Lower Austria wants fewer immigrants, just like Styria. The province has therefore requested that the Interior Ministry allocate fewer places under the settlement ordinance. This request is granted in the draft for the new regulation.
The settlement ordinance mainly allocates places to family members joining workers. But private individuals living off their own assets (without the intention to work, but with sufficient wealth) can also enter the country via this quota. Although the year is already drawing to a close, the ordinance currently under review applies to 2025. Before that, the 2024 ordinance was simply rolled over. The same will now apply for 2026: the figures that are currently being fixed for this year will continue to be used until a new ordinance is issued. For that reason, the 2025 figures are also relevant for the coming months.
A total of 5,616 places are planned, significantly fewer than in the ordinance still in force (5,846). In Lower Austria, the Interior Ministry’s proposal now provides for 273 places instead of the previous 348. Of these, 225 are reserved for family reunification.
Zero quota “legally excluded”
The reduction in quota places is mainly due to Styria’s desire for fewer slots. There, the number will drop from 588 to 433. According to the Interior Ministry, this was supported by a well-founded justification, namely, above all, an overload in the education sector.
Martin Antauer (FPÖ), the regional councillor responsible for security and asylum, repeatedly advocated a zero quota for family reunification, according to the Interior Ministry. “Such a quota has so far not been substantiated and is, due to the requirement of objectivity, also legally excluded,” the ministry stated.
Criticism from the Lower Austria FPÖ
This has triggered criticism from the FPÖ in Lower Austria: “It does not matter what figure we report, because it is completely ignored and, due to deliberately delayed setting by the Interior Ministry, the previous year’s numbers are always used,” Antauer said in a statement. He called the “stop to family reunification” the “biggest con of the ÖVP interior minister.”
The Interior Ministry rejects this: “The federal government has stopped family reunification for persons granted asylum by ordinance; this regulation has been in force since early July 2025. This is also reflected in the figures: in October 2024, there were 384 actual entries, in October 2025, there were nine; in November 2024, there were 241, in November 2025, only one entry.”
Review still ongoing
Other federal states where the FPÖ is responsible for this area in the regional government were satisfied with the extension of the quota places. This is the case, for example, in Upper Austria, with 795 residence permits. That is the second-highest number after Vienna, with 2,865 places. How the figures will look in their final form is still open. The review process runs until December 16.
