No refugees – deportations: the majority come from EU countries

“It’s fair to say that last year was the year of deportations,” said Karner, who praised his own policies. If someone has lost the right to stay in the country, he must also leave the country. The Minister of the Interior emphasized that the focus of the 5,990 forced deportations was on criminal cases. Although these are often EU citizens, he also sees successes in asylum policy. Austria has become unattractive to smugglers.

Karner sees “measures having an effect”
Karner particularly highlighted the thirty bilateral repatriation agreements with other countries, most recently with Bulgaria and Romania. Asylum seekers whose countries of origin are not considered safe are deported there. “The measures are coming into force,” Karner emphasized.

The deputy director of the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA), Karoline Preißer, also emphasized the good cooperation. Karner wants to “continue to put pressure” on deportations to countries such as Syria and Afghanistan.

The asylum figures of the past year were also presented again: last year there were 59,232 applications, 47 percent less than in 2022. By far the largest group of asylum applications came from Syrian nationals. The BFA made decisions in a total of 78,741 cases, of which 19 percent (14,748) were granted asylum, and 8,430 people were granted temporary protection or a humanitarian right to remain. This compared to 24,391 (31 percent) negative decisions, and there were also 31,172 dismissals of proceedings.