Family reunification in Austria: Government raises the alarm!

Family reunification in Austria: Government raises the alarm!

Wien, Österreich - Austria took a dramatic step and temporarily stopped the family reunification of migrants. Integration Minister Claudia Plakolm warned that the existing systems are overloaded and that the situation can no longer be managed without this measure. Around 7,762 family members of beneficiaries, mostly minors, came to Austria in 2024, which significantly reinforced the burden in particular of the education system. In large cities such as Vienna, Graz and Linz, every second elementary school child has already had a different mother tongue than German, reported kosmo.at .

The minister made it clear that not only the number of students is a challenge, but also many migrants, including adults, are not literally, which also makes integration more difficult. 48,000 entitled to asylum and subsidiary, including refugees from Ukraine, are unemployed or are in training programs, which Plakolm described as alarming. She emphasized that integration only works when migrants learn the German language and integrate into the labor market. It is also worrying that family reunification is considered a "pull factor", which leads to the formation of parallel societies, which favors radical tendencies like fasting Muslim children in Ramadan, such as oe24 reports .

urgent measures required

In order to master the crisis, an emergency clause in the Council of Ministers will be decided on Wednesday in order to change the national regulations accordingly and to stop family reunification immediately. Plakolm emphasized that these drastic measures are necessary before the situation continues to escalate. Family reunification in this form cannot be continued as long as the existing systems of integration are on the verge of collapse.