Asylum seekers will be forced to hand over their mobile phones and up to $1,040 (840 euros) in cash to the authorities, under measures approved by the Austrian cabinet on Wednesday.
The money will be put towards the costs of their applications, while authorities will examine whether geo-location data from refugees’ phones match their accounts of how they arrived in the country.
If the applicant is found to have previously entered another European country where the so-called “Dublin regulation” is in force, they could be sent back there.
Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, from the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) said his aim was a “restrictive and enforceable law regarding the rights of foreigners” in order to end “abuse” of the asylum system.
The measures are due to be voted through by parliament in the next few weeks.
In last year’s parliamentary election, a crackdown on immigration was one of the FPOe’s key themes and was also adopted by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his centre-right Austrian People’s Party (OeVP).
Austria received more than 150,000 asylum applications, almost 2 percent of its total population of 8.7 million, following the migration crisis of 2015.
The measures announced on Wednesday also mean that refugees will only be able to apply for Austrian citizenship after ten years, as opposed to six previously.
Deportations of asylum applicants convicted of crimes will also be sped up.