Overall, the Federal Office of Immigration and Asylum made more than 21,200 decisions on asylum applications from January to May.
From January to May, a total of 4,045 asylum procedures were expedited in Austria. According to the Ministry of the Interior, these were mainly asylum applications from citizens of Morocco, Pakistan, India, Tunisia and Egypt. In total, the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Asylum (BFA) made more than 21,200 decisions during that period.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, quick procedures are those that last between 72 hours and 25 days. These are candidates who come from safe home countries and are unlikely to stay. The top nationalities in fast-starts during this period were Tunisia (35.5%), Pakistan (23.4%) and India (18.6%). Other relevant nationalities are Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Bangladesh.
Karner: “Smugglers are trying to take advantage of the crisis in Ukraine”
While there were 587 such procedures in 2020, the number rose to 3,693 the year before. According to the Ministry of the Interior, a total of 8,325 quick decisions have been made since June 2020.
For Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP), the quick procedures are “an important guarantee” to maintain the credibility of the asylum system. “Smugglers are trying to take advantage of the crisis in Ukraine and associated refugee movements,” Karner said. “They announce that it has never been easier to get to Europe than it has been since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine.”
(APA)