5
 Pending Cases

First instance

While an asylum application is awaiting a first-instance decision, it remains part of the caseload under examination by national asylum authorities, commonly referred to as first-instance pending cases. The number of pending cases is a key indicator of the workload faced by asylum authorities and the pressure on national asylum systems, including reception capacity.

While asylum applications in the EU+ declined by around 19% in 2025, the stock of pending cases fell more modestly. The total number of first instance pending cases decreased from approximately 986,000 at the end of 2024 to 863,000 by the end of 2025, a reduction of about 13%. This level remains among the highest on record and is more than double the number of pending cases reported at the end of several recent years, highlighting the persistence of structural pressure on asylum systems despite fluctuations in application volumes.

In general, citizenships lodging the most applications also tend to account for the largest volumes of pending cases but changes in the overall stock of pending cases in 2025 were uneven across nationalities. The largest caseload was Venezuelan pending cases which increased by nearly a third, from around 93,000 at the end of 2024 to 120,000 by the end of 2025. In contrast, pending cases for Syrian nationals declined moderately over the same period (from approximately 109,000 to 100,000), following a dramatic decline in the number of applications being lodged. While several EU+ countries temporary paused processing Syrian cases in late 2024, partial resumptions took place during 2025.

Several other major nationalities recorded substantial reductions in pending cases, including Colombians (from 98,000 to 70,000), Afghans (from 62,000 to 43,000) and Turkish nationals (from 66,000 to 23,000), pointing to accelerated decision making and/or declining inflows for these groups. By contrast, changes among other nationalities were more limited: pending cases for Peruvians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Egyptians declined only modestly, while Eritrean and Moroccan pending cases increased slightly year on year.

All instances

Under the Early warning and Preparedness System (EPS), EU+ asylum authorities regularly report to the EUAA the number of cases that they have pending at first instance—that is, newly lodged applications still awaiting an initial decision. However, this indicator does not reflect the full scope of the caseload being processed across the EU+ because there are also many cases pending in appeal and in review: cases pending in appeal refer to those that have been challenged before the judiciary, where applicants contest the first instance decision on points of fact and/or law. At the same time, other cases are pending in review, meaning the asylum authority has been requested to re-examine its original decision—often due to procedural concerns or new information.

To get a more comprehensive picture of the total number of all pending cases, Eurostat maintains an indicator, which tracks the number of asylum cases pending at all procedural instances. According to this indicator, at the end of November 2025 (latest available data), there were approximately 1.2 million asylum cases pending across the EU+. This number is now at near record levels, and even exceeds the refugee crisis of 2015–2016.