Applying in Austria – Every fifth asylum seeker is already registered in another country

A total of 112,272 people applied for asylum in Austria last year (see video above). 22 percent were previously admitted to another country, the “Wiener Zeitung” reported on Friday. This is a significantly lower share than in previous years. In the Eurodac database published by the Ministry of the Interior, asylum seekers are counted when they are apprehended or when they submit an application. This is intended to prevent someone from applying for asylum in more than one country.

Karner wants support from Germany
This includes not only the EU countries, but also Iceland, Great Britain, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. In an interview with the German daily newspaper “Die Welt”, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) recently called for support from the German government for asylum seekers centres. “I expressly welcome Germany’s reconsideration of migration issues and the fact that the Traffic Light Coalition is now not only in favor of fast-track asylum procedures at the EU’s external borders, but is also intensively investigating whether asylum centers and asylum procedures in safe third countries should be established,” he stressed.

With a new European asylum policy, Austria would no longer accept migrants from third countries. In the future distribution of migrants, the European Commission must take into account the number of people that a Member State such as Austria has already taken in. “To put it plainly, I have a clear expectation from Brussels that practically no more refugees from Africa or Asia will come to Austria illegally once the EU has a Common European Asylum System (CEAS),” he said.

The government already monitors the national borders where necessary, for example with drones, patrols and military personnel at the borders. This would prevent tens of thousands of illegal border crossings every year.