The applicant, a Syrian national of Arab ethnic and Sunni religious affiliation, applied for international protection upon arrival in Germany with her mother and sibling in March 2016. The reason for the application were based on the unstable situation and war in Syria. Only the mother was interviewed and gave reasons for the application. By decision of 31 May 2016, the Federal Office for Migration and Asylum granted subsidiary protection but refused the refugee status. Additionally, BAMF mentioned that the applicant will not be interviewed in person during the procedure. The applicant requested before the administrative court to be granted refugee status, by way of an additional action because her brother has evaded military service. The administrative court rejected the request and the applicant appealed before the High Administratve Court, complaing of the fact that she was not heard in the procedure.

The High Administrative Court noted that there is no legal objection to the fact that the applicant was not heard in the proceedings before the Federal Office. The regulations of the AsylG do not provide when minors are to be heard (the applicant did not have the legal age in 2016). Under the Asylum Act, minors are treated as part of the family as a whole (cf. § 14a AsylG). Section 24 (1) sentence 6 of the Asylum Act only regulates that the hearing is not required if if the asylum application for a child born in the federal territory under the age of six has been made and the facts of the case have been sufficiently clarified based on the content of the procedural files of the parents or one of the parents. This means, however, that a hearing (not of this child, but) of the parents is dispensable, who otherwise in the case of underage children - depending on the age of the children - have to be heard in their place or included in their hearing. This does not allow direct conclusions to be drawn as to when underage children are to be heard.

Nor can it be inferred from European law that the applicant should have been heard by the Federal Office before a decision was made. Art. 14 para. 1 subpar. 3 and 4 of revised Asylum Procedures Directive provides: “If a person has formally applied for international protection for persons dependent on him, so every dependent adult must be given the opportunity to attend a personal hearing. Member States can determine in national legislation the cases in which a minor is given the opportunity to be heard personally."

The High Administrative Court dismissed the appeal and has also reviewed the situation of Syrians returning back after applying for asylum in Europe to conclude that the applicant did not prove an individual risk of persecution in case of being returned, in order to justify refugee status.