When then 15-year-old Arigona Zogaj was about to be deported in 2007, her case sparked debate about the domestic asylum system. Now the 32-year-old Kosovo native has received Austrian citizenship
There was great excitement when the Zogaj family was about to be deported to Kosovo in September 2007. The girl went into hiding for fifteen days and found a source of support in Reverend Josef Friedl, who supported the family in their struggle to stay in Austria. She even threatened suicide if her family were deported.
Interior Minister Fekter showed steadfastness despite “deer eyes”.
Thousands of other people demonstrated at the time to protest against the deportation. The community of Frankenburg, where the family lived, and fellow students also stood up for them. But in vain: in 2010 the Zogajs had to leave Austria. “I have to act according to the law, regardless of whether there are doe eyes staring at me from the television or not,” then Interior Minister Maria Fekter said at the time.
Arigona, her mother and two of her siblings were finally allowed to return a few months later with a student visa and a temporary work permit. In 2012 she received her father and her two older brothers, who had lived in Kosovo for a long time and returned to the country with the red-white-red card.
Arigona has been Austrian for six months
Since then, Arigona Zogaj has not appeared in public. After obtaining the HBLA in Linz, she started studying business law. She completed this course with a bachelor’s degree and now works in the insurance industry, reports “Salzburger Nachrichten”. A family friend explained to the newspaper that the 32-year-old has now had Austrian citizenship for six months.
Source: Krone
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