Craving the Euro life? Under the 2020 law, anyone who meets the following three cumulative conditions—and their descendants—can apply for Austrian citizenship and a passport:
- Born in a country that was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Austria, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Yugoslavia, Italy, and Czechoslovakia).
- Lived for a period in what is now Austria.
- Left Austria between 1933 and 1955.
In other words, nearly anyone who was a citizen or resident of Austria and left during these years may qualify for citizenship, as well as their descendants—without generational limits. This relaxation of the rules grants tens of thousands of Israelis eligibility for a European passport. For instance, descendants of someone born in Poland who moved to a displaced persons camp in Austria at the end of World War II before immigrating to Israel may be eligible for Austrian citizenship.
Here are a few more important relaxations to be aware of:
- Dual citizenship: There is no need to renounce Israeli citizenship or any other foreign citizenship to obtain an Austrian passport.
- Skipping generations: It is possible to obtain an Austrian passport for grandchildren and great-grandchildren, even if their parents did not obtain citizenship for themselves.
- All together: It is possible and advisable to bundle citizenship applications for children, grandchildren, parents, and so on under one request, thus saving time, effort, unnecessary expenses, and bureaucracy.
- No pre-conditions: There is no need to know the German language, possess prior knowledge of Austrian history, have a certain level of education, or have a specific economic status.
How long will this be valid?
"It is impossible to know, but the door may not remain open forever. In recent years, we have witnessed rising nationalism in Europe, and in Austria as well, there are increasing calls to limit immigrant intake. In recent months, Austrians have been more meticulous, requiring more documents and evidence to prove basic eligibility conditions. The trend of tightening conditions and reducing eligibility may result in another change in the Austrian nationality law, this time for the worse."
Adv. Hila PincuPhoto: Amit ShivakHow to apply for citizenship?
"Obtaining Austrian citizenship involves a complex bureaucratic process that requires, among other things, locating documents from archives accessible only to genealogists and historians, as well as obtaining documents from Israel, notary approvals, apostille certification, filling out complex forms, and so on."
Adv. Hila Pincu is from the Pincu Barkan Law Office and Notary in Ramat Gan