|Published on: 10th July 2025|Categories: News|
The updated AIDA Country Report on Austria provides a detailed overview on legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2024. It is accompanied by an annex which provides an overview of temporary protection.
A number of key developments drawn from the overview of the main changes that have taken place since the publication of the update on 2023 are set out below.
(A) International protection
Asylum procedure
- Statistics: 25,360 applications were lodged in Austria in 2024. This represented a 57% decrease from 2023 (59,000). The top three countries of origin of applicants in 2024 were Syria (55%), Afghanistan (13%) and Türkiye (4%). International protection or humanitarian status was granted in 25,260 cases and no status was granted in 6,761 others (79% in merit protection rate protection rate).
- Access to the territory: Austria maintained internal border controls at its borders with Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary throughout 2024. In parallel, Germany maintained internal border controls with Austria. In an internal protocol dated February 2025, the Federal Ministry of the Interior stated that there were indications that German police had conducted unlawful rejections at the Germany-Austria border.
- Length of procedures and pending cases: The average duration of the asylum procedure at first instance increased to 7.8 months in 2024, compared to 5.5 months in 2023 and 3.5 months in 2022. This increase was also reflected in the high number of complaints lodged before the Austrian Ombudsperson in 2024 (929 of which 771 were deemed justified). There were 29,366 cases pending at the end of 2024. This represented an overall decrease from 2023 but a 43% increase at second instance.
- Legal counselling: Following the 2023 decision by the Austrian Constitutional Court that partially annulled the Federal Agency for Care and Support Services Act, the legislation was amended in 2024. Several of the Federal Agency for Care and Support Services’ key functions, particularly those related to its independence in providing legal counselling, were explicitly enshrined in law in 2024. While NGOs acknowledged that this represented an improvement, fundamental concerns persisted regarding the structural contradiction of a state-run legal advisory body assisting refugees in challenging decisions made by the very authority to which it is institutionally subordinate.
Reception conditions
- Reception centres: At the end of 2024, only 10 Federal Basic Care facilities with a maximum capacity of 3,831 were in use. 11 others which had been in operation in 2023 were decommissioned (rather than closed) so that they could be reopened more easily in case of an increase in applications. By December 2024, only 14,000 asylum applicants were accommodated in the Basic Care System, both at the federal and provincial levels, the lowest number in 10 years.
- Benefits-in-kind card: The introduction of the benefits-in-kind card (‘Sachleistungskarte’), which was intended to replace cash, started in 2024. Initially rolled out in Upper Austria, the card allows for cash withdrawals of up to €40, as well as payments in supermarkets, pharmacies, etc. In June 2024, a separate “payment card” system through the Pluxee service provider was introduced in Lower Austria. Unlike the Sachleistungskarte, the Pluxee card does not allow for cash withdrawals so asylum applicants who use it also receive €40 in cash each month. In addition, the Pluxee card is not a debit card, so users are unable to make purchases in pharmacies, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) vending machines, social markets, regular markets or second-hand shops.
- Extension of the scope of charitable work activities open to asylum applicants: In July 2024, the scope of charitable work that can be undertaken by asylum applicants was extended. Since that time, in addition to being permitted to undertake charitable aid work in municipalities, asylum applicants are also able to work in other non-profit organisations (e.g. NGOs, nursing homes, etc.).
- Additional grounds for reduction of allowance while in Federal Basic Care: For most asylum applicants in Federal Basic Care facilities, the extension of the scope of charitable work was linked to an obligation to undertake at least 10 hours of such activities per month. A number of exceptions exist for people with physical infirmity or proven illnesses. Anyone else who fails to fulfil this obligation is only entitled to half of the € 40 allowance. Similarly, following the introduction of mandatory basic courses for asylum applicants in Federal Basic Care, anyone who refuse refuses to participate also loses half of the allowance. A number of stakeholders have disputed the legality of both of these obligations.
Detention of asylum applicants
- Detention in view of Dublin transfer to Italy despite the lack of transfers since end of 2022: Although Italy has refused to take in any Dublin transfers since December 2022, Austrian authorities continued to take transfer decisions towards Italy in 2024. They also continued to apply detention measures to affected applicants on the assumption that Italy would change its policy. However, just as in 2023, the applicants were released from detention after a short time when no policy change took place.
Content of international protection
- Withdrawal of status: All asylum procedures for Syrian nationals were suspended following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 at which time the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced that it would start planning deportation programmes. More than 500 withdrawal procedures had been initiated by the end of 2024 due to the alleged improvement of the situation in Syria. By end of March 2025, more than 6,000 withdrawal procedures – most of them concerning Syrians – were pending at first instance.
- Family reunification: Approximately 9,000 asylum applicants arrived in Austria through family reunification in 2024. In spring 2024, the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced that it would scale up DNA tests and that all entry visas would be revoked and re-checked. Family reunifications that had already been approved were cancelled and subsequently re-examined. The granting of visas resumed in late summer 2024. This policy increased the average procedural time massively (more than 16 months in early 2025). In parallel, due to a change in case law on Syria and the fall of the Assad regime, visas that had already been issued for families of beneficiaries of international protection from Syria were revoked by the authorities and all cases of family reunification were re-examined yet again. In March 2025, the government announced the implementation of a temporary suspension of all family reunifications on the grounds that there was an emergency situation for public order or national security (invocation of Article 72 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU). Several NGOs criticised this move as unlawful under EU law, counterproductive to integration efforts and a clear violation of the rights of refugees.
(B) Temporary protection
- Key temporary protection statistics: As of January 2025, approximately 78,000 Ukrainian nationals who had entered Austria since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022 were registered in the Central Register of Residence, and 37,000 of them were receiving support via Basic Care. Throughout 2024, between 1,000 and 1,600 additional Ukrainian nationals arrived in Austria each month.
- Residence prospect for displaced persons: Since October 2024, beneficiaries of temporary protection have been able to apply for the ‘Red-White-Red-Card-Plus’ residence permit. Due to the conditions to be fulfilled (e.g. income threshold), only a very small number of people are able to benefit from it. As of January 2025, around 1,000 beneficiaries have been granted this residence status.
- Social benefits: In March 2025, access to family allowance and childcare subsidies was extended until October 2025 only, instead of until March 2026 as previously planned. In addition, access to full basic care was restricted by the administrative authorities. One notable change was that Ukrainian beneficiaries who own a car are no longer eligible for basic care assistance. In 2024, the authorities also started taking the Ukrainian pension benefits received by beneficiaries into full account. This resulted in a reduction in their basic care payments in Austria and demands for the repayment of benefits.
The full report is available here and the annex on temporary protection is available here.
For more information about the AIDA database or to read other AIDA reports, please visit the AIDA website.
