§58c StbG 1985

Article (§) 58c StbG 1985 is a amended provision in the Austrian Citizenship Act 1985 that was announced in September 2019, and which will enter into force in September 2020.

Under the amended Article 58c:

  • Citizens of the successor state of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy or those who were stateless but with their main residence in federal territory prior to 15 May 1955 who were forced to flee as a result of persecution by, or fear of persecution by bodies of the NSDAP (formal name of the Nazi party) or by authorities of the Third Reich, or who were persecuted or feared persecution by virtue of their support for the Democratic Republic of Austria are able to acquire Austrian citizenship by submission of a written notification. (para. 1)
  • The descendants of such persons may make such an application by submission of a written notification, supported by appropriate documentation and certificates (e.g. birth certificates) that demonstrate that they are direct descendants of someone who is or was eligible to retake Austrian citizenship. (para. 1a)
  • The provision for descendants (Nachkommen) is extended to adopted children, subject to their having been adopted prior to reaching the age of majority. (para. 1b)
  • There are no charges for the notification, the decision or submission of documents in relation to this procedure (e.g. certificates, documents relating to personal status (e.g. birth, nationality, marriage and death certificates and translations thereof) (para. 4)
  • The authorities may request that the Nationalfonds der Republik Österreich (in English) (English: National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism) assists in an expert capacity in the assessment of the validity of such an application. Under such circumstances the National Fund is authorised to submit personal information including sensitive information to both the applicant and the authority (para. 5)

Antragstermin

Application appointment – i.e. the appointment at which you submit your application to naturalise.

Gelöbnis

(en. pledge of allegiance) part of the citizenship ceremony in which you are asked to repeat an oath pledging allegiance to the Republic of Austria and its values.

lex sanguinis

(en. Law of blood) countries that confer citizenship based on your descent rather than based on the country you were born is are said to have lex sanguinis.

lex solis

(en. Law of soil) law of countries where citizenship is conferred by virtue of where you born rather than by descent.

Niederschrift

The Niederschrift is a simple record of the application appointment (Antragstermin) and contains the salient points about your qualification for naturalisation (e.g. duration of residence, level of integration etc.)

Selbstauskunft zur Vorlage

The Selbstauskunft zur Vorlage is a document issued by a credit rating agency (e.g. Kreditschutzverband) that is used in the naturalisation process to assist your application in terms of confirming your sound financial footing. This document is paid for upon delivery (ie. you pay the correct sum to the postman who delivers it and makes you sign for it). It contains excerpts from the KonsumentenKreditEvidenz (a register of consumer loans). Some bank overdraft facilities are captured in this way – as they constitute a type of credit facility. There is also a Warnliste (warning list) excerpt in relation to this (which should of course state “Es liegen keine Eintragungen vor”), as well as the WarenKreditEvidenz (a register for trade loans).

Case officers may not necessarily understand the difference between a rolling overdraft facility and an actual overdraft – so be prepared with a recent bank statement if necessary.

stateless

Under certain circumstances a naturalisation process requires the applicant to go through a temporary period of statelessness. In taking Austrian citizenship, this is only the case when naturalisation from a third country citizenship (e.g. Russian citizenship). In that case the renunciation process takes place before the conferring of the new citizenship and the applicant is stateless (in the case of my wife for approx. six weeks). Provisions in Austrian law cover the granting of citizenship to children born while the mother of the children is stateless.

StbG 1985

Abbreviation for the Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz 1985 (Austrian Citizenship Act of 1985) which contains provisions about acquiring, revoking an all aspects of citizenship.