Reception Policies, Practices and Responses Austria Country Report
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Working Papers Global Migration: Consequences and Responses Paper 2020/38, February 2020 Reception Policies, Practices and Responses Austria Country Report Ivan Josipovic and Ursula Reeger Institute for Urban and Regional Research Austrian Academy of Sciences HORIZON 2020 – RESPOND 770564 © Ivan Josipovic and Ursula Reeger Reference: RESPOND Deliverable 4.1 THis research was conducted under tHe Horizon 2020 project “RESPOND Multilevel Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond” (770564). THe sole responsibility of tHis publication lies witH tHe autHors. THe European Union is not responsible for any use tHat may be made of tHe information contained tHerein. Any enquiries regarding tHis publication sHould be sent to us at: [email protected] THis document is available for download at Https://www.respondmigration.com/ Horizon 2020 RESPOND: Multilevel Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond (770564) 2 HORIZON 2020 – RESPOND 770564 Content Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 4 List of Figures and Tables ...................................................................................................... 5 List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... 6 About tHe Project.................................................................................................................... 7 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 8 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 9 2. Methodology and Sources ......................................................................................... 10 Expert interviews ........................................................................................................... 10 Interviews witH asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection ................. 11 3. Policies and Legal Regulations of Reception: A Multi-level Perspective ................ 13 3.1. National Policies and Regulations ...................................................................... 15 Institutional setting ........................................................................................................ 15 National legal framework and developments between 2011 and 2019 .......................... 16 3.2. Regional and Municipal Policies and Regulations............................................. 20 Governance of reception and related regulations in Upper Austria ................................ 20 Governance of reception and related regulations in Vienna .......................................... 22 4. Practices of Reception – Vienna and Upper Austria................................................. 25 4.1. Housing and Place of residence ......................................................................... 25 Arriving in tHe Austrian reception system ...................................................................... 25 Size and location of reception facilities .......................................................................... 27 Isolation and a lack of rigHts .......................................................................................... 28 Life under Basic Welfare Support .................................................................................. 29 4.2. Early Access to the Labour Market ..................................................................... 31 Labour market ban ........................................................................................................ 32 Moving in a legal grey area ........................................................................................... 33 Employment and tHe place of residence ........................................................................ 37 4.3. Education, Services and Allowances ................................................................. 38 Dependency .................................................................................................................. 38 Engaging in language courses ...................................................................................... 39 4.4. Encounters with Officials, Civic Actors and the Receiving Society ................. 41 Officials ......................................................................................................................... 41 Civil society actors ........................................................................................................ 42 “Welcome culture” versus discrimination ....................................................................... 44 5. Notes on the Multi-level Model of Reception ............................................................ 46 6. Conclusions: Challenges, Prospects, and Policy Recommendations .................... 47 References and Sources ...................................................................................................... 49 Appendix .............................................................................................................................. 51 3 HORIZON 2020 – RESPOND 770564 Acknowledgements THis report contains information on tHe Austrian refugee reception policies and tHeir implemen- tation, as well as experiences of experts working in tHe field and policy recipients, namely asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection. Sections on tHe project metHod- ology and tHe legal framework were partly adopted from the WP1 Country Report “Legal and Policy Framework in Austria” (Josipovic & Reeger, 2018), the WP2 Country Report “Border Management and Migration Controls in Austria” (Josipovic & Reeger, 2019), and the WP3 Country Report “Refugee Protection in Austria” (Josipovic & Reeger, 2020) and were updated wHere necessary. These reports are not cited in tHe text due to tHe integrated cHaracter of tHe RESPOND Working Paper Series and in order to improve readability. We wish to tHank our colleagues Astrid Mattes and Hanneke Friedl for supporting tHis report. Astrid Mattes carried out a peer review and provided us witH valuable comments and sugges- tions. Hanneke Friedl supported tHe quality of tHe paper via a tHorougH language editing. Fur- thermore, we would like to tHank ZoHal Wafa wHo supported us witH Her language skills througHout the interviews sHe conducted. Ultimately, we wish to express our tHanks to all in- terlocutors wHo were willing to take part in in-deptH interviews or contributed to a written Q&A for taking tHe time and for tHe valuable insigHts tHey Have shared witH us. 4 HORIZON 2020 – RESPOND 770564 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1: Federal provinces included in tHe RESPOND research ........................................... 9 Figure 2: Divisions of administration in Austria ..................................................................... 13 Figure 3: Recipients of Basic Welfare Support in Austria, 2014-2018 ................................... 14 Figure 4: Fulfilment of quotas in Austrian federal provinces, 2015-2018 ............................. 178 Figure 5: Recipients of Basic Welfare Support in Upper Austria, 2017-2018 ........................ 20 Figure 6: Recipients of Basic Welfare Support in Vienna, 2017-2018 ................................... 24 Table 1: Asylum seekers receiving Basic Welfare Support in tHe federal provinces, 2016 and 2018 ....................................................................................................... 14 5 HORIZON 2020 – RESPOND 770564 List of Abbreviations Abbreviation German English AMS Arbeitsmarktservice Österrreich Public Employment Service BFA Bundesamt für Fremdenwesen und Federal Office for Immigration and Asyl Asylum BMASK Bundesministerium für Arbeit, Federal Ministry for Labour, Social Soziales, GesundHeit und Affairs and Consumer Protection Konsumentenschutz BMEIA Bundesministerium für Europa, Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration Integration und Äußeres and Foreign Affairs BM.I Bundesministerium für Inneres Federal Ministry of tHe Interior FSW Fonds Soziales Wien Vienna Social Fund ÖIF Österreichischer Integrationsfonds Austrian Integration Fund 6 HORIZON 2020 – RESPOND 770564 About the Project RESPOND is a Horizon 2020 project wHicH aims at studying tHe multilevel governance of mi- gration in Europe and beyond. THe consortium consists of 14 partners from 11 source, transit and destination countries and is coordinated by Uppsala University in Sweden. THe main aim of this Europe-wide project is to provide an in-deptH understanding of tHe governance of recent mass migration at macro, meso and micro levels tHrougH cross-country comparative research and to critically analyse governance practices witH tHe aim of enHancing tHe migration govern- ance capacity and policy coHerence of tHe EU, its member states and tHird countries. RESPOND studies migration governance tHrougH a narrative wHicH is constructed along five tHematic fields: (1) Border management and security, (2) Refugee protection regimes, (3) Re- ception policies, (4) Integration policies, and (5) Conflicting Europeanization. EacH tHematic field between (1) and (5) reflects a juncture in tHe migration journey of refugees and is designed to provide a Holistic view of policies, tHeir impacts and responses given by affected actors witHin. In order to better focus on tHese tHemes, we