The number of asylum applications this year also exceeded the number from the year of the great migration movement in 2015, when 88,340 applications were submitted. It should be noted, however, that relatively fewer people have appeared in basic care this year. This suggests that once they apply for asylum and are picked up by the police, they travel to their actual destinations, such as France, Italy and the United Kingdom. In 2021, nearly 40,000 applications were submitted throughout the year.

Many avoid the process

From January to the end of October, 59,908 applications were rejected (the decision was ultimately negative), but this does not mean that the applicants did not receive different residence permits. Because the provision of subsidiary protection is also included in the category of negative applications. During the same period, 17,602 protections were granted (asylum, additional protection or humanitarian residence permits). A further 27,597 people who have applied in the past avoided the procedure, namely leaving Austria voluntarily in the past ten months.

Afghans (4,123) submitted the most asylum applications in October, followed by Indians (3,479), Syrians (3,424) and Tunisians (2,462). The Ministry of Home Affairs emphasizes that asylum applications from migrants from India and Tunisia have a de facto stand of no chance: This year there have only been five protection grants for Tunisians. When compared to the previous year, the differences between Indians and Tunisians were stark. Because in 2021 as a whole, only 949 applications were made by Indians and 527 by Tunisians.

In principle, persons displaced by the war from Ukraine are not included in asylum statistics. They fall under the EU “Temporary Protection” directive. According to the Interior Ministry, some 91,500 people were in basic care at the end of October, about 56,500 of whom were displaced by the war from Ukraine.

As in the previous month, the interior ministry pointed out that the vast majority of applications are made by migrants “who entered the country illegally for economic reasons and therefore have practically no chance of obtaining asylum”. About 40 percent of irregular migrants enter Serbia without a visa and are brought to the EU by smugglers. “Here, Serbia announced that it will align its visa rules with EU rules. As of today Sunday, Tunisians will need a visa for Serbia, according to the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs. Other countries such as India will follow by the end of the year, reference is being made to agreement by Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) with the heads of Serbian and Hungarian governments, Aleksandar Vucic and Victor Orban, on 3 October in Budapest.