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An asylum applicant that has no other financial means has the right to receive Basic Care services after lodging an asylum claim. In practice, basic care services are provided following the first interview on travel routes. The responsibility to provide Basic Care services is split between the Federal system and the states and is regulated in an agreement between the two since 2004.[1]
During the admissibility procedure the federal state is in charge of providing Basic Care through its state agency the BBU GmbH. The agency is in charge of reception centres (EAST) where the first procedural steps such as medical checks and registration are conducted. Besides the EAST there are currently nine[2] federal centres where asylum applicants are being accommodated. After admission to the procedure the responsibility to provide Basic Care shifts to the states. Asylum applicants should be taken over by the states from federal care facilities to a state quarter as soon as possible. State facilities are generally smaller units (former pensions, flats etc). The conclusion of the corresponding contracts with the facilities falls under the responsibility of the respective states. Applicants for international protection are accommodated as long as they fall under the Basic Welfare Service Agreement.
In practice, the transfers of asylum applicants from federal facilities to the facilities in the states have not functioned smoothly and the actors blame each other for these delays. As a result, asylum applicants stay in large and inadequate federal centres for longer time than needed. Nevertheless, following the start of the BBU GmbH as Basic Care provider during the admission period, the transfers to the state systems seems to have increased and the cooperation has improved.
As of March 2025, the average time of a person’s accommodation in federal basic care was 207 days (2023: 123 days), compared to 682 days in province basic care (2023: 622 days).[3]
Many facilities in the provinces have been closed throughout Austria in recent years, and it is therefore not possible to allocate asylum applicants quickly and adequately to the provincial facilities due to a lack of capacity. In 2021, this resulted in the re-opening of previously closed federal facilities and the opening of new facilities (e.g. Carinthia). Due to a decline in asylum applications in 2023 and further in 2024, some federal centres were closed as they were no longer needed, after a huge upscale in number of facilities in 2022 and 2023.[4] Provinces such as Tyrol, Lower Austria, Carinthia, Vienna, Salzburg or Styria reported a lack of communication in the allocation of federal to provincial care (i.e. little to no preparation time for new residents to move in, transports in the middle of the night, little information for people with special needs, etc.) In addition, there were problems with regard to the payment of clothing allowances, as in many cases the BBU in the initial reception centres had already exhausted the entitlement to clothing allowances per person per year.[5]
When there is a high number of applications for international protection, applicants are transferred to so called federal distribution centres after the admission phase is concluded – from which they will be transferred to provincial facilities, which are smaller facilities where they stay until the end of the procedure.
If a person receives a refugee status, they can stay up to four months in the reception centre before being forced to leave the accommodation, while there is no time limit applicable to persons holding a subsidiary protection. In some states such as Styria or Lower Austria, rejected asylum seekers are told to leave the next day after receiving the negative decision. In other provinces such as Vienna the practice is different. The reason for these different practices is that some states consider that rejected asylum seekers who do not leave voluntarily no longer fall under the basic care regulation.
If persons do not opt for voluntary return, the BFA can order them to accept an accommodation place in so called return centres. These centres are located in the mountains of Tyrol, close to the Vienna Airport and in a remote village in Upper Austria. There, the rejected asylum seekers receive basic care services. If they refuse to be accommodated in these places, they are not entitled to basic care in other provinces and the risk of being apprehended in deportation centre is likely to increase.
Source: Presentation by BBU GmbH at Asylforum 2025, available in German at: https://shorturl.at/WgO7X.
During 2022, around 8,000 recipients of basic care (most of them asylum seekers) were accommodated in Federal Basic Care facilities as the provinces were reluctant to take over persons admitted to the procedure. This changed in the course of the year 2024 when asylum applications decreased massively. At the end of 2024, around 1,500 persons were accommodated in Federal Basic Care facilities.
In September 2023, there was a conference of the regional refugee councils where it was decided to increase the maximum cost rates for vulnerable groups:
- For unaccompanied minors, from € 95,- to € 112,-/day
- For unaccompanied minors and children in youth welfare facilities to € 130/day
- For increased care from € 44,- to € 60,-/day
- For people with care needs: increased from € 2,480 to € 3,360/month
A further increase in the regular rate was rejected, as well as one for private benefits, and individual benefits.
The Ministry of the Interior was asked to submit a corresponding draft incl. a proposal for a supplementary agreement to the 15a agreement. In December 2023 there was another conference of the refugee state councils which unfortunately led to no decision or resolution to increase the maximum cost rates for vulnerable groups, as there are differences of opinion between the Ministry of the Interior and the federal states. However, an agreement was reached by the next conference in June 2024. In July 2024, the increase decided at the refugee state councils in September 2023 was finally implemented: the parliamentary process was completed.[6] Publication in the Federal Law Gazette took place in January 2025.[7] A retroactive increase is possible from 1 January 2024, the exact implementation and date from when the retroactive increase takes effect depends on the respective federal state.
Transparent real cost model
Due to the poor funding, committed NGOs have long been demanding/requested a real cost accounting system in which all costs incurred in the context of care are also paid. These costs vary depending on the location/province etc. and must also be considered on an organisation-specific basis. Base funding as basic funding plus a daily rate per day/per person for the caring organisation would also be a possible model. In principle, a daily rate model needs to be embedded in an annual valorisation. However, such changes require the political will and conviction to guarantee high-quality care for this vulnerable group of people seeking protection. The transparent real cost model (transparentes Realkostenmodell) was presented at the State Refugee Council Conference in September 2023 and convinced the Federal ministry of the Interior and the City of Vienna. It is to be launched as a pilot between the City of Vienna and the Federal Ministry of the Interior. With the real cost model, the actual costs incurred in the accommodation will be billed, not a capped daily rate/flat rate as was previously the case. For vulnerable groups (increased care needs, unaccompanied minors and care places), retroactive billing took place from 1 January 2023 and from 1 January 2024 as part of regular care.[8] An evaluation of the real cost model began in 2024 and has not yet been completed; no public information on the evaluation is available.[9]
EUAA operations in Austria
In December 2022, the EUAA signed its first operational plan with Austria, to help enhance the capacity of the Austrian authorities to respond to emergency reception needs. The operational plan covered the period from 6 December 2022 until 30 September 2023 and was subsequently extended.[10] The operational plan with Austria ended on 30 June 2024, inter alia due to decreasing pressure on the Austrian system, as well as resource constraints incurred on the side of the EUAA and the need to reprioritise support.[11]
From January to 30 June 2024, the EUAA deployed 10 experts to Austria,[12] 7 of which were external experts, 2 EUAA staff members and 1 Member State expert. This included 4 senior vulnerability experts, 3 senior social workers, 2 roving team members and 1 structural EU and national funding expert.[13]
From January to 30 June 2024, the EUAA delivered 2 training sessions to a total of 56 local staff members.[14]
The two operations had different goals: While the first one focused on rapid response and capacity building, the second one focused on building up long term expertise. The main challenge observed in practice was the difficulty for the EUAA to find personnel. The preparation time took longer than expected, then the whole project time was shortened by EUAA due to financial reasons. Both operations were described as helpful for the Austrian staff.[15]
[1] 15a Vereinbarung Grundversorgung available in German here.
[2] Overview of federal centres available in German here.
[3] Ministry of Interior, Answer to parliamentary request 630/AB, XXVIII GP, 19 May 2025, available in German here.
[4] Kleine Zeitung, „Asylheim sperrt zu“, 10 September 2024, available in German here.
[5] asylkoordination österreich, NGO exchange meeting, December 2024, unpublished.
[6] Austrian Parliament, ‚Grundversorgungsänderungsvereinbarung (2657 d.B.)‘, checked 21 April 2025, available in German here.
[7] 15a Vereinbarung Grundversorgung, available in German here.
[8] Ministry of Interior, available in German here.
[9] asylkoordination österreich, NGO exchange meeting, December 2024, unpublished
[10] EUAA, Operational Plan 2022-2023 agreed by the European Union Agency for Asylum and Austria, December 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3rwMqLj.
[11] EUAA, Operational Plan 2023-2024 agreed by the European Union Agency for Asylum and Austria, February 2024, available here.
[12] EUAA personnel numbers do not include deployed interpreters by the EUAA in support of asylum and reception activities.
[13] Information provided by the EUAA, 14 March 2025.
[14] Information provided by the EUAA, 14 March 2025.
[15] Report to asylkoordination österreich, May 2024.