Austria pulls the emergency brake: Family access for asylum seekers stopped!

Austria pulls the emergency brake: Family access for asylum seekers stopped!

Wien, Österreich - On March 26, 2025, the Austrian Council of Ministers passed a delicate decision: Family reunification for asylum seekers should be temporarily suspended. On this day, an initiative application was decided, which could probably be passed in the National Council in April. This measure is part of a comprehensive strategy that is supposed to react to the overload of the existing systems, in particular the education system.

Integration Minister Claudia Plakolm (ÖVP) explains that one is at the "end of resilience" and at the same time press the "stop key". With the planned regulation, the government is given the opportunity to temporarily suspend applications for family reunification by regulation. The suspension should be effective in mid -May 2025 and is initially limited until the end of September 2026.

criticism and concerns

The measure is viewed critically from different sides. Critics accuse the government that it could violate the principles of asylum law and the European Convention on Human Rights. Nevertheless, the coalition of the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS emphasizes that it refers to the EU's emergency clause, which takes effect if the public order is threatened or internal. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner makes it clear that the areas of living, health and education are overloaded in Austria and warns of increasing youth crime.

Furthermore, Plakolm refers to the challenges in the integration area: Currently, around 48,000 asylum -entitled or subsidiary persons are unemployed or in training, although access to the labor market is open to them. Especially in larger cities such as Vienna or Graz, many elementary school students do not speak German as a colloquial language. The family reunification, which brought more than 18,000 people to Austria over the past two years, including 13,000 minor children, should therefore also be stopped as a pull factor to avoid parallel societies.

integration in focus

Integration Minister Plakolm emphasizes that integration requires clear rules that must be met both by the immigrant and the Austrian systems. She warns that it is not just about learning the German language, but also about the willingness to work and to adhere to the local rules. In addition, values ​​that are lived in Austria, especially when dealing with religion and traditions, are considered central to successful integration.

The stop of the family reunification is accompanied by the vision that everyone who lives in Austria must actively become part of society. These strategic considerations are intended to make migrants more sustainable and ensure that the existing systems are not overwhelmed. While the political debate on this topic continues, it remains to be seen how the situation will develop in the coming months.

5min.at reports that the special regulation for the suspension of the family reunification is limited until September 2026, while the Bundeskanzleramt clarifies that the integration of migrants plays a key role. Deutsche Welle also explains that because of the complicated situation in asylum law, Austrians now need a strategy more than ever to deal with the challenges of migration.