On March 12, 2025, the Government of Austria decided to halt family reunification.

“Austria has taken numerous measures in recent years to implement a consistent, firm and fair asylum policy,” said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner on 25 June 2025. “The introduction of the payment card for asylum seekers who receives basic care (Grundversorgung), was an important step towards reducing false incentives – federal states such as Upper Austria, Salzburg and Styria have also adopted this model.”

Since July 2024, asylum seekers who are receiving basic care (Grundversorgung) must perform community work, the Interior Minister added. "To date, asylum seekers in federal basic services have completed over 350,000 hours of community work.”

Reduce Illegal Migration to Nearly Zero – Cost Savings in Asylum System

In week 25 of 2022, around 1,800 arrests were recorded in Burgenland. In comparison: only about 60 in the same week of 2025. The number of federal care facilities was reduced from over 30 (autumn 2023) to eight. At the same time, over 5,500 returns were carried out from January to May 2025 – both voluntary and forced. All these measures enable savings in the asylum sector.

Reduce Illegal Migration to Nearly Zero – Cost Savings in Asylum System

On 12 March 2025, the government of Austria decided to stop family reunification, now legal protection through a regulation follows.

Systems like education, integration and social services are coming under increasing pressure from uncontrolled family reunification. The need for action is also clearly visible in youth crime: 48 percent of suspected criminals aged 10 to 14 are non-Austrian.

The Interior Minister said: "The success of previous measures is clearly visible – in May 2024, 1,270 people still came to Austria through family reunification, in May 2025 it was only 74." With the new regulation, family reunification will be legally set to zero, "we are thus consistently implementing another central project from the government agreement."