[DW] A plane carrying 141 Afghan nationals landed in the city of Hanover, Germany's Interior Ministry confirmed.
This comes after the German government promised them that they'll be taken in to Germany after the Taliban took over.
The plane took off from Islamabad, Pakistan, with the Pakistani government telling Germany it has to take Afghans over until the end of the year before it will deport them to their home country.
The 141 people will be distributed among Germany's states.
Pakistan is ramping up deportations targeting the over 700,000 Afghans who fled after the Taliban's return to power. Germany recently agreed to take in 160 asylum seekers but has also rolled back earlier promises. Hundreds remain stranded after Berlin reversed asylum approvals for over 600 Afghans, despite earlier promises to protect those at risk from the Taliban.
Germany: 1,600 asylum requests by people rejected at border
[DW] Some 1,600 people who had been denied entry into Germany at the border have later sought asylum in the country, German authorities have said.
The number of asylum applications from people who had been refused entry since the intensification of the country's border checks earlier this year reached 1,582 between May 7 and October 31, the German DPA news agency reported, citing a response to a parliamentary inquiry by the Greens.
The government did not say where the asylum seekers applied from.
This comes as Germany's conservative-led government looks to curb immigration, as promised in its campaign ahead of the 2025 election.
Border checks are normally not conducted within the Schengen area, a border-free zone including most European Union countries as well as a few countries not in the bloc.
But since coming to power in May, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has intensified already placed border checks, and ordered authorities to turn away all asylum seekers except some vulnerable groups.
Over 100,000 visas issued for family reunification in 2025
[DW] German authorities issued more than 100,000 family reunification visas this year.
According to figures from the Foreign Ministry reported by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, 101,756 visas were issued by the end of November.
The numbers continue a downward trend observed in recent years. In 2023, a record of more than 130,000 family reunification visas were issued, falling to 120,000 in 2024.
The continued decline comes after the federal government in July suspended family reunification for people with subsidiary protection for two years. This primarily affects Syrian war refugees.
According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), subsidiary protection applies when a person from abroad does not qualify for refugee protection or asylum, but they still face "serious harm" such as the death penalty or torture in their country of origin.
Most applicants were Turkish (14,907) and Syrian (13,148), followed by Indians (9,286), people from Kosovo (7,143) and Albania (4,426).
The most common type of visa was for spouses of foreigners living in Germany, with 44,426 issued through November.
A third of cases (37,227) were visas issued for children to join their parents. Around 3,500 were for parents to move to be with their children.
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