Austria stops family reunification: effects on integration and education

Austria stops family reunification: effects on integration and education

Österreich - On April 25, 2025, Ernst Gödl, spokesman for the ÖVP for security, integration and migration, announced in the National Council that Austria will stop family reunification. This procedure was justified as a necessary measure to secure public institutions as well as the educational, security and social systems, which would otherwise be overwhelmed by the high number of people seeking protection. In recent years, Austria has taken around 70,000 protection seekers, including 12,000 minor refugees, which brought considerable challenges in the educational sector. Schools are under pressure because many of these young migrants have come into the country without training and knowledge of German, which makes integration more difficult.

Gödl emphasized that the changes to the 2005 asylum law were decisive with the participation of his party. This change in the law provides for a stop of the family reunification in order to relieve the country's capacities. A new draft regulation will now grant the Interior Minister the necessary powers to implement this regulation. Relatives of minor refugees, on the other hand, should continue to be able to move in unhindered in order to take into account Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

decline in immigration via family reunification

A remarkable decline in the people who came to Austria through the family reunification could be determined: While around 2,000 people were still in the first quarter of 2024, it was only 160. Gödl argued in the same period of 2023 that these figures were more positive compared to the times under the FPÖ Interior Minister Herbert Kickl. At the same time, he sharply criticized the FPÖ and accused her of dramatizing the existing problems without offering real solutions.

Integration challenges followed by family members

A current study by the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) On behalf of the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF), a light throws the challenges that followed up with the family members. The analysis of data from 12,500 asylum and subsidiary protection persons shows that follow-up asylum enthusiasts are less successfully integrated into society than directly asylum-requesting people. This applies in particular to labor market access and learning the German language.

For example, only 22 % of the women who have followed are employed, in contrast to 28 % of women with their own asylum application. For men, the employment rate is 41 %, while 38 % are in training. The study also found that follow -up women rarely attended German courses and are often based on traditional role models. These factors help to make the integration process difficult.

support offers of the Austrian integration fund

The Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) provided comprehensive integration offers last year, including 67,500 German courses, 80,000 integration tests and 230,000 consultations in integration centers. These offers aim to support the fast language acquisition and the career entry with flexible course times and digital learning opportunities. In addition, ÖIF women's centers offer multilingual seminars and consultations on topics such as work, education and health.