The measure was temporary and intended to ensure that those migrants who are already in the country can be better integrated, Chancellor Christian Stocker from the conservative Austrian People’s Party said.
“Austria’s capacities are limited, and that is why we have decided to prevent further overloading,” Stocker said. The new measure means that migrants with so-called protected status — who cannot be deported — were no longer allowed to bring family members still living in their home countries to Austria.
The new three-party coalition made up of the People’s Party, the center-left Social Democrats and the liberal Neos has said that curbing migration is one of its top issues and vowed to implement strict new asylum rules.
Official figures show that 7,762 people arrived in Austria last year as part of family reunification procedures for migrants. In 2023, the figure was 9,254. Most new arrivals were minors. Migrants who were still in the asylum process or had received a deportation order were not allowed to bring family members from their countries of origin.
Stocker said the measure was necessary because “the quality of the school system, integration and ultimately the security of our entire systems need to be protected — so that we do not impair their ability to function.”
The government said it had already informed the EU of its new measures. It did not say for how longthe measure would be in effect. “Since last summer, we have succeeded in significantly reducing family reunification,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said. “Now we are creating the legal basis to ensure this stop is sustainable.”
Governments in Europe have been trying to cut the number of migrants. The clamp-down was a severe turnaround from ten years ago, when countries like Germany and Sweden openly welcomed more than 1 million migrants from war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
On Tuesday, the EU unveiled a new migration proposal that envisions the opening of so-called “return hubs” to be set up in third countries to speed up the deportation for asylum seekers whose requests have been rejected. So far, only 20% of people with deportation orders have been removed from EU territory, according to the European Commission.
The commission has proposed a “European System for Returns” that will set a standard for all 27 members of the bloc and allow national authorities from one country to enforce deportation orders issued by another. Such rules were missing from the EU’s migration and asylum pact that was approved last year.
The government said that in 2023 and 2024, about 18,000 people came to Austria as part of family reunification, including 13,000 school-age children or minors. “Given the number, it’s obvious we should act responsibly and temporarily press the stop button,” Stocker said.