New EU guidance for Syrian refugees highlights at-risk groups
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- EUAA updates Syria asylum guidance, keeping protection for Palestinians and other at-risk groups.
The EUAA has issued a comprehensive update to its “Country Guidance: Syria,” reflecting changed realities following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024.
The new guidance, endorsed in June 2025, aims to standardize how EU+ countries assess asylum applications from Syrian nationals.
Under the revised guidance, individuals whose only risk stemmed from evading military service, defecting from the army, or opposing the former regime are generally no longer considered as automatically facing persecution or serious harm.
However, the EUAA underscores that other groups remain eligible, or may newly qualify, for international protection. This includes people from minority ethnic or religious communities (such as Alawites, Christians, or Druze), as well as those whose sexual orientation or gender identity makes them vulnerable under post‑regime Syria.
Importantly for Palestinians: the guidance reaffirms that Palestinians in Syria whose access to assistance from UNRWA has ceased should automatically retain refugee status (ipso facto).
The updated guidance reflects the EUAA’s assessment that while the security situation in Syria has “improved but remains volatile,” indiscriminate violence still occurs in some areas. The document also notes that, for some asylum seekers, returning to certain areas, including the capital, may represent an internal protection alternative, depending on individual circumstances.
Statistics published by the agency show a sharp drop in asylum applications by Syrians across EU+ countries since the regime change: monthly applications reportedly declined from roughly 16,000 in October 2024 to about 3,500 in September 2025. Nevertheless, around 110,000 Syrian‑origin cases remained pending first‑instance decisions by the end of September 2025.
The new guidance is part of the EUAA’s efforts to help national asylum authorities across the EU+ bloc, which includes all EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland, apply a coherent framework in evaluating protection needs and asylum eligibility.
