Short update on Syrian cases

As we have previously described, the Refugee Appeals Board lifted the suspension of the Syrian cases on June 30. This naturally led to the Danish Immigration Service also stopping the suspension, which had put a number of cases on hold since December 2024. Below we briefly review what this means for the different groups of Syrians in Denmark:

• Cases of extension for refugees with asylum for general reasons (§7.3 and §7.2 from before 2015) will now be extended. There will be no risk assessment, so it is a purely administrative decision in the first instance. However, those concerned will receive a letter from the Immigration Service, where they must answer whether they have been to Syria in recent years.

• Applications for permanent residence for the group mentioned above will still NOT be processed, which is critical. The Immigration Service will await an asylum law assessment of the grounds for residence. Permanent residence cases for all others have not been put on hold and will still be decided as usual.

• Family reunification cases will proceed as usual, as soon as your residence permit has been extended, regardless of under which section.

• Asylum seekers from Syria who are waiting for their first decision will be called for interviews during the fourth quarter of 2025. 

• Asylum seekers who had a pending case at the Refugee Appeals Board will automatically have their cases returned to the Danish Immigration Service for a new assessment.

• Asylum seekers who had already received a final rejection from the Refugee Appeals Board will NOT automatically have their cases reopened – so you must apply for a reopening yourself. We are happy to help with this at Refugees Welcome.

We are following the development closely and are excited to see the first risk assessments of Syrian cases. 

DRC Danish Refugee Council has made a more detailed description in Danish, and the Danish Immigration Service has itself published a news item about the situation.

Also read our FOCUS article "Back to Syria?" and a collection of all our articles on Syrian refugees here.