Corona delaying asylum applications ctu, 16.3.2021 - 07:13 Uhr Artikel anhören Foto: ImagoA refugee centre in Stuttgart. Can you imagine the paperwork involved in an asylum application? Berlin - Asylum seekers in Germany currently have to wait even longer for a decision on their petition thanks to corona. Last year, applicants waited an average 8.3 months for a decision, according to a reply from the German interior ministry to an inquiry by parliamentarian Ulla Jelpke (Die Linke). The inquiry was reported by the Neuer Osnabrücker Zeitung. The wait is disappointing because the current German government stipulated in its coalition agreement to shorten asylum application times. And Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with the heads of Germany's 16 states during the height of the refugee crisis in September 2015 to limit the process to three months.