The 6,165 irregular migrants who can’t be deported from Vienna
The Local
news.austria@thelocal.com
20 January 2017
13:30 CET+01:00
The 6,165 irregular migrants who can’t be deported from Vienna
A demonstration against deportation. Photo: marek-peters.com/Wikimedia
More than 20,000 asylum seekers are officially registered and receiving state benefits in the Austrian capital Vienna, but only two thirds of those are in the process of applying for or have been granted official refugee status, according to a report in the Kurier newspaper.
6,165 people are so-called "tolerated stay" migrants, whose removal is impossible either for practical reasons (such as a lack of documents or the country of origin’s refusal to accept them) or because their removal would contravene the Refugee Convention. According to the Kurier the Interior Ministry has confirmed this figure, but would not make an official comment on the situation.
Insiders told the newspaper that Vienna has a “magnet effect” on asylum seekers and irregular migrants - as the subsidies and social benefits given to refugees are more generous than in some other Austrian states. Asylum seekers may also be drawn to the capital because they have relatives or friends there, or expect a faster asylum procedure than in another federal state.
http://www.thelocal.at/20170120/the-irregular-migrants-who-cannot-be-deported-from-vienna
