Emergency injunction: one week, one life.

The Dresden Administrative Court has ordered the suspensive effect of a Venezuelan family’s claim. The threatened deportation is stopped until the main proceedings are decided. The Federal Office had rejected the asylum application as „manifestly unfounded" – with the legal consequence of a one-week departure deadline and no automatic suspensive effect of the claim. In this constellation, the emergency injunction is the only lever that can halt the deportation. Win it and the client stays. Lose it and the client can be removed at any time, even while the main proceedings continue.

1. What the emergency application is really about

When the Federal Office rejects an asylum application as „manifestly unfounded", a special rule applies: the departure deadline is one week, and the main claim alone does not help – in this constellation it has no suspensive effect. The decision is immediately enforceable; the immigration authority can start deportation in parallel with the running claim.

The only way to prevent that is the emergency application under § 80 (5) VwGO. It has to reach the Administrative Court within one week of service. If it succeeds, the court orders the suspensive effect: the deportation is stopped, the client may stay, the main case continues at its normal pace. If it fails, the door is closed.

This is not a procedural detail. It is the decisive turning point. Behind it lie residence, work, school, medical care – everything that an asylum case needs time and stability for.

2. Why the week is the hardest part

One week sounds like time. It is not. Into that week must fit: first contact with counsel, power of attorney, file inspection, reading the decision, sorting the arguments, gathering certificates and evidence, writing the application, electronic submission. Anyone who starts on the day of service has seven working days. Anyone who waits three days has four.

On top of that: an emergency application that merely repeats the headings of the decision rarely works. The court examines, in emergency proceedings, whether there are serious doubts about the lawfulness. Those doubts must be backed by sources – country reports, current data, medical certificates, price research. Anyone who can work that week with routine wins cases that would have been lost on standard text.

3. What carried this case

Three points carried each other.

First: speed. The decision was served on a Wednesday. The emergency application reached the court on Thursday – one day later. The reasoning followed within the three-day window the court had set. Anyone who acts within the first 24 to 72 hours has enough room for the second wave.

Second: current figures. The Federal Office had calculated, in its decision, with a household basket of around 504 USD for a five-person family in Venezuela. That number was months old. The Venezuelan teachers’ federation Cendas-FVM put the same basket at 677 USD in March 2026 – an increase of 34 per cent in nine months. With inflation above 50 per cent in two months, that figure is already out of date again. Added to that were concrete pharmacy prices for the client’s three psychotropic medications, researched directly at the largest Venezuelan pharmacy chain and converted at the official BCV exchange rate.

Third: follow-up. The application was filed in March. In April the client’s health deteriorated. A week of inpatient psychiatric treatment followed. The preliminary discharge summary – with diagnoses of recurrent depressive disorder, personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, arterial hypertension, persistent suicidal ideation without safe distancing, and inability to work – was submitted to the court immediately. In emergency proceedings, the relevant point is the situation at the time of the decision. New facts between filing and ruling count. The court expressly relied on that discharge summary in its order.

4. What matters to us in this

An emergency application is not a standard form. It is decided where someone, in the first week, looked carefully: which data are up to date? Which sources hold up? Which medical diagnosis matches which legal element? Who continues to support the client after the application has been filed? Those four questions decide a significant share of emergency proceedings – and they are rarely all worked on at once.

In our practice we handle emergency applications by a simple rule: 24 to 72 hours from first contact to draft, in parallel gathering evidence, then following up on the medical and economic situation after filing. That routine grew out of years of Venezuelan asylum cases. It does not replace a conversation with the person who comes to us, but it makes the difference in the week where every day counts.

5. What this means for your case

If you or someone you know has received a Federal Office decision containing the words „manifestly unfounded", the most important date is the date of service. From that day, the one-week deadline runs. Within that week, both the main claim and the emergency application must be at the Administrative Court.

In practice: on the day of service, scan the decision, call a firm, ask for an appointment the same or the next day. Pull together all certificates, hospital reports, pay slips, rental agreements and administrative decisions that may play any role. Waiting does not destroy the arguments, but it does destroy the chance to put them on the table in time.

6. Conclusion

The emergency application in asylum law decides whether a procedure can be run in peace or under deportation pressure. One week is not enough for many things. For the emergency application it has to be – with the right preparation and concentrated work in the first days.

If the decision is on the table and it contains the words „manifestly unfounded", call. Not tomorrow.

Initial consultation within 24 hours: info@kap-kanzlei.de | WhatsApp +49 163 6666171

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KAP Kanzlei Leipzig | Kleibömer Dr. Arroyave Partnerschaft | Employment law and immigration law