In September 2021, the Federal Ministry of the Interior informed the complainants that they would be admitted to Germany under § 22 sentence 2 of the Residence Act (AufenthG). Following the decision of the new German Government to terminate the voluntary admission programmes, including those concerning Afghanistan, the Federal Ministry of the Interior declared approximately 640 admission commitments issued under the Human Rights List and the bridging programme “invalid and expired”, without carrying out an individual assessment. On that basis, the complainants’ visa applications were subsequently rejected.
The Federal Constitutional Court held that, although the complainants did not have a constitutional right to the requested visas, the blanket withdrawal of their admission commitments violated the prohibition of arbitrariness under Article 3(1), read in conjunction with Article 20(3), of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz). It recognised that the Ministry enjoys broad political discretion in deciding whether to maintain or withdraw an admission commitment. However, once an admission commitment concerning a specific individual has been communicated to that person, this discretion is narrowed and the authorities must take their individual circumstances and interests into account before withdrawing it.
The Court therefore overturned the decision of the Higher Administrative Court and referred the case back for a new decision. It clarified that the Ministry may still withdraw the admission commitments, provided that it does so following an individual assessment in accordance with the constitutional prohibition of arbitrariness. The Court further held that Germany must continue supporting the complainants in Pakistan until either a visa is granted or the Ministry adopts a constitutionally compliant decision withdrawing their admission commitments.