence Act). Not every court accepts certificates from psychotherapists.

Designations of organisations in this guide: Reforum Help (undesirable). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: Meduza: the EU changed the rules for asylum seekers (undesirable); First Department: what political asylum is and how to get it (foreign agent); AIDA: Asylum Information Database; Novaya Gazeta Europe: Germany dramatically scales back humanitarian visa programme (3 Oct 2025) (undesirable); Meduza: Germany closes humanitarian visa programme for Russians (3 Oct 2025, in Russian) (undesirable); EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 on the asylum procedure; OHCHR: Istanbul Protocol, 2022 edition (PDF); German Residence Act, section 60a (in German); Home Office: medical evidence in asylum claims (updated 30 Aug 2022)