New Austrian tightening in asylum policy
The Austrian government has decided to suspend family reunification for refugees for six months as part of its new measures to tighten asylum policy. This decision was approved at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, after the review phase ended in early June, and will be discussed in the coming days within the main committee of the national parliament. The decision allows for the extension of the freeze period later, and the government has announced its intention to continue this policy until September 2026.
Future measures also include working on a regulated quota system aimed at controlling the family reunification process within reasonable limits. Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said: "We adhere to our approach based on order, security, and justice – both towards those in need of protection and towards the host community."
According to official figures, the number of family members who came to Austria through family reunification has decreased significantly, with the number in May 2024 being around 1,270 people, while it did not exceed 74 people in May 2025. Under the new decision, the possibility of submitting family reunification applications through embassies remains, but the processing of these applications will be delayed, and the previous six-month deadline will not apply.
The government says this step is necessary due to the increasing pressure on the education and social care systems, resulting from the large numbers of children and adolescents who have arrived through family reunification processes in recent years. The Secretary General of the People's Party, "Niko Markiti," stated that this increase has led to the exhaustion of educational and social systems. "Karner" confirmed that Austria has taken many steps in recent years to enforce a strict asylum policy, including the introduction of in-kind assistance cards for asylum seekers as part of basic care, a model adopted by states such as Oberösterreich, Salzburg, and Steiermark.
Since July 2024, community service has become mandatory for asylum seekers under federal care, with over 350,000 hours of work completed so far. Basic courses on rules and values have also been introduced, with more than 6,000 participants to date.
Statistics show a significant decline in the number of illegal crossing attempts. In week 25 of 2022, around 1,800 crossing attempts were recorded in Burgenland, compared to only 60 in the same week of 2025. The number of federal care centers has been reduced from over 30 centers in the fall of 2023 to just eight. More than 5,500 deportations were carried out from January to May 2025, some using force. Regarding deportations to Syria and Afghanistan, Karner clarified that the goal remains to deport criminals and suspects with the utmost severity, although a deportation plan to Syria failed this week due to airspace closure as a result of the war in the Middle East. He considered that his recent talks in Damascus were essential to achieve this goal.