Interior Ministry closes 3 more asylum shelters as numbers fall
Austria's Interior Ministry is closing three more federal reception centres for asylum seekers in the coming weeks. The facilities in Finkenstein in Carinthia, Graz-Andritz in Styria and Bad Kreuzen in Upper Austria will shut because far fewer people now need federal care. About 4,800 asylum seekers are currently in basic care across Austria, the lowest level in around 20 years, according to the ministry. The main federal centre in Traiskirchen now houses only about 290 people.
The closures were announced on 29 September by Interior Minister Gerhard Karner together with the federal care agency BBU. The ministry says first asylum applications fell from more than 4,500 between January and August 2025 to about 2,500 in the same months of 2026. Arrivals through family reunification, which has been suspended, dropped from 979 to 60 in the same period. Karner said the budget for asylum and immigration matters can be cut by around 20 percent over the next two years, while the police budget stays at about 4.1 billion euros a year and around 2,000 new police trainees are to start in 2027.
"If fewer people come to Austria illegally and fewer people need care, we must also reduce the structures accordingly," Karner said. The BBU says it prepared all three centres for closure this month. People still living in a closing facility are moved to other accommodation, as happened earlier with residents of the Carinthian centre, who were sent to sites in Salzburg, Lower Austria and Upper Austria.
What this means for you: if you live in one of these three centres, your basic care continues after a move, and your asylum procedure is not affected by where you are housed. Make sure your new address is registered, keep all letters from the authorities, and ask BBU staff or an independent counselling service if you have questions about your transfer.