Will be re-examined

Family reunification stopped in 1000 cases for the time being

1000 cases of family reunification are now being re-examined.

(Bild: P. Huber)

A bombshell on the subject of family reunification: the Ministry of the Interior announced on Tuesday that 1000 cases that have already been positively examined by the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum will be re-evaluated. At the EU Council of Interior Ministers in Luxembourg, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) spoke of "a kind of planned square", as there had been falsifications. Criticism came from the UNHCR.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, the reason for the investigations is the suspicion of corruption among Syrian authorities and doubts as to whether birth certificates from Syria are correct. Minister Karner said in Luxembourg that he had already announced a few weeks ago "that there will have to be a kind of planned square in the checks, because it has simply been established that the system has been abused in some embassies and that documents have been falsified. It is then up to the authorities, including the police, to monitor this more closely."

"Ensure that there are no forgeries"
The embassies, "but also those who have already entered the country, must ensure and guarantee that there are no forgeries. This is necessary for a system to remain credible and for a system to work."

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP)

(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

In a written statement, the Ministry of the Interior referred to the statements made by Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), who had already announced stricter rules on family reunification at the beginning of May. According to the Ministry of the Interior, "DNA tests are to be increasingly used to provide absolutely reliable proof of kinship". This is necessary "in order to be able to recognize genuine but incorrect documents", referring to "suspicions of corruption among local Syrian authorities". It must be ensured "that no one comes to Austria using forged documents".

This also applies to people who have received a positive probability prognosis from the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum. Before the office transmits such a positive probability prognosis to the representation authority, "all doubts about the identity and the stated family relationship must be dispelled", the Ministry of the Interior justified the new checks "on the basis of the new criteria".

Nehammer: "Jointly responsible for security in the country"
Chancellor Nehammer also rejected the accusation of political motivation. He was "jointly responsible for security in this country", for ensuring that there is an orderly form of integration and that the state can carry out its regulatory and control function, he explained on Thursday. Family reunification is a "major problem" and overburdens schools and kindergartens. This is why we need to take a "close look".

Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP)

(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer)

For this reason, he has instructed the Minister of the Interior to "check whether all those who come here are really families", said Nehammer: "These checks are currently taking place." In his view, this is an "important and correct measure".

Criticism from asylum NGOs
Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz, spokesperson for the Asylum Coordination Association, criticized on Ö1 that the Austrian embassies had cancelled at least 100 appointments that had already been set for the issuing of visas, and that 400 women and children were affected. According to Asylum Coordination, this concerns around a dozen embassies where applications from Syria are processed. "If there are doubts in individual cases, the authorities are of course instructed to check again in more detail. But since the cancelation of appointments is happening on a large scale, it seems that it is rather politically motivated in order not to allow any entries here until the National Council elections," said the spokesperson. According to NGO representatives, individual families have already had to cancel booked flights to Austria.

In response to this accusation, Karner emphasized in Luxembourg that those affected should therefore be advised "not to book flights too early, but only when a legal stay is possible". Karner also pointed out that it is important to prevent illegal migration in general. This is why "a functioning asylum and migration pact is needed in Europe, with functioning external borders".

UNHCR: "Months of delay"
Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for family reunifications of refugees not to be made any more difficult. The examinations would "delay procedures for months and keep families - often with young children - separated from each other for even longer", the High Commissioner said in a press release. In the worst case scenario, this could mean "that family members would have to undertake yet another dangerous journey to the nearest Austrian embassy in crisis areas or that other families would lose flight tickets that had already been booked". In the opinion of the UNHCR, DNA tests to prove a family relationship should "only be ordered as a last resort if there are serious doubts or indications of fraudulent intentions".

We will tighten the asylum brake even more.

ÖVP-Generalsekretär Christian Stocker

ÖVP Secretary General Christian Stocker was somewhat in election campaign mode on this topic: "While (FPÖ leader Herbert, note) Kickl is once again just talking, our Federal Chancellor is acting," he said on Thursday. Kickl only talks "grandiloquently", but has "achieved nothing himself". "His record as Interior Minister is disastrous, apart from symbolic politics, no real and sustainable measures have been taken in migration policy." And: "We will tighten the asylum brake even more, because you can see that the asylum brake is working."