A new report by Exxpress has shed light on the increasingly common methods deployed by rejected asylum seekers in Austria to delay—or evade—deportation.
According to two insiders within the asylum system, applicants often wield medical certificates citing rare diseases or psychological conditions. These documents force authorities to assess whether adequate treatment is available in the applicant’s home country, stalling deportation for months.
Some asylum seekers attempt to avoid removal by fathering children in Austria. However, this ploy now rarely succeeds unless a genuine pre-existing relationship and documented family ties are proven.
One of the most frequent tactics is deliberately losing—or discarding—ID cards or passports, sometimes reportedly tossing them into the sea. Without valid passports, return certificates from embassies are required, and when home countries don’t cooperate, deportation efforts collapse.
Some provide false or no information about their nationality, triggering lengthy linguistic analyses. Even when nationality is identified, a lack of documents stalls the process further.
According to the insiders, these strategies have become well established, effectively exploited due to legal loopholes and limited state capacity. “Austria is being systematically exploited,” one insider warns.
