Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser today ordered the temporary checks at all of Germany’s land borders to continue for another six months, from 15 March 2025 up to and including 15 September 2025. The European Commission was notified of the order today. With this temporary border control, Germany is successfully reducing irregular migration and combating migrant smuggling.

Federal Minister Faeser said: “The Federal Police will continue to carry out border checks at all of Germany’s borders. Today, I ordered these checks to continue for another six months, because they are working and are still needed. The border checks are effective in reducing irregular migration – we have already prevented some 47,000 illegal entries at our borders. We are stopping migrant smugglers, whose brutal business treats people like commodities to be shipped between countries. And we are catching criminals and extremists. We continue to work closely with our neighbouring countries and in compliance with European law. We are not taking the dangerous route of going it alone.

“I am extremely grateful to the officers of the Federal Police for their hard work. These efforts are only possible because we have increased funding and added a thousand officers each year, and we will continue to do so.”

The Federal Police will continue to conduct border checks flexibly and as required by the security situation. They will make every effort to keep the impact on travellers and cross-border commuters as well as businesses and commerce as minimal as possible. However, temporary negative impacts on traffic in certain areas cannot be entirely ruled out. Travellers and cross-border commuters are asked to have official identification such as a national ID card or passport with them. This is a general requirement for all cross-border travel. Third-country nationals must meet the requirements for entering Germany, including a visa, if necessary.

Checks have been carried out at Germany’s land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland since 16 October 2023, while checks at Germany’s land border with Austria were introduced even earlier, on the basis of separate orders. Checks have been conducted at all of Germany’s land borders since 16 September 2024. Since then, the Federal Police have

• detected some 80,000 illegal entries,
• arrested some 1,900 migrant smugglers, and
• issued some 47,000 refusals of entry (including to

people who presented invalid or falsified documents, or who tried to enter without a valid visa or residence permit).

In 2024, the number of asylum applicants was 213,499, which is 111,137 fewer than in 2023 (324,636). That is a reduction of approximately 34%. The temporary checks at the borders helped to bring this about.

The grounds for temporary border control are the need to limit irregular migration further and to protect Germany’s internal security. With regard to irregular migration, Germany’s overall burden must be taken into account, especially the limited capacity of municipalities to provide housing, education and integration services after taking in 1.2 million refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine and large numbers of asylum seekers in recent years.

Ordering temporary border control in the Schengen area is based on Articles 25 and following of the Schengen Borders Code. It is only possible as a measure of last resort and is subject to strict conditions.