Fewer than Europeans

140 Syrians and Afghans left voluntarily in 2023

Last year, 140 people from Afghanistan and Syria left the country voluntarily. Overall, Europeans make up the largest proportion of deportees, as the answer to a parliamentary question from MP Hannes Amesbauer (FPÖ) now shows.

Slovakia was the top destination country last year (600), followed by Hungary, Romania, Poland and, as the first non-EU country, Serbia. In the first third of the year, Turkey was at the top of the list for voluntary departures, with Serbia and Georgia in second and third place. 101 people chose to go to Syria and 39 to Afghanistan.

Most recently, the Constitutional Court declared it permissible to deport individuals back to Afghanistan . The argument: the situation under the Taliban regime had stabilized to a certain extent. The lives and integrity of the people in the country were no longer threatened by international or domestic conflicts. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) would also like to deport people back to safe regions in Syria.

High costs for out-of-country removals
However, out-of-country removals incur high costs: 3.7 million euros were spent on this in the previous year, including 303,000 euros for the deportation of 22 people to Iraq and 60,600 euros for three people to Colombia and one to the Dominican Republic. Deportations within Europe are also not cheap: 425,000 euros were paid for 58 returns to Bulgaria.