Constitutional Court ruled on right of residence

Policy Response DateJune 27, 2008 Country: Austria Address: Vienna General Type: Discrimination, Institutional discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-migrant/xenophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Refugees, Asylum seekers Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Policing - law enforcement, Political discourse -parties - orgs

On 27 June, 2008 the Austrian Constitutional Court partly abolished certain provisions of the Settlement and Residence Act (Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, BGBl I 157/2005, last amended by BGBl I 4/2008 (04.01.2008), regulating that humanitarian residence permits may only be granted ex officio, for being unconstitutional. In its judgment, the Court stated that in accordance with the rule of law it was undue in such cases not to allow applications by persons concerned. A reparation period of nine months for the respective provisions was determined by the Court.

Source:

www.vfgh.gv.at/cms/vfgh-site/attachments/0/3/4/CH0004/CMS1215761707987/nag_presseinformation.pdf (02.07.2008)
http://www.vfgh.gv.at/cms/vfgh-site/attachments/3/9/6/CH0006/CMS1215761559908/nag_g246-07.pdf (02.07.2008)