The vast majority moved on to its larger neighbour, but a fraction have stayed.
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Austria also signalled last week that it would follow neighbouring Germany’s lead and begin turning back any new arrivals seeking to claim asylum in Scandinavia.
The head of the European Commission has called for a summit on migration.
In the coming year, Austria will only accept 37,500 asylum claims, he said, a drastic decrease from the 90,000 it received in 2015.
In case of a spike in numbers, security forces could handle as many as 11,000 people – roughly the average daily number of refugees who crossed into Austria late a year ago.
Asked what would happen if the number of people who wanted to apply for asylum exceeded that figure, Faymann said only that experts were due to examine the issue.
The centre left has opposed such plans, but Chancellor Werner Faymann, a Social Democrat, in recent weeks called for deportations to be accelerated and more “economic migrants” to be turned away.
The Austrian chancellor said border controls would have to be stepped up “massively”.
Faymann said he had discussed his government’s plans in principle with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and their Slovenian counterpart.
“The Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951 says that I am allowed to enter into a country as long as I intend to apply for asylum in that country, even if I do not possess the proper documents”, Melita Sunjic, a spokesperson for the UNHCR told German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.
Austria announced Wednesday it would limit the number of migrants and refugees granted asylum to no more than 1.5 percent of the population over the next four years – the latest clampdown in Europe’s immigration crisis.
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More police will be deployed on Austria’s southern border, to assist the army in carrying out stringent checks on migrants arriving at the main border crossing with Slovenia.
