Citizenship for descendants of victims of Nazi persecution.

People who had to flee Austria from the Nazi regime, and their direct descendants, can acquire Austrian citizenship by notification (Anzeige) under § 58c StbG. No residence in Austria, no German test.

Who are you?

§ 58c StbG

Acquisition by notification

Austria allows people who were persecuted by the Nazi regime, or had to fear persecution, and therefore left Austria, to acquire citizenship through a simple notification (Anzeige)§ 58c StbGA written declaration to the authority referring to § 58c StbG. Citizenship is acquired once the requirements are met; the authority has no discretion.Statutory text in RIS (in German) →. Since 2020 this also applies to all direct descendants. The notification is filed with the citizenship authority, in Vienna with the MA35MA 35Municipal Department 35 of the City of Vienna, the immigration and citizenship authority. In the other federal provinces, the Office of the Provincial Government (Amt der Landesregierung) is responsible.; the procedure itself is free of charge.

Requirements

What must still be met

1. You are a direct descendant of a persecuted person (or were persecuted yourself).
2. The persecuted person left Austria before 15 May 1955.
3. No residence ban and no proceedings to end your residence in Austria, an EEA state or Switzerland.
4. No expulsion from Austria in the last 18 months.
5. A clean criminal record (Unbescholtenheit) and no pending criminal proceedings.
6. No frequent or serious administrative offences.
7. No links to extremist or terrorist groups; your relations with other states do not run counter to Austria's interests.

Checklist

Which documents you need

All documents in original and as a copy. Documents in languages other than German or English need a translation by a court-certified interpreter, and many foreign certificates also need legalisation or an apostille. For children under 14 and for people living in Austria or Germany, no criminal record certificate is needed.