Percentage of women increased

Asylum applications continue to fall in Austria

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(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

The number of asylum applications in Austria continues to fall. Accordingly, there were 2509 fewer applications in the first two months of this year than in the same period last year.

In February, 2183 such applications were submitted. This is 104 fewer than in January and represents a decrease of 19 percent compared to February 2023. On the other hand, asylum has been granted in 3277 cases so far this year. In addition, 1404 subsidiary protection and 208 humanitarian residence permits have been granted.

Higher number of negative asylum decisions
While the proportion of negative asylum decisions was slightly higher than positive ones, the opposite was true for subsidiary protection. In contrast, only around one in ten applications for residence on particularly exceptional grounds was granted. The 849 "other decisions" include people who apply for asylum but then travel on (illegally) to their actual destination countries.

44 percent of applicants are women
However, the proportion of female asylum seekers remains relatively high this year. They make up a good 44 percent of applicants. In the previous year, 76 percent of asylum seekers were male. In terms of age groups, 18 to 35-year-olds dominate, followed by children. Only 18 applications have been received from people over 65 in 2024. Syrians make up 61 percent of asylum seekers, while Afghans are the second largest group at 10 percent.

Basic care remains heavily occupied. At the beginning of March, there were 76,277 people in this category. A good half of these (52 percent) come from Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia.

2037 deportations to date
Of the 2037 deportations carried out by the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum, 893 were carried out independently and 1144 by force. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 39 percent of the latter deportees have criminal convictions. However, these are often EU citizens and not asylum seekers. However, the Federal Ministry of the Interior also points out that 76 people were returned to Bulgaria by Dublin transfer by the end of February - including 56 Syrian and 13 Afghan citizens.