Austrian citizens and asylum seekers march at a pro-refugee protest in Vienna in November 2016. Photo: AFP
They’re frauds, give them a week amount of rations and send them packing.
Austria will double the amount it pays refugees who volunteer to leave
They would be offered $1,000 ($1,080) instead of 500 euros, Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said.
The scheme, run in collaboration with pro-refugee groups, is primarily aimed at “those who are not likely to be granted the right to long-term residence”, he told a press conference in Vienna.
Austria, a nation of 8.7 million people, has received more than 130,000 asylum applications since 2015 following the onset of the European Union’s worst migration crisis since World War II.
Of the new arrivals, about 10,700 left Austria again last year, including 5,800 by choice, according to official data.
“The advantage of voluntary returns is that they are less traumatic,” said Bernd Wachter of Caritas Austria, the Catholic Church’s humanitarian organisation which works closely with refugees.