Asylum numbers increase: Only every second one has integration course in Austria!

Asylum numbers increase: Only every second one has integration course in Austria!

Wien, Österreich - In 2024, a worrying picture shows in the integration balance for refugees in Austria. Only 40 percent of recognized asylum seekers have passed the mandatory integration tests of the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF), despite the enormous efforts to offer integration courses. With 80,000 exams carried out, 2024 is an increase of 21 percent compared to the previous year, as Today.at . In contrast, around 70 percent of volunteers have successfully mastered the exams, which makes the challenges for the other groups of refugees all the more clearer.

The increase in exams is gratifying, but the low success rates raise questions: Since 2017, the values ​​and orientation courses and German lessons have been mandatory for asylum seekers. In the event of non -fulfillment, legal consequences threaten to reduce social benefits. This focuses on the will to integrate, the importance of which also emphasizes kosmo.at . Franz Wolf, director of the ÖIF, emphasizes the need to learn German and actively participate in social life in order to successfully design integration. Particular attention applies to the increasing number of asylum and the low level of education of many refugees, which is an enormous challenge for integration policy.

The reactions to these developments are loud: FPÖ general secretary Michael Schledlitz sharply criticized the federal government and attested a failure in integration policy. He demands that integration must be a "debt" for the refugees, not an "all-inclusive alimening" at the expense of taxpayers. Serious concerns about the integration ability of asylum seekers are present both in public and in political circles, while the number of integration courses and their effects are still the focus of the debate.