Austria’s National Council Main Committee has voted to extend the controversial suspension of family-reunification rights for recognised refugees and subsidiary-protection holders for another 12 months, until 2 July 2026. The measure – first imposed on 3 July 2025 under §36 of the Asylum Act – was due to expire next month and can legally be renewed three times. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner presented a 48-page impact study claiming that the arrival of additional relatives would ‘over-stretch schools, housing and social services’, especially in smaller municipalities that have struggled to absorb record asylum inflows since 2022.
The governing ÖVP–SPÖ–NEOS coalition backed the extension, with the far-right FPÖ voting in favour while demanding faster deportations of rejected applicants. The Greens opposed, arguing that the government is “instrumentalising human rights for electoral politics” eight months before the 2026 general election. NGOs such as Caritas warn that the continuing separation of families will hinder integration and increase the psychological burden on recognised refugees, most of whom come from Syria and Afghanistan.
![Austria prolongs freeze on refugee family-reunification rights to 2 July 2026]()
For travellers, employees and HR teams who still need to arrange other categories of Austrian visas despite the freeze, VisaHQ offers step-by-step online processing, document checking and up-to-the-minute policy alerts. Whether you’re applying for a work permit, business visa or humanitarian D-visa, our Vienna-focused portal (https://www.visahq.com/austria/) centralises requirements, fees and application forms, helping organisations stay compliant while reducing administrative workload.
For employers the policy presents a mixed picture. On one hand, limiting new humanitarian arrivals could ease pressure on housing markets already strained in Vienna, Graz and Linz, where multinational firms base regional headquarters. On the other, HR teams that rely on refugee talent – particularly in Austria’s understaffed logistics and hospitality sectors – say the freeze constrains their ability to retain skilled workers who fear prolonged separation from spouses and children. Several companies told the Austrian Business Agency that they are moving refugee employees to Germany, where family reunification remains possible after a two-year waiting period.
Practical advice for mobility and relocation managers: • Review duty-of-care policies for refugee staff whose dependants remain abroad; access to counselling may be necessary. • Expect processing of so-called ‘Derogation’ or hardship waivers to remain highly restrictive; only 142 were granted in the past six months. • Plan for heightened scrutiny at Austrian missions abroad: even humanitarian D-visas for critically ill children now require individual ministerial sign-off. • Monitor emerging litigation at the Austrian Constitutional Court, where NGOs are preparing a challenge that could suspend the freeze ahead of the summer 2026 deadline.
The governing ÖVP–SPÖ–NEOS coalition backed the extension, with the far-right FPÖ voting in favour while demanding faster deportations of rejected applicants. The Greens opposed, arguing that the government is “instrumentalising human rights for electoral politics” eight months before the 2026 general election. NGOs such as Caritas warn that the continuing separation of families will hinder integration and increase the psychological burden on recognised refugees, most of whom come from Syria and Afghanistan.
For travellers, employees and HR teams who still need to arrange other categories of Austrian visas despite the freeze, VisaHQ offers step-by-step online processing, document checking and up-to-the-minute policy alerts. Whether you’re applying for a work permit, business visa or humanitarian D-visa, our Vienna-focused portal (https://www.visahq.com/austria/) centralises requirements, fees and application forms, helping organisations stay compliant while reducing administrative workload.
For employers the policy presents a mixed picture. On one hand, limiting new humanitarian arrivals could ease pressure on housing markets already strained in Vienna, Graz and Linz, where multinational firms base regional headquarters. On the other, HR teams that rely on refugee talent – particularly in Austria’s understaffed logistics and hospitality sectors – say the freeze constrains their ability to retain skilled workers who fear prolonged separation from spouses and children. Several companies told the Austrian Business Agency that they are moving refugee employees to Germany, where family reunification remains possible after a two-year waiting period.
Practical advice for mobility and relocation managers: • Review duty-of-care policies for refugee staff whose dependants remain abroad; access to counselling may be necessary. • Expect processing of so-called ‘Derogation’ or hardship waivers to remain highly restrictive; only 142 were granted in the past six months. • Plan for heightened scrutiny at Austrian missions abroad: even humanitarian D-visas for critically ill children now require individual ministerial sign-off. • Monitor emerging litigation at the Austrian Constitutional Court, where NGOs are preparing a challenge that could suspend the freeze ahead of the summer 2026 deadline.
