Obtaining Austrian Citizenship

General Requirements

Please note: The requirements for obtaining Austrian citizenship are laid down in the Austrian Citizenship Act (Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz 2006) as part of the general prerequisites for naturalisation. They include some knowledge of the history of Austria and of the federal province the applicant lives in. Municipal Department 35 has prepared study documents and a list of questions for the history test. You can download them for free:

• Study documents for the text of Viennese history: 863 KB PDF • 576 KB RTF (German)
• List of questions: 49 KB PDF • 297 KB RTF (German)

In any case, the applicant must fulfil the general prerequisites for naturalisation:

• no court convictions, no pending criminal proceedings in Austria or abroad, no major administrative offences
• no past revocation of applicant’s residence permit, no pending proceedings for termination of the applicant’s right to stay in Austria or in another EEA country, no revocation of expulsion issued within the past twelve months
• positive attitude to the Republic of Austria
• sufficient means of subsistence
• renunciation of the previous nationality (provided that renunciation is possible and can be reasonably expected of the applicant)
• knowledge of the democratic system and history of Austria and Vienna
• proof of command of the German language

The applicant must have had their continuous main residence (centre of vital interests and relations) here right before obtaining the Austrian citizenship.

Ways of obtaining Citizenship

For applicants fulfilling these general prerequisites, there are several different ways of obtaining Austrian citizenship, all of which are linked to specific requirements or conditions:

• Legal claim to Austrian citizenship
• Obtaining citizenship at the authorities’ discretion: applicants who have no legal claim to Austrian citizenship may be granted citizenship at the authorities’ discretion.
• Obtaining citizenship by extension: In some cases, Austrian citizenship may be extended to children or spouses.
• The following options are open to persons residing abroad or in Austria:
  • Regaining Austrian citizenship by declaration: Former Austrians who lost their citizenship due to racist or political persecution prior to 9 May, 1945 may regain citizenship by declaration. Proof of sufficient means of subsistence is not required in this case.

For specific information on requirements please contact a case officer at the Municipal Department for Immigration, Citizenship and Registry Offices.