An Inter Press Service Feature

VIENNA, Dic 22 (IPS) - One odd result of Austria's entry into the European Union (EU) next month will be that foreigners married to other EU citizens will find it easier to settle here than those wedded to Austrians, say migrant counsellors.

"It is ironic, but a fact," says Wolfgang Bergmann, a jurist at the Catholic service organisation Caritas. "In some ways other EU citizens will be in a better position here than some Austrians."

While a non-EU citizen married to an Austrian may have to wait for a year to receive the residence permit, a citizen of any of the other 14 countries of the EU living in Austria could theoretically bring his or her non-EU partner immediately, Bergmann said.

Austria is set to join the EU on Jan. 1 along with Finland and Sweden.

Currently citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA) countries -- which comprise the present 12 EU members along with Austria, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Sweden -- are allowed to move freely within the zone.

But these rights would be expanded within the EU. European Union citizens could live and work in any of the member countries without any hindrance -- should the Union principles be applied to the letter.

They will not be subjected to quota restrictions or any other system that seeks to control immigration into the respective countries of the Union. "They will have zero problems," said Bergmann.

Actually non-Austrians would be divided into two groups: EU citizens, and the "others" -- which would include those from the rest of the industrialised world as well as from developing countries.

"The generosity towards one group of people has been balanced by the restrictiveness towards the other (in Austria)," Bergmann says.

Home minister Franz Loeschnak has declared the controversial residence law would be relaxed, but many hurdles and problems remain for those wishing to come to Austria and for those foreigners already in the country.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service