Mother and son may return to Katsdorf in deportation case
Wednesday 11th November 2026 on 20:30 in
Austria
The mother and one of her three children from an Iraqi family facing deportation may return to Katsdorf, ORF Upper Austria reported on Wednesday. A lawyer specialising in asylum and immigration law has joined the case, and the family’s baptism certificates could support a new asylum application.
The family of five had made a home in Katsdorf, in Perg district, where the parents were considered well integrated. The father volunteered on building work at the parish, while the mother helped at events and with cleaning. The family was baptised on October 18 and attended church every Sunday, said Caritas chaplain Kurt Stauder, a close contact of the family.
Until Monday, Katsdorf was home to the couple and their three children, aged between three and eight. Stauder said police had taken the eldest child from school and the mother from a German class in Linz. The mother and one son were subsequently placed in Vienna. The father went into hiding with the two younger children.
Mayor Wolfgang Greil said he learned of the deportation order only about a week and a half ago. Residents, including the children’s school friends and their parents, had raised concerns, he said. The municipality had not been informed or involved in the case.
The Federal Administrative Court ruled in 2025 that the family could be deported. Their asylum applications had been finally rejected in 2024. The father later cited his planned conversion to Christianity as a new reason for seeking protection, but the court did not consider the claimed threat credible. It also found no exceptional integration in Austria and no danger to the family on return to Iraq.
Stauder said the mother and her son were allowed to return to Katsdorf on Wednesday, possibly with a short-term right to remain. The family’s lawyer said their baptism certificates could enable them to submit a new asylum application. The Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum and the Federal Administrative Court would then have to decide again whether the family may stay.