THE NEW Austrian government has halted family reunion procedures for migrants because it claims the country can no longer absorb newcomers.
The measure is temporary and allegedly intended to ensure migrants already in the country can be “better integrated,” Chancellor Christian Stocker, from the conservative Austrian People’s Party, said on Wednesday.
“Austria’s capacities are limited, and that is why we have decided to prevent further overloading,” Mr Stocker said.
The new measure means that people with protected status – who cannot be deported – are no longer allowed to bring family members still living abroad to Austria, even if they’re in immediate danger.
The new three-party coalition, comprising the centre-right People’s Party, “centre-left” Social Democrats and liberals Neos, has said that curbing migration is a top priority and vowed to implement strict new asylum rules.
Official figures show that 7,762 people arrived in Austria last year as part of family reunion procedures for migrants. In 2023 the figure was 9,254. Most new arrivals were children or teenagers.
Migrants who are still in the asylum process or who have received a deportation order are not allowed in the first place to bring family members from their countries of origin.
Most recent asylum-seekers had arrived from Syria and Afghanistan, the Austrian chancellery said in a statement.
The central European country has nine million inhabitants.