Trend has reversed

Afghans overtake Syrians in asylum applications

For the first time in a long time, Afghans are once again the nation with the highest number of asylum applications (symbolic image).

(Bild: studio v-zwoelf - stock.adobe.com)

The political upheaval in Syria is leaving its mark on the Austrian asylum system: For the first time in months, Afghans are the largest group of applicants - while the number of Syrian asylum applications has plummeted. One possible reason: the Ministry of the Interior is suspending applications until the situation in Damascus clears up.

For the first time in many months, people from Syria were not the largest group of applicants in January, but Afghans. A total of 618 applications were submitted by Syrians, compared to 1393 in the same month in 2024. One of the possible reasons for this is that the Ministry of the Interior is currently not processing applications from Syrians until the situation in Damascus clears up after the change of power.

Numbers down across Europe
A total of 1918 applications were submitted in January. This is significantly fewer than in the previous year, when 2287 applications were submitted in the first month of the year. In January 2023, there were still 4288. 62,216 asylum applications were submitted across Europe in January. This is 24 percent or 19,256 fewer applications than in the same period in 2024 (81,472).

Special effect occurs with Afghans
The largest group in Austria this time were Afghans with 629 applications. However, a special effect must be taken into account here. This is because only 199 people submitted an application for the first time. The others are people who have temporary (subsidiary) protection in Austria but have submitted a new asylum application. This could be due, among other things, to talks held by the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul, which may increase the chances of people being deported to Afghanistan again.

Apart from Syrians, the number of applications was only in the three-digit range for Syrians. In third place are citizens of the Russian Federation with 75 applications.

Only twelve applications from Syrians decided positively
The monthly statistics also show that the chances of Syrians being granted asylum status are currently low. Only twelve applications were approved. In comparison: Afghans were granted asylum 297 times and Somalis 36 times. In total, asylum, subsidiary protection and humanitarian residence were granted 627 times in January.

However, the occupancy rate of basic welfare support continued to fall slightly. As of February 1, almost 67,500 people were included in this category, a decrease of around 700 people compared to January.