Granting Citizenship to Persons with Legal Claim

Persons with a legal claim to citizenship may only be refused citizenship where there is a legal impediment to naturalisation, such as court convictions or serious administrative infringements.

Extension of citizenship to spouses and children is considered a legal claim at any rate.

Persons with a legal claim to citizenship must also meet the general naturalisation requirements. Persons fulfilling the conditions set out below have legal claim to citizenship:

• thirty years of uninterrupted main residence or
• fifteen years of legal and uninterrupted residence with proof of sustainable personal and professional integration or
• six years of main residence, provided the applicant has been married to an Austrian citizen for five years and
  • the spouse has been sharing a household with the applicant for five years or
• six years of legal and uninterrupted residence and official right to asylum, or
• six years of legal and uninterrupted residence provided that the applicant holds the citizenship of an EEA member state, or
• six years of legal and uninterrupted residence provided that the applicant was born in Austria, or
• six years of legal and uninterrupted residence if the applicant is to be naturalised for reasons extraordinary past or prospective achievements in the fields of science, business, art and culture or sports in the interest of the Republic of Austria.