Austria will issue several thousand asylum grants this year, most of them to Afghans. Three out of four of their applications receive a positive decision. Critics warn this highlights the growing problems within the asylum system.

In 2025 the Austrian asylum system is once again facing significant problems: Afghan citizens have by far the greatest chance of success. Seventy-five percent of the applications they submitted to the interior ministry received a positive decision. This is a rate no other group even comes close to.

Marked Differences Between Countries of Origin

While Afghans receive asylum at an above-average rate, the prospects for other groups are considerably worse. This clearly points to shortcomings in the system: origin often has a greater impact on success than the actual circumstances.

This year protection status has already been granted in more than 10,000 cases – including around 7,200 asylum grants, nearly 1,800 forms of subsidiary protection and further humanitarian residence permits.

The consequences directly affect the social system: at present 54,702 people are receiving basic support. Although this figure has fallen compared with previous years, the pressure on Austria remains high. Despite the decline, the strain on the social system remains very heavy. Accommodation, care and public financing therefore continue to come under intense pressure. Providing for tens of thousands of people remains a vast organisational and financial challenge, the costs of which are borne by taxpayers.

Österreich vergibt heuer tausende Schutzstatus – und besonders Afghanen haben mit Abstand die höchsten Chancen. Drei von vier ihrer Anträge werden positiv entschieden. Kritiker sehen darin ein zunehmendes Ungleichgewicht im Asylsystem. https://t.co/qIRBCSEXl3

— exxpress (@exxpressat) November 24, 2025

In the first nine months of the year Austria received 13,032 applications. More than half of the refugees are under the age of 18.

In September the largest group of asylum seekers came from Syria (354), the majority of whom, according to the Interior Ministry, were children born in Austria (197). Overall, however, Afghans account for the highest number of applications this year. A total of 4,249 people sought asylum from the country ruled by the radical Islamist Taliban.

So far in 2025 nearly 4,000 Afghans have been granted asylum in Austria. While the recognition rate for Afghans this year has been 76 percent, for Syrians it is only 20 percent.

Two years ago only around 24 percent of applicants were women, but last year and this year the figure has been much higher, at 42 percent. One contributing factor is that access to asylum has been made easier for Afghan women.