28th February, 2017
Austria will increase penalties for rejected asylum seekers who refuse to leave the country, the government said on Tuesday, in a move to put pressure on migrants in the country.
“That’s a signal for people smugglers,” Defence Minister Hans Doskozil told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
The new rules effectively force asylum seekers to leave Austria quickly if they fail to win refugee protection.
Those who stay will lose their monthly social payments, the cabinet decided.
The centrist government also plans to introduce penalties between 5,300 and 15,900 dollars for migrants who remain in Austria.
As a final measure, rejected migrants may be detained before they are forcibly flown back to their home countries.
The maximum length of this detention will be expanded from 10 to 18 months.
According to the Interior Ministry, ‘some 4,000 persons who have been denied asylum live in Austria, half of them cannot leave for medical reasons or because they are underage.
The government coalition of social democrats and centre-right conservatives has introduced a string of plans to limit immigration in recent months.
It tried to win back voters from the far-right Freedom Party, which enjoys strong public support.
These measures include cutting child support for migrant workers whose children live in their home countries, excluding migrants from EU countries from a new job creation programme, and obliging refugees to learn German.