A German court ruled on Tuesday that an Afghan family previously promised visas to enter Germany under a program for those at risk under the Taliban regime must be allowed to travel to the country.

Berlin's administrative court said the family had been given a "legally binding" commitment that overrides the conservative-led government's decision earlier this year to stop the scheme.

The ruling can be appealed by the Foreign Ministry.

It followed an urgent appeal by a woman and 13 family members who were waiting for visas for Germany in Pakistan.

The family had said they face deportation from Pakistan to Afghanistan, where their lives would be in danger from the radical Islamist Taliban, a claim that the judges deemed credible.

What did the court say?

The government had "legally bound itself to the admission through final, unrevoked admission decisions," the judges said.

"Germany cannot free itself from this commitment entered unto voluntarily," they added.

They also said that nothing stood in the way of granting the family visas, as all members had been vetted and found to pose no security concerns.

German visa promises

After the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Germany established various admission procedures for Afghan nationals considered as being in danger from the Islamist group, which is known to repress civil liberties — most notably, women's rights.

The admission schemes were canceled as the German government under conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz takes an increasingly hard line on migration in general.

In their ruling, the judges said that even though the commitment undertaken by the government could be seen as final in this case, Berlin was free to decide whether to end the admission process for Afghan nationals or to define how such a process should be continued.

The court said it had approximately 40 cases related to such matters, but a spokeswoman said different chambers had to decide individually in each of them.

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher

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