200,601 Migrants Hold Toleration Status in Germany as Count Rises Again
November 1, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Germany's Federal Interior Ministry recorded 200,601 people on Duldung toleration status at the end of September 2026, the first sustained rise since 2022, with 256,873 people in total legally obliged to leave but unable to be removed.
200,601 people held formal Duldung (toleration) status in Germany at the end of September 2026, government data show. The Federal Interior Ministry supplied the figures to the Bundestag in response to a question from Greens MP Filiz Polat, as reported by the Berliner Zeitung. The count is up from 190,974 at the start of 2026 and marks the first sustained rise since the figure stood at roughly 248,000 at the end of 2022.
Duldung is a formal suspension of deportation. Those who hold it are legally required to leave Germany but cannot currently be removed, most often because of missing travel documents, family ties, or illness. The status is temporary by design; in practice, it can be extended repeatedly.
At the same September date, Interior Ministry data put 256,873 people in total as obliged to leave the country. That means roughly four in five of those required to go hold a Duldung rather than actually leaving. CDU interior policy spokesman Alexander Throm called that share "a scandal." "It is too easy to just stay here," he said. "The issuance of tolerated status by local foreigners' authorities must be made significantly more difficult."
The earlier decline was linked in part to the Opportunity Residence Law passed by the previous SPD-Greens-FDP coalition. That law came into force on 31 December 2022 and ran for three years. It offered a provisional residence permit to migrants who had lived under toleration for at least five years and could show self-sufficiency, adequate German, a clean criminal record, and clarified identity. The pathway has now expired for many. Lower asylum recognition rates have added to the upward pressure, the Berliner Zeitung reported.
The volume of new Duldung grants in 2026 alone shows how fast the reversal has moved. Around 45,000 people received tolerated status for the first time this year, among them roughly 13,460 minors, Interior Ministry data show. The route out of Duldung into work is negligible: just 402 people held a training-related toleration and 17 an employment-related one, according to Welt.
The EU's decision in mid-June to add Egypt, Bangladesh, India, Colombia, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey to its list of safe countries of origin has narrowed the path further. Asylum seekers from those states now face an employment ban, closing off for many the already narrow route from Duldung into regular work, the Berliner Zeitung noted.
People with tolerated status are generally entitled to benefits under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act, covering basic needs, accommodation, and limited medical care. After 36 months, those benefits can approach regular social assistance levels under certain conditions. Gross expenditures under the act across Germany totaled about €6.16 billion in 2025, down from €6.72 billion the year before, government figures cited by Remix News show.
Germany has run a removal system whose practical output bears little relation to its stated aims for years. Two hundred thousand people on a status designed to be temporary is the arithmetic of that gap.
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Published November 1, 2026 · Frisian News