Family Reunification Continues in Germany Despite Merz’s Promises
24th July 2026
According to figures from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, Berlin granted 53,598 family reunification visas during the first half of 2026, even though the government of Friedrich Merz had announced the suspension of this entry route.
The figure contrasts with the statements made during the federal election campaign. In April 2025, a month before taking office as Chancellor, Merz declared on X that his government would “manage and control migration better” and “suspend family reunification.”
Family reunification was suspended for two years on June 27, 2025, with Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder insisting on television that it amounted to “a return to the way things were before 2015 when it comes to law and order.”
The official records, however, show a gradual decline rather than a halt. In the first half of 2024, 63,637 visas of this type were granted; in the same period of 2025, around 57,000, a 10% drop; and in the first semester of 2026, a slightly lower figure. If the same pace is maintained in the second semester, the annual total would once again exceed 100,000 arrivals through this route.
The discrepancy between what has been promised and the figures is explained by the actual scope of the measure. The approved suspension affects only beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, a status granted to those who obtain neither the right to asylum nor recognition as refugees, but who could suffer serious harm if returned to their country of origin. It is a subgroup within the broader category of family reunification, not the whole of it.