Saxony speeds up asylum procedures

Saxon administrative courts have been able to speed up asylum procedures. While the average duration of proceedings in the first half of 2024 was still 18.5 months, it was 14.3 months in the first six months of this year, announced Justice Minister Constanze Geiert (CDU) after the cabinet meeting in Dresden. "In the first half of the year, we saw a further increase in proceedings at the courts and were actually able to achieve a reduction in the duration of asylum proceedings despite this increase."

Saxony "in the front midfield"

Geiert did not want to speak of a trend reversal just yet, however. In a nationwide comparison, the state is now "in the front midfield". Saxony is consistently committed to modernizing procedures and is also using artificial intelligence. She cited "file penetration assistants" as evidence of this. This AI-supported tool is used to structure case files in order to make a judge's work easier. Databases with information on countries of origin are also created. A judge would then not always have to carry out new research, for example if only a few asylum seekers come from one country.

New chambers in Chemnitz only for asylum proceedings

At an "asylum summit" in March, Saxony set itself the goal of appointing 17 new judges to the administrative courts by the end of the year in order to speed up the duration of proceedings. Ten positions have already been filled. On April 1, the Chemnitz Administrative Court set up two new chambers that deal exclusively with asylum proceedings. Two trainee judges are also being deployed there as assistant judges in a pilot project. Initial experience has shown that this will reduce the workload of the judges.

"The asylum summit was an important prelude to relieving the burden on Saxony's administrative courts. We must also break new and modern ground here. I am confident that we have set the right course for a noticeable acceleration of asylum procedures with the agreed immediate measures," emphasized Geiert. Saxony will advocate reforms at federal level to further relieve the administrative courts. This would require a joint effort by the federal and state governments - also in order to restore social peace on the subject of asylum.