4,300 people applied for asylum in Austria in January 2023 – 40% less than in December 2022.
The number of asylum applications in Austria continues to decline this year. According to the Ministry of the Interior, almost 4,300 asylum requests were made in January. That’s about 40% less than the previous month of December 2022 with around 7,000 requests. For February, the Ministry of the Interior expects a further drop in the number of applications of up to 40% compared to January.
The Interior Ministry sees the reasons for the sharp drop in asylum applications in recent months in “intensive controls by the Austrian police on Hungarian territory within the framework of Operation Fox”, but above all in the end of visa exemption for Tunisians and Indians in Serbia.
If we compare the number of requests for January with those of previous years, a different picture emerges: in January 2022 there were 3349 asylum requests, in January 2021 1587 asylum requests.
Most orders from Morocco
The majority of asylum claims (4,288 in total) in January were made by Moroccan nationals (1,203), followed by people from Syria (828), Afghanistan (657), India (378) and Turkey (279). The chance of asylum for people from Morocco is extremely low, last year only 13 Moroccan citizens were granted asylum in Austria. This corresponds to a recognition rate of 0.3 percent.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) travel to Morocco next Monday and Tuesday. The Ministry of the Interior announced that it intends to focus the talks mainly on the issue of illegal migration and readmission.
(APA)