Your child may apply as a minor at the same time for Austrian citizenship as you do it (although not on their own, but by extension (durch Ersteckung) in conjunction with your naturalisation. If your child has not taken up their British citizenship, to which they have a claim by descent (durch Abstammung) they would no longer have a claim to it once you naturalise and renounce your British citizenship. This of course would be of relevance to hitherto unborn children (I have children born after naturalisation who are Austrians by birth/descent (durch Abstammung – see Article 7 StbG – checked on 05.01.2019), who would have also qualified for Austrian citizenship in the unfortunate event that I had died after becoming an Austrian citizen but prior to their birth. This last point might sound trivial, but made a difference to us, given that my wife was stateless at the time of the birth of our twins, only 8 weeks after my naturalisation, by provided that I had been an Austrian citizen at the time I died would have received Austrian citizenship.
There is no automatic mandatory naturalisation of your children if you choose to naturalise “Zwangseinbürgerung“, although some other citizenships demand that minors of parents changing citizenship also take the new citizenship (this is the case for Russian citizens). When my son’s naturalisation was done with mine, my wife and I had to provide a signed declaration (non-notarised) that our son had not taken up Russian citizenship in the mean time (even though this of course was not possible!)
It is not that simple. Following my naturalisation ceremony, I had to subsequently prove that I had indeed renounced my British citizenship. Seeing as I had to submit and pay for the renunciation process to trigger the naturalisation ceremony, there was no way around doing it. I was also required to furnish the “registered” (ie. formally approved) renunciation of my British citizenship bearing the Home Office stamp and date with MA35 to conclude the process and for my file to be closed.
Article 20 of the Austrian Citizenship Act of 1985 clarifies that renunciation must be done within 2 years of receiving Austrian citizenship. (Information checked on 05.01.2019).
The option to naturalise and take Austrian citizenship only exists after a minimum of 6 years of continuous residence in Austria, and for Britons who have not been in Austria that long, there are two other pieces of paperwork what should be done to “regularise” your right to remain indefinitely. Having done the Anmeldung upon arrival, after three months, you need to do the Anmeldebescheinigung, which effectively is tied up to the EU’s Freedom of Movement. In Austria the Niederlassungs- und Aufentshaltsgesetz transposes European Directive 2004/38/EC. Once you have done the Anmeldebescheinigung, and doing it on time is important to avoid a fine. After five years lawful residence you may request a Bescheinigung des Daueraufenthalts – not yet mandatory but good for peace of mind – you submit your application through MA35 and it is issued by post usually within a few weeks, but will not automatically pop through your letterbox.
Following my querying the claim that Britons would not need to apply for permanent residence on the Ambassador’s recent Facebook Live Chat, a clarification was given by the Embassy.
The costs of taking Austrian citizenship depend on whether the application is for a single person or for multiple family members, and also depends on the precise procedure that is used. The only cost of my application appointment was EUR 3.99 for a copy of the Niederschrift (transcript of the appointment), payable in cash or by card. The case officer does however have to notify the applicant about the envisaged costs of the procedure, which will be levied when citizenship is conferred.
No. To gain Austrian citizenship will require me to give up British citizenship. The claim about “revoke and resume”, which Britain allows – i.e. to revoke your British citizenship to take another citizenship and then resume your British citizenship (at considerable cost) is not compatible with holding Austrian citizenship. Part of the reason for hitherto not taking Austrian citizenship hinged on the lack of a necessity to do so as well as the fact that prior to the UK Referendum on EU Membership, there was no need to do so, given that British citizenship entitled me to reside and work in Austria, and taken Austrian citizenship was contingent on giving up British citizenship. I am aware of people claiming that Britons in Austria may have used “revoke and resume” to obtain Austrian citizenship and then retake British citizenship , but technically, based on a commentary on the Citizenship Act, they lost Austrian citizenship at the point of resuming their British citizenship. There is too much at stake for me to risk this – it is not the Kavalierdelikt some think it is. See also my post on A quick primer about the Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz 1985.
A translation is said to have been sworn or certified, where an approved translator (i.e. who holds the necessary qualifications to issue certified translations) confirms it to be an accurate translation in the language pair that they are certified in. A lengthier description of the process, as well as a list of certified translators, costs etc. is contained in the blog post Can you translate my marriage certificate for me?.
A Hague Apostille (named after the Hague Convention) is attached to documents issued by Hague Convention signatories and serves the purpose of notarisation for that document. It is used, for example on copies of birth certificates for marrying abroad (although a sworn translation is required of it) and in the case of naturalisation is needed for a police record from the UK for submission to the Austrian authorities.
The current cost (since 6 April 2018) of renouncing British Citizenship is currently £372. A full list of charges for taking British citizenship or renouncing it is available here. The fee appears to go up annually at the start of the UK tax year on 6 April, and rose from £321 to £372.
Over the age of 35 you are exempted from military service (Bundesheer) or alternative civilian service (Zivildienst). If you have already done military service in another country that has an agreement with Austria, you are exempted from having to do it again. British citizens naturalising, since there is no National Service in the UK, would have to do military service. Article 37 of the Citizenship Act contains a provision denying people doing military service the right to renounce citizenship to avoid this being exploited as a way out of military service.
Having been in Austria for approaching 17 years now, and not having a right to vote in the UK and with my contact to the UK now restricted to the occasion trip to the UK for work or pleasure, and feeling increasingly as though I don’t belong, and with the uncertainty about what will emerge from negotiations, I’ve decided that being financially “all in” in Austria, I might as well be towards the front of the queue rather than joining a longer queue as negotiations run on.
I also find myself increasingly unable to identify with the government’s stance, and being unable to vote in the UK, feel increasingly isolated in this regard.
I also have to consider my family’s position – working at an Austrian government agency might become more difficult/impractical once the UK leaves the EU, and as we are intending to stay in Vienna for the long-haul, even if my current job is not affected, I wouldn’t want to mix out on full access to the employment market in the event that the situation were to change.
