Less than 24 hours after the bill cleared committee, Austria’s Nationalrat approved a package of amendments to the Criminal Code and Aliens’ Police Act that will allow non-citizen prisoners to be expelled as soon as they have served the statutory minimum portion of their sentence. Speaking in parliament on 14 October 2026, Justice Minister Anna Sporrer called the reform “a vital step to relieve an overstretched penitentiary system.” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner added that almost 3 000 convicted foreigners had already left the country in the first nine months of 2026 and predicted “additional momentum” once courts can order removal straight from the cell. The law, which enters into force on 1 November 2026, applies to third-country nationals and non-resident EU citizens who are subject to an entry ban and who have not been convicted of grave violent, sexual or terrorist offences. Eligible inmates may be released after half of the custodial term on condition that they leave Austrian territory under police escort; if their home country refuses admission, normal sentence execution continues. A parallel amendment facilitates transfers of EU nationals to serve sentences in their countries of origin (“Haft in der Heimat”) and extends the maximum postponement period for starting a sentence when offenders are completing vocational training. For migration authorities, the change removes the need to place offenders in immigration detention (Schubhaft) after their criminal sentence, cutting both administrative workload and costs. Prison governors expect to free up several hundred places—roughly eight percent of capacity—at a time when Austrian jails are operating above design limits. Trade unions representing wardens have long warned of chronic overtime and safety risks in crowded facilities. Human-rights NGOs and the opposition Freedom Party (FPÖ) attacked what they describe as “sentence discounts” that undermine deterrence and ignore rehabilitation duties. The Greens criticised the government for failing to create extra prison places and for poor reintegration support in destination countries. Companies employing foreign workers should review compliance procedures: an expulsion order issued under the new rules automatically triggers a multi-year re-entry ban, which could disrupt work-permit renewals or intra-company transfers. For global mobility managers, the main takeaway is that Austria is doubling down on removal of foreign offenders. While business travellers and legitimate expatriates are not targeted, heightened enforcement may lead to more checks on residence status and stronger scrutiny of criminal records during visa or Red-White-Red Card applications.
