While savings have to be made everywhere else, this branch of the asylum system continues to flourish. It is true that the deportation of asylum seekers who have received a negative decision or are guilty of criminal offenses is a Herculean task for the state – again and again procedures are dragged out with various objections – but with the well-endowed advice center for migrants, just such an association is promoted, which offers expensive help in the If the worst comes to the worst, says the ÖVP Vienna – and heavily criticizes the supposed “double funding” with the planned 700,000 euros.
Criticism of ÖVP
“Every asylum seeker is automatically advised by the state federal welfare agency. So there is no need for a parallel structure at the expense of Viennese taxpayers. In addition, we reject any advice that artificially lengthens the asylum procedure or prevents deportations,” state chairman Karl Mahrer and integration spokeswoman Caroline Hungerländer emphasized in unison.
ÖVP local councilor Caroline Hungerländer
(Image: Zwefo)
We have a problem in the system. With public money, the stays of asylum seekers are being prolonged and necessary deportations are presumably being prevented.
Caroline Hungerländer, integration spokeswoman ÖVP Vienna
family reunification required
In any case, the activity report for 2021 and the current project description make it clear what kind of “assistance” the funded consulting association provides: almost a third of all services are related to issues relating to alien law, and a further 20 percent to social law advice. The following are particularly in demand: family reunification, extension of the right of residence, documentation of the “Union law residence”, granting of Austrian citizenship and the so-called consolidation of residence.
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Who seeks advice from the association
Incidentally, by far the largest group of those advised were men from Afghanistan, followed by men from Syria. “The financial incentives offered by the city government seem like an invitation for people who simply want to improve their living conditions at the expense of taxpayers,” Mahrer rumbles in his familiar tone.