The difference is large: Austria, with a population of 8.98 million, registered 56,000 asylum seekers from the beginning of this year to the end of August. Switzerland had only counted 12,300 applications at the time. In late summer there was one asylum seeker for every 160 inhabitants of the Alpine Republic. In the slightly smaller Switzerland there were 707 inhabitants per asylum seeker.
The number is now clearly higher here at 15,000, but the number of asylum seekers also continues to rise in Austria.
Blame geography
Why are so many more people applying for asylum in Austria than in Switzerland? It shouldn’t be on the better air or more comfortable accommodation. According to documents from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), it has to do with Austria’s geographical location.
An important factor is the border with Hungary. According to migration experts, it is difficult to estimate exactly what the refugee situation in Hungary is like. The necessary information is missing. The only thing that is clear is that a very large number of refugees come to Austria from there. The SEM writes: “The vast majority of asylum seekers in Austria are stopped at the border with Hungary.”
Continue west
Most of these migrants applied for asylum in Austria, but only to avoid being sent back to Hungary, the Swiss asylum authorities said. Anja Klug, Head of the Office of the United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, adds: “Experience shows that many people who are currently applying for asylum in Austria or Switzerland do not want to stay.” A not inconsiderable part disappears “and travels to France and Great Britain”. Switzerland in particular is not a target country for many people.
It is therefore not surprising that many migrants on their way west are stopped at the eastern border of Switzerland. And that number is increasing. A year ago in August 554 people were stopped at the eastern border, but by August 2022 the border guard had already numbered 3,665 people – almost seven times that number.
Gateway to Serbia
But migrants also flock to Austria from the Western Balkans, i.e. from the countries of the former Yugoslavia. At the European level, Serbia is a recurring theme, allowing Indians, Tunisians, Cubans, Chinese and Burundians to enter the country without a visa. Some people who come to Serbia without a visa never return to their home country, but come to the Schengen area illegally.
Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter (58) has launched an action plan together with the Austrian side to combat irregular migration targeting the Western Balkans.
Croatia beckons
According to Klug, the fact that Croatia will soon become part of Schengen could also play a role: “For many people this could be a motive to cross the border into Croatia before the country is fully part of the Schengen area.”
As Klug of the UNHCR goes on to say, you are currently dealing with a “mixed population movement”. So not only do refugees come from less favored areas outside Europe, of which there are currently many, but other migrants as well. They all used the same routes and border crossings. “It also seems that many people have been in a European country for a long time and are now traveling on to Western Europe,” says Klug. Especially from Greece, the SEM adds.
“The difficult economic conditions after Corona, because of the war in Ukraine and because of high energy prices, are likely to motivate many people to leave or simply continue traveling,” the UNHCR official explains.
Due to the sharp increase in asylum applications in Switzerland in recent weeks, the SEM now assumes at least 22,000 applications this year. In addition, there are currently more than 60,000 people seeking protection from Ukraine in Switzerland. More will be added here too.
Citizen wanted
Austria is also more affected by the refugees from Ukraine, probably also because of its geographical location. At the end of September, the country had 82,000 men, women and children fleeing the Russian war of aggression. In Austria, migrants already have to be accommodated in tents.
The authorities in this country are trying to prevent this. The federal government, cantons and municipalities are therefore expanding their residences. But there is also a lack of staff.
To ensure that the refugees are taken care of, they also resort to people who do community work. A maximum of six Zivis are deployed in the federal asylum centers. But more is needed: more than two dozen official assignments in asylum seekers’ centers are currently being advertised.
The situation is challenging. But UNHCR’s Anja Klug emphasizes that the situation is far from comparable to the refugee flow in 2015 and 2016. And she specifies: “In Austria, where the number of refugees is significantly higher than in Switzerland, the perceived crisis in the housing mainly homemade.”