Illegal migration

Ukrainians working as fake Romanians in the country

Aliens police check at the Höchst customs office.(Bild: Landespolizeidirektion Vorarlberg )

The immigration police in Vorarlberg have tracked down six Ukrainians who had been working for a company in the country with forged passports. There have also been stricter controls at the borders and in asylum homes recently.

The officers had already tracked down the Ukrainians on January 22 of this year as part of a priority check in road traffic. Among other things, a man was checked who identified himself with a driving license and identity card from Romania. However, a specially trained document trainer from the immigration police discovered that the documents were forged. It quickly became clear that the 42-year-old was actually from Ukraine and had been using the forged IDs in Austria since 2018. Thanks to these documents, he was able to pass himself off as an EU citizen from Romania with various authorities and on the job market.

Apparently not an isolated case: as it turned out in the course of further investigations, five other employees of the company where the man was employed had forged documents from Romania - but in reality they were all Ukrainian citizens. The six men were charged on suspicion of forgery of specially protected documents and unlawful residence in Austria. The 42-year-old will also be prosecuted for driving without a valid license.

It was not the only success of the Aliens Police in recent weeks: at the beginning of February, an illegal immigrant from Kenya was arrested during a check at an asylum shelter in Bregenzerwald - she is now in detention pending deportation. 

The immigration police have also recently stepped up checks at the borders. For example, almost 200 comprehensive identity checks were carried out on the railroad line between Bludenz and Lindau (Germany) alone during several priority checks in mid-February. As a "by-catch", drugs were confiscated from two people, and in six cases the officers punished various administrative offenses with a report to the responsible district authority. Even a man wanted on a warrant was caught by the immigration police.