Numbers for family reunification remain high

2024-04-06 04:57:48

Family reunification, which poses challenges especially in Austria’s schools, remains strong. This is shown in a query response from the Interior Ministry to the liberal MP Hannes Amesbauer, which is available to the APA. In the first month of the year, 845 asylum applications were submitted under the heading of family reunification, which is significantly more than in previous years. In January 2023 there were 421, in the first month of 2022 only 310.

Of the applications in January 2024, the vast majority were from family members from Syria – namely 782 out of a total of 845. In 2023 as a whole, a good 89 percent of the corresponding applications were from Syrians, and in 2022 the figure was 79 percent.

As far as the age of the applicants is concerned, last year out of a total of 9,180 people, 3,482 were children between 0 and six years old. There were 2,282 applicants in the school-age group of seven to 13 year olds. Over 18 there were around 2,800.

It is noticeable that last year the number of applications increased towards the end of the year. While there were only 421 in January, the number climbed to the monthly high of 1,181 in October.

According to the Asylum Act, a family member is anyone who is the parent of a minor child, a spouse or, at the time of the application, an unmarried child of a foreigner who has been granted the status of a person entitled to subsidiary protection or asylum, provided that the marriage already existed before the person entitled to subsidiary protection or asylum entered the country has. The same also applies to registered partnerships.

If a foreigner has been granted asylum status in Austria, family members can, according to information from the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum, submit an application for an entry permit to an Austrian representative authority abroad within three months of the status being granted becoming final. If this is granted, they can travel to Austria to apply for asylum in the family procedure and receive the same protection status as their caregiver. If the application is only submitted following three months, you must also provide proof of adequate accommodation, health insurance and sufficient income.

Family members of those entitled to subsidiary protection can apply for an entry permit to be issued as part of family reunification three years following being granted and must also provide evidence of adequate accommodation, health insurance and sufficient income.

In any case, interest remains high. In January, there were 1,206 entry permits for family reunification, according to the response to the query.

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