Secret report from the office

Fictitious marriage mishap: what will change after the revelation

After the "Krone" headlines about the office grotesque surrounding a visa for a sham marriage: FPÖ state leader Mario Kunasek ordered a review.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz)

The investigation into the Graz authorities' mishap following the revelation of a fictitious marriage over the Internet in violation of residence law has been completed. The report, which is still secret, suggests several consequences. However, the workload at the Styrian provincial government office is also alarming: one employee deals with 925 cases per year.

The "Krone" revelation about the absurdity of the offices in the green mark has hit home. As reported, a young Afghan is said to have married a 26-year-old countrywoman virtually over the internet and then applied for family reunification. Despite an obvious warning from the immigration police (which the responsible authority claims never to have received) about a so-called "residence marriage", i.e. a "yes" word to obtain a visa, a provisional positive decision was made.

The office was not even responsible
Then came the next bombshell in the highly embarrassing farce and political mud-slinging between the ÖVP and FPÖ: the Styrian provincial administration was not actually responsible - and the application should never have been approved. Because the young man was a person entitled to subsidiary protection. The Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum is therefore responsible. After the suspension of family reunification decided by politicians, there would have been none for the Afghan couple.

FPÖ provincial governor Mario Kunasek immediately thanked the "Krone" and ordered a thorough review of the events worthy of clarification in Department 3 for Constitution and Home Affairs of the Styrian provincial government on the basis of the report.

After the "Krone" headlines about the official grotesque surrounding a visa for a sham marriage: FPÖ state leader Mario Kunasek ordered a review.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz)

Four-eyes principle and new specialist department
The search for errors revealed that in this specific case, the refugee status was not checked based on the number in the "foreign passport". Only the embassy report was used. There are now several consequences: With immediate effect, there will be one fixed meeting per week for initial applications, at which a dual control principle will also apply. In the medium term, it is planned to set up a separate specialist department "to relieve the head of his management tasks", as it says. In addition, all employees in the department have been sensitized ...

A total of 115 cases of family reunification were subsequently checked again between last year and this year. In the process, a further application from a person entitled to subsidiary protection was discovered immediately and therefore rejected.

Flood of applications overwhelmed
The general flood of applications that the Office of the Provincial Government in Graz has to deal with is also impressive. "Unfortunately, errors cannot be completely ruled out, especially in view of the workload caused by daily party traffic," the report explains.

The figures: 27 civil servants in the department have to process 25,000 applications per year. In purely mathematical terms, this means that just one employee has 925 cases on their desk.