An Iranian national was granted refugee status in March 2017. In 2019, he was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months' imprisonment for drug offenses. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees revoked his refugee status in June 2020, refused to grant him subsidiary protection, and imposed a deportation ban with regard to Iran.

In July 2021, an expulsion measure and a three-year entry and residence ban were imposed on him, considering general preventive reasons in light of the crimes he had committed, and deportation was considered possible to a willing country, with the exception of Iran.

The applicant appealed and the Administrative Court ordered that he should be granted a residence permit due to the existence of a deportation ban (Section 25(3) of the Residence Act) and dismissed the rest of his claim. The Higher Administrative Court dismissed the second appeal and ordered BAMF to reconsider the application for a residence permit and considered that the deportation warning issued was unlawful due to the lack of a designation of a destination country.

The Federal Administrative Court upheld the judgment and dismissed the appeals of the parties. The court noted that a foreign national who cannot be deported due to a ban on deportation related to the destination country can also be expelled for purely general preventive reasons. It added that when weighing the public interest for the foreigner to leave the country against the foreign national's interest in remaining in the federal territory (Section 53(1) of the Residence Act), which is carried out at the time of expulsion, obstacles in the country of origin are to be taken into account only if they do not reach the weight of a ban on deportation related to the destination country. Furthermore, the court noted that the interests of remaining must be considered with undiminished weight even if the foreign national's deportation cannot be carried out in the foreseeable future due to a ban on deportation.

Furthermore, the court added that under the Return Directive, there is no scope for a national entry and residence ban without a return decision and an (isolated) ban on issuing a residence permit without an entry and residence ban, has no legal basis in the residence law.

Lastly, the court observed that even if the granting of a residence permit under Section 25(3) of the Residence Act is excluded due to the commission of a serious criminal offense, a foreigner who is enforceably obliged to leave the country may be granted a residence permit on a discretionary basis (Section 25(5) of the Residence Act).