The German government announced last week that temporary controls will be extended to Germany’s internal borders with all nine of its EU neighbours.

That means police will be stepping up checks at all German borders from September 16th, including Denmark, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg where there were previously no checks. 

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, of the Social Democrats (SPD), said the controls would limit migration and “protect against the acute dangers posed by Islamist terrorism and serious crime”.

Being turned away at the borders by police is possible in accordance with European and national law, the Interior Ministry said.

The government added that disruption to commuters would be kept to a minimum. 

READ ALSO: Germany to extend border controls to limit irregular migration

What do I need to know about German border controls?

Border controls – or at least random checks – are already part of everyday life at several German borders.

Since 2015, the main focus of controls on the German side has been on entry from Austria to Germany. Those checks were brought in to counter a large influx of asylum seekers. In mid-October 2023, the Interior Ministry ordered stationary checks at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.

The newly ordered checks concern the land borders with France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. They will come into force on Monday September 16th for at least six months. 

This year, temporary checks were also implemented for Euro 2024 and for the Olympic and Paralympic Games with France. 

Since controls were introduced along large parts of Germany’s eastern border last year, around 30,000 people had been refused entry, Faeser said.

The minister added that the newly introduced measures would raise the number of people sent back to the country they were entering from.

What should travellers expect?

Germany and all its neighbouring countries are members of the Schengen area which means there is free movement – but checks are allowed to take place at borders in some cases as long as they are temporary. 

Travellers should be prepared for possible longer waiting times in some cases, as well as random checks. 

The checks can be carried out on car drivers or on trains and buses crossing the borders. 

Officers may also search delivery vans and trucks as part of the increased checks. 

Some roads are more likely to be hit with delays than others. For instance, there are increased controls on the A17 Prague – Dresden motorway, causing temporary traffic jams at the Breitenau-Schönwald border crossing.

The following crossings with Austria are also often affected by random checks:

• Suben (motorway A3 Linz – Passau)
• Walserberg (A8 Salzburg – Munich)
• Kiefersfelden (A93 Kufstein – Rosenheim)

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has been keen to point out that there will be “targeted controls, not blanket controls”.

As a general rule, all travellers should carry valid ID and any travel documents they need to enter Germany. 

Anyone deemed to be entering Germany illegally could be refused entry. 

READ ALSO: Germany begins expanded border checks

Why are the border checks happening now?

The German government is under increasing pressure to curb the number of migrants arriving in Germany and to crack down on extremists after several suspected Islamist attacks.

In August three people were killed in a knife rampage in the western city of Solingen, in which the Syrian suspect had been slated for deportation but evaded law enforcement.

The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, came just a week before key regional votes in eastern Germany, which saw the far-right AfD score election victories, and inflamed the debate on immigration in the country.

READ ALSO: How an explosive row over immigration has divided Germany 

However, the issue of migration has been on the government agenda for some time and regularly tops the list of what German voters are most concerned about it.

In July, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said: “In general, it is our intention to continue to strictly control the German borders.” 

What has been the reaction from other countries?

Along with the border checks, the German government has been presenting plans to speed up deportations to European partners.

Under EU rules, asylum requests are meant to be handled by the country of arrival. The system has placed a huge strain on countries on the European periphery, where leaders have demanded more burden-sharing.

But many countries have voiced concerns. 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk condemned the moves as “unacceptable”. 

“Rather than greater controls of our border, Poland needs greater participation of countries, including Germany, in guarding and securing the European Union’s external borders,” he added.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Germany tightening its borders means that it would “essentially pass the buck to countries located on the outer borders of Europe”.

Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said his country “will not accept people who are rejected from Germany”.

The European Union was also less then pleased with Germany’s action. Brussels cautioned that border checks within the bloc could be introduced only as an “exceptional” measure.

The European Commission said that member states were allowed to take such a step to address “a serious threat”, but that the measures needed to be “necessary and proportionate”.

“These types of measures should remain strictly exceptional,” a spokeswoman said.

Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers in 2015-16, many of them Syrians, and has hosted over a million Ukrainians since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.

The extra burden on municipal authorities and integration services in Germany needed to be “taken into account”, Germany’s Interior Ministry said when justifying the increased border checks.