BERLIN: A German court ruled on Tuesday that the government is obliged to issue visas to Afghan nationals and their family members who were accepted into a humanitarian admissions programme that the new centre-right coalition intends to shut down.

A foreign ministry official said the government was reviewing the decision, which is not yet legally binding. After the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 by Western allies, Germany established several programmes to resettle local staff as well as particularly vulnerable Afghans.

Since May 2021, Germ­any has admitted about 36,500 vulnerable Afgh­a­­ns including former local staff by various pathways. Some 2,400 Afghans appr­oved for admission are waiting in Pakistan to travel to Germany without a clear idea of when, as the programme has been suspended pending a government review, the foreign ministry in Berlin said this month. The court decision, in response to an urgent appeal by an Afghan woman and her family, ruled that the government was legally bou­nd to honour its “irrevocable” commitment to them.

“The applicants assert that they are entitled to a visa and can no longer remain in Pakistan. They face deportation to Afgh­anistan, where they fear for their lives,” it said.

However, the government is within its rights to end the programme for Afghans and refrain from issuing any new admission commitments going forward, according to the court in Berlin.

NGOs have said that an additional 17,000 Afghans are in the early stages of selection and application under the now-dormant scheme.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2025