The number of asylum seekers in Austria has decreased, which the authorities there attribute to Serbia reintroducing visas for Indians and Tunisians. Now the largest number of immigrants is from Morocco.
The number of asylum requests in Austria fell significantly in January compared to December, which the authorities in Vienna explain by the change in Serbian visa policy. Since the citizens of Tunisia and India can no longer fly to Belgrade without a visa, the number of asylum seekers from those countries in Austria has significantly decreased.
As reported, in January, 4.300 requests for asylum were submitted in Austria, which is about forty percent less compared to around 7.000 requests from December. Officials expect further cuts in February.
The pressure on Belgrade bore fruit
The Ministry of the Interior in Vienna announced that the main reason is that Serbia re-introduced visas for citizens of India and Tunisia at the end of the year, who last year made up a significant number of asylum seekers in Austria and Switzerland.
In addition, the decrease in the number of requests is the result of "intensive controls by the Austrian police on Hungarian territory as part of Operation Fox", the Ministry adds.
Last year, Serbia's visa policy was the target of harsh criticism because Serbia had a visa-free regime with 22 countries with which the EU does not have such a regime. In particular, agreements with India, Tunisia, Burundi and Cuba were taken seriously.
Official Belgrade introduced visas after threats from Brussels and Berlin that Serbia could lose its visa-free regime with the EU.
It's Morocco's turn
In January, the most asylum applications in Austria were submitted by Moroccan citizens (1.203), although their prospects are negligibly low - on average, three out of a thousand applications are accepted. They are followed by people from Syria (828), Afghanistan (657), India (378) and Turkey (279).
However, compared to the same month last year and the year before last, the number of requests is still relatively high. Thus, in January 2022, there were 3.350 requests, and a year before that, about 1.600.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehamer and Interior Minister Gerhard Karner will be in Morocco on Monday and Tuesday, where they will talk about illegal migration.
For years, European countries have been trying to make an arrangement with North African countries so that they would accept the deportation of their citizens whose asylum applications were rejected.
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