Four refugee campaign groups on Monday demanded that a European Union court take action against the Austrian government's freeze on refugees bringing family members to the country.
The freeze was first imposed by the conservative-led government in July last year for six months, but was extended for another six months.
The four groups, which includes the Protestant church's Diakonie, said in a statement that the government action was "an attack" on refugees' right to be with their families.
The groups have called on the EU Court of Justice to start action against Austria to end the freeze on the grounds it contravenes an EU directive.
They say the government has not shown it was necessary to breach the fundamental rights of people and that its action went against EU "rule of law".
The government has said that more than 17,000 people, mainly children from Syria, entered Austria in 2023-2024 through family reunion procedures.
The interior ministry argued when the freeze was imposed that the migrant numbers were a burden on public services and a "threat" to public order in the country of 9.2 million people.
Authorities ordered DNA tests on family reunion candidates and tougher document checks. The number of arrivals under the system fell from 1,000 in February 2024 to 60 in February 2025. The interior ministry has since suspended the handling of all applications.
The ministry said on Sunday that while 401 people had entered Austria under family reunion procedures in the first quarter of 2025, only 25 had done so in the first quarter this year. It added that from July quotas on numbers would be imposed.