The case concerned an applicant of unknown nationality who applied to the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen for an interim measure pursuant to Section 123 of the Administrative Court Code against a Dublin transfer to Bulgaria on grounds that the extension of the transfer deadline carried out by BAMF was unlawful and that the deadline had therefore expired.

In fact, the Immigration Office could not find the applicant when they searched his room at 04:15 in the morning, even though he was undoubtedly present at this time in the reception centre. Subsequently, at 14:39, BAMF informed the Bulgarian authorities that the transfer deadline had been extended because the applicant was absconding. BAMF had not made any further attempts to find the applicant in the meantime.

The Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen ruled that the extension of the transfer deadline pursuant to Article 29(2) sentence 2 of the Dublin III Regulation required that the applicant was still absconding at the relevant time of the extension of the transfer deadline. The Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen considered that the relevant time in question was the moment of the notification from BAMF to the Bulgarian authorities (here at 14:39).

Based on this, the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen ruled that at the time of the notification to the Bulgarian authorities at 14:39, the applicant was not absconding, as he was undoubtedly present in the reception centre and could probably have been found inside the centre during the course of the day. In this regard, the court noted that the long duration of the notification of absconding status from the Immigration Office to the BAMF further to the Bulgarian authorities was at BAMF's expense. Based on the above, the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen granted the interim measure.