Austria's asylum applications drop to lowest level since 1997

According to recent data, Austria's asylum filings this year have slipped beneath the threshold last seen in 1997, marking the lowest figure of the millennium. The count includes a significant share of minors, who made up roughly a third of all applications, while family reunification cases remain minimal, with only a handful of individuals admitted under that category. The Interior Ministry explains the downturn by noting that many new applications come from children born in Austria, and that genuine new arrivals are relatively few.

Applications from the two leading source countries, Syria and Afghanistan, are largely non-originating, reflecting this trend. So far, authorities have granted asylum in over four thousand cases, subsidiary protection in more than three thousand six hundred, and humanitarian residence permits to over a thousand people. By early September, more than ten thousand individuals had left Austria, the majority under forced removal, and the basic reception system was caring for around forty-one thousand persons, most of whom are Ukrainian war refugees.