“Fast-track”/accelerated procedures
The list of safe countries of origin, based on which the accelerated procedure may be applied, was expanded in 2019 to cover three new countries, namely Namibia, Uruguay and South Korea. On the contrary, Sri Lanka and Ukraine were deleted from the list (2019 and 2022, respectively).
The so-called “fast-track procedure” (see Fast-Track Processing), was initiated in 1,346 (2023: 8,285; 2022: 32,875) cases in 2024, leading to 1,389 (2023: 8,241;2022: 23,297) decisions of which none (2023: 300; 2022: 1,188) were decided in an accelerated procedure. On average, a decision in fast-track procedures, which mostly applies to persons from countries listed as safe countries of origin and manifestly ill-founded applications (in 2024 35% Morocco, 16% Türkiye), was taken in 32 days.[1]
Afghanistan
The situation of Afghan asylum applicants changed considerably in 2021: Austria hosts one of the largest Afghan diaspora communities in Europe. At the start of the year, recognition rates concerning subsidiary protection were decreasing compared to previous years. In June 2021, the death of a 13-year-old girl that had been raped several times (the Causa Leonie case) initiated a public debate as the alleged perpetrators were Afghan nationals who were asylum applicants or who had previously applied for asylum. This led the public to urge authorities to carry out an increased and faster number of removals of rejected asylum applicants with a criminal record, thereby contributing to the anti-Afghan-narrative.
After the fall of Kabul and the takeover by the Taliban in summer 2021, the situation changed. Even though Austria was one of the last countries to stop deportations to Afghanistan, the Ministry of Interior continued to state in public that Austria would resume deportations to Afghanistan as soon as possible. Starting from August 2021, the number of discontinued cases of Afghan nationals thus started to rise as they moved on to other countries. This is also closely linked to the Anti-Afghan-propaganda of the Ministry of Interior in the context of the Causa Leonie case.
Return decisions were issued by a small group of BVwG judges between September and December 2021, but they were halted by another landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court stating that this would breach Art 3 ECHR.[2] Since then, all decisions involving Afghan nationals have been granting protection. In 2022 and 2023, return decisions were issued in single cases but no deportations to Afghanistan took place or were planned. Following the deportations of Afghan nationals by Germany, the Austrian ministry of Interior announced that it would work with Germany on joint deportations to Afghanistan.[3] NGOs highlight this announcement is to be seen as part of the Austrian policy of trying to shape public debate. There has not been any implementation of the plans announced.
In September 2022, the Supreme Administrative Court referred a case concerning an Afghan woman to the CJEU for guidance on two questions relating to Art 9 of the Qualification Directive: Firstly, whether a combination of measures adopted, encouraged or tolerated by a state which limit a women’s freedom could amount to persecution within the meaning of Article 9(1)(b) of the Qualification Directive (recast) and secondly, whether a woman who is affected by such measures taken by the state should be granted refugee status solely on the basis of her sex or if it would be necessary to examine the individual circumstances of the applicant to determine how the measures impact a woman’s individual situation.[4] The opinion of the Advocate General concluded that a combination of measures could amount to persecution per the Qualification Directive when those have the cumulative effect of depriving those women and girls of their most basic rights in society and thus undermine full respect for human dignity, and that the authorities could consider there was a well-founded fear of being subjected to such acts of persecution on account of gender, without having to look for other factors particular to the person’s personal circumstances.[5]
On 4 October 2024, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled in cases C-608/22 and C-609/22 that Afghan women are persecuted by the Taliban on account of their gender and are therefore at a general risk of persecution; that is to say, that nationality and gender are sufficient for refugee status within the meaning of Directive 2011/95/EU.[6] Provided the decision is consistently applied in national practice, the administrative process should be faster, as individual case examination is no longer necessary in the context of asylum applications by Afghan women.
This decision was criticised heavily by Austrian media and the far right political party FPÖ. The conclusion drawn by renowned legal experts such as Walter Obwexer (Head of the Law Faculty Innsbruck) and former head of the Austrian Oberster Gerichtshof, Irmgard Griss, was that the situation would mean a “pull-effect” and “human traffickers would only need to bring Afghan women to Europe” and the men would then arrive via family reunification.[7]
These assumptions however find no bearing of proof in practice: the number of asylum applications by Afghan women in Austria only increased significantly after the judgement because of more subsequent applications by Afghan women who have already lived in Austria before, with subsidiary protection status. Just like in Finland, Sweden or Denmark, that already had already implemented the caselaw in practice in 2022/2023, there was no rise of first time applications by Afghan women.
Data: Eurostat; diagram by asylkoordination österreich
Palestine
Regarding applicants coming from Gaza, the BFA introduced new questions in the first interview conducted by the police. The applicants were questioned how they view the conflict between Gaza and Israel and what their position towards Israel is. These questions have led to several complaints brought in by affected applicants before courts based on discriminatory grounds. The procedures are pending at the time of writing (June 2025).[8]
Syria
After the fall of the Assad regime in December, all asylum procedures of Syrian nationals were suspended. The ministry of Interior announced that it would start planning deportation programs, which sparked fear among BIPs. Until the end of 2024, more than 500 withdrawal procedures were initiated because of alleged improvement of the situation in Syria. By end of March, there were more than 6,000 withdrawal procedures pending at first instance, most of them concerning Syrian nationals.
[1] Ministry of Interior, Answer to parliamentary request 635/AB, XXVIII. GP, 19 May 2025, available in German at: https://shorturl.at/L8O6T.
[2] VfGH, E4227/2021, 16 December 2021, summary in English available here.
[3] Euronews, ‘Austria joins Germany in deporting Afghans with criminal records back home’, 1 September 2024, available at: https://shorturl.at/fAq5k.
[4] VwGH, Ra 2021/20/0425 and Ra 2022/20/0028, 14 September 2022 (C-608/22, C-609/22), available in German here, to follow the evolution of this case, see procedure before the CJEU, registered as case C-608/22 here.
[5] CJEU, AH (C-608/22) and FN (C-609/22) intervener: Bundesamt für Fremdwesen und Asyl, Opinion of Advocate General Richard de la Tour, 9 November 2023, available here.
[6] Vgl Koymali, How an ECJ Ruling Affects the Lives of Afghan Women, voelkerrechtsblog, 19 March 2025, https://shorturl.at/bG94Z.
[7] Der Standard, „EuGH Urteil zu Afghaninnen: Österreich bleibt bei Einzelfallprüfungen“, 7 October 2024, available in German at: https://shorturl.at/cPstW.
[8] Report from Diakonie Flüchtlingsdienst to asylkoordination österreich, February 2024.