Emergency asylum measures

Karner: “Family reunification practically stopped”

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner(Bild: Screenshot APA-Livestream)

In the fight against illegal migration, the federal government has focused on the issue of family reunification in recent months. At the beginning of May, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner presented several immediate measures that appear to be having an effect. According to the ÖVP minister, family reunification has been "practically stopped".

The head of department confirmed this at a press conference on Wednesday with the following figures: The number of applications fell from 2185 to just under 370 between January and August, while the number of actual arrivals fell from around 1300 to around 100 between March and August.

The reason for the increased scrutiny of documents was the suspicion of corruption among Syrian authorities and doubts as to whether birth certificates from Syria are correct. In order to uncover forged documents, DNA tests are now carried out "at the slightest suspicion", according to Karner. The tests will only be carried out in Austrian embassy hospitals or subsequently by Austrian experts in certified laboratories. All document checks are now only carried out by experts. Even certified translations are checked by the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum. According to the Minister, 132 forged documents were discovered during the course of re-examination of applications that had already been approved.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) sees success in the fight against illegal migration.(Bild: Screenshot APA-Livestream)

Further tightening planned
However, Karner emphasized that more needs to be done. In this context, he also referred to medium-term measures. In future, for example, a spouse should not be able to come to Austria at the age of 18, but only from the age of 21. The head of department also reiterated the ÖVP's demand that only half the social assistance should be paid for the first five years in the country. Both would require legal changes in Austria.

To this end, the Minister of the Interior is planning two initiatives at European level. In his opinion, the ability to support oneself should have to be proven from the very first day. In addition, the suspension clause regarding family reunification should be applied more quickly. Finally, Karner once again urged that individual regions in Syria be declared safe. This would lead to less subsidiary protection being granted and, as a result, family reunification would also be reduced. Austria is currently looking for allies to help implement these plans.