The number of asylum applications also decreased in October and November. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, 9,893 people applied for asylum in Austria in October, 46 percent fewer than in the same period last year – preliminary figures for November are similar. A total of 53,641 asylum applications were submitted until October this year, a decrease of 42 percent compared to the first ten months of 2022.
The ministry said there had been a significant decline, especially in Burgenland. In this state, police reported no arrests for several days.
Reasons given by the Ministry of the Interior for the decline in numbers include consistent checks at border points and border areas in Austria, as well as the deployment of Austrian police officers to combat smugglers’ routes abroad. There would also be international initiatives, such as visa requirements for Indians and Tunisians in Serbia, as well as new return agreements with India or Morocco and cooperation in border protection in countries bordering the EU.
In the EU, Norway and Switzerland, the trend is reversed: a total of 912 thousand applications were submitted in these countries, a quarter more than in the same period last year. Asylum applications increased particularly sharply in Germany (67 percent), Italy (63 percent), Spain (40 percent) and France (37 percent).
The majority of asylum applications in Austria in October 2023 were lodged by Syrian citizens (3,777), followed by people from Turkey (2,880), Afghanistan (916), Morocco (735) and Pakistan (216). In the annual statistics so far, people from Syria are also at the top – a total of 18,120 asylum applications in Austria, of which 2,679 were women and 8,145 children.
By the end of October, 13,649 people had received a positive asylum decision. In contrast, 21,785 asylum decisions were negative. A total of 7,200 negative decisions were taken in accelerated and urgent processes. Furthermore, 25,735 people escaped the procedure, thus renouncing their protection and leaving Austria again. By the end of October, a total of 10,478 deportations had been carried out, of which 5,496 were ordered to leave the country independently (52%) and 4,982 people were forcibly deported (48%).