AT · Citizenship by descent

Austrian citizenship by descent

Reaches a parent. A grandparent only if your ancestor fled Nazi persecution. Every answer on this page is what Postern’s rulebook returns, word for word, with the law it cites. The free check runs the same rules.

Last verified 25 September 202620 sourcesNot legal advice

AT · PARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a parentCitizen by descent (§7)AT · GRANDPARENTUNLIKELYThrough a grandparentNo standard routeLikely if your ancestor fled Nazi persecutionAT · GREAT-GRANDPARENTUNLIKELYThrough a great-grandparentNo standard routeLikely if your ancestor fled Nazi persecution
Routes
Declaration under §58c · Citizen by descent (§7)
Dual citizenship
Depends on the route and your home country
Comes with
EU citizenship: the right to live and work in 27 countries

The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.

On this page
  1. 01Who qualifies
  2. 02Dates that matter
  3. 03Mothers’ lines
  4. 04Keeping your citizenship
  5. 05The routes and the law
  6. 06The documents
  7. 07What it takes
  8. 08Where the records live
  9. 09Former places
  10. 10Law changes
  11. 11Other doors
  12. 12Sources

01Who qualifies

Who qualifies, generation by generation

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Austrian citizenship through a parent?

Citizen by descent (§7)

Austrian citizenship can pass from a parent, depending on your birth date and the rules at the time. Outside the persecution route, Austria generally expects you to give up your other citizenship.

What would settle itWhether your parent was still an Austrian citizen when you were born, and whether you would seek a retention permit to keep your other citizenship.

What changes the answer

  • LIKELY
    If your ancestor fled Nazi persecutionDeclaration under §58c

    Descendants of people persecuted by the Nazi regime who lived in Austria and left before 15 May 1955 become Austrian by declaration, in any generation. No move, no language test, and you keep your other citizenships.

If your ancestor fled Nazi persecution, 3 more cases
  • POSSIBLE
    If you have a criminal conviction or charges pending

    The declaration carries the ordinary character conditions: no final conviction, in Austria or abroad, for an intentional offence punished with imprisonment (if the act is also a crime in Austria), no pending Austrian criminal case for such an offence, and none of the facts listed in the Aliens Police Act, which include some administrative penalties: the Vienna Administrative Court upheld a refusal over one unexpunged fine for illegal employment (VGW-152/022/12944/2022). Nationality Act (StbG) §58c: citizenship for victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants, §58c(1) and (3) with §10(1) Z 2-6 and 8 and §10(2) Z 1 and 3-7

  • POSSIBLE
    If your ancestor left Austria before 1933

    Whether a departure before 1933 can be tied to persecution; the Vienna Administrative Court has granted a 1929 departure on an objective group-risk standard after the ministry refused (VGW-152/099/8098/2023).

  • POSSIBLE
    If your ancestor left Austria in 1956 or later

    The §58c route requires the ancestor to have left Austria before 15 May 1955; a later departure needs a closer look.

UNLIKELY

Can you claim Austrian citizenship through a grandparent?

No standard route

Without the persecution route, Austrian citizenship rarely passes beyond a parent. A residence permit for family members remains open.

What would settle itWhether your ancestor left Austria because of Nazi persecution. If so, §58c applies in any generation.

What changes the answer

  • LIKELY
    If your ancestor fled Nazi persecutionDeclaration under §58c

    Descendants of people persecuted by the Nazi regime who lived in Austria and left before 15 May 1955 become Austrian by declaration, in any generation. No move, no language test, and you keep your other citizenships.

If your ancestor fled Nazi persecution, 3 more cases
  • POSSIBLE
    If you have a criminal conviction or charges pending

    The declaration carries the ordinary character conditions: no final conviction, in Austria or abroad, for an intentional offence punished with imprisonment (if the act is also a crime in Austria), no pending Austrian criminal case for such an offence, and none of the facts listed in the Aliens Police Act, which include some administrative penalties: the Vienna Administrative Court upheld a refusal over one unexpunged fine for illegal employment (VGW-152/022/12944/2022). Nationality Act (StbG) §58c: citizenship for victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants, §58c(1) and (3) with §10(1) Z 2-6 and 8 and §10(2) Z 1 and 3-7

  • POSSIBLE
    If your ancestor left Austria before 1933

    Whether a departure before 1933 can be tied to persecution; the Vienna Administrative Court has granted a 1929 departure on an objective group-risk standard after the ministry refused (VGW-152/099/8098/2023).

  • POSSIBLE
    If your ancestor left Austria in 1956 or later

    The §58c route requires the ancestor to have left Austria before 15 May 1955; a later departure needs a closer look.

UNLIKELY

Can you claim Austrian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

No standard route

Without the persecution route, Austrian citizenship rarely passes beyond a parent. A residence permit for family members remains open.

What would settle itWhether your ancestor left Austria because of Nazi persecution. If so, §58c applies in any generation.

What changes the answer

  • LIKELY
    If your ancestor fled Nazi persecutionDeclaration under §58c

    Descendants of people persecuted by the Nazi regime who lived in Austria and left before 15 May 1955 become Austrian by declaration, in any generation. No move, no language test, and you keep your other citizenships.

If your ancestor fled Nazi persecution, 3 more cases
  • POSSIBLE
    If you have a criminal conviction or charges pending

    The declaration carries the ordinary character conditions: no final conviction, in Austria or abroad, for an intentional offence punished with imprisonment (if the act is also a crime in Austria), no pending Austrian criminal case for such an offence, and none of the facts listed in the Aliens Police Act, which include some administrative penalties: the Vienna Administrative Court upheld a refusal over one unexpunged fine for illegal employment (VGW-152/022/12944/2022). Nationality Act (StbG) §58c: citizenship for victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants, §58c(1) and (3) with §10(1) Z 2-6 and 8 and §10(2) Z 1 and 3-7

  • POSSIBLE
    If your ancestor left Austria before 1933

    Whether a departure before 1933 can be tied to persecution; the Vienna Administrative Court has granted a 1929 departure on an objective group-risk standard after the ministry refused (VGW-152/099/8098/2023).

  • POSSIBLE
    If your ancestor left Austria in 1956 or later

    The §58c route requires the ancestor to have left Austria before 15 May 1955; a later departure needs a closer look.

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

  1. 1955
    15 May 1955

    A person who was an Austrian citizen or resident and either left Austria before 15 May 1955 because of persecution by the NSDAP or the authorities of the Third Reich, or was deported or killed by them between 1933 and 1945, and their direct descendants in the descending line (including adopted children), acquire citizenship by declaration. Nationality Act (StbG) §58c: citizenship for victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants

  2. 1983

    A child acquires citizenship at birth if a parent is an Austrian citizen (with rules for children of unmarried parents and births before 1983 that turn on the father's status). Nationality Act (StbG) §7: acquisition by descent

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

Austria’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father. Where its reasons speak of mothers or fathers, they say:

04Keeping your citizenship

Dual citizenship with your home country

  • NOT KEPT
    Citizen by descent (§7)

    The rule expects you to give up your other citizenship on this route, or to get permission to keep it.

  • KEPT
    Declaration under §58c

    You keep your other citizenship on this route.

05The routes

Every route, and the law behind it

Citizen by descent (§7)

Open through a parent

  • POSSIBLE
    Through a parent

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether your parent was still an Austrian citizen when you were born, and whether you would seek a retention permit to keep your other citizenship.

Declaration under §58c

Open through a parent, a grandparent or a great-grandparent

  • LIKELY
    Through a parent, if your ancestor fled Nazi persecution

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • What the conviction or penalty was for, and whether it has been expunged: intentional offences punished with imprisonment, and some administrative penalties, bar the declaration until they are erased from the record (§10(1a) StbG).
  • Whether a departure before 1933 can be tied to persecution; the Vienna Administrative Court has granted a 1929 departure on an objective group-risk standard after the ministry refused (VGW-152/099/8098/2023).
  • The year your ancestor left Austria and whether it was because of persecution.

No standard route

Closed: no open answer on this route

  • UNLIKELY
    Through a grandparent

    Without the persecution route, Austrian citizenship rarely passes beyond a parent. A residence permit for family members remains open.

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether your ancestor left Austria because of Nazi persecution. If so, §58c applies in any generation.

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizen by descent (§7)

Through a parent

  • Your parent's proof of Austrian citizenship at the time of your birth
  • Your birth certificate
  • Your parents' marriage certificate

Declaration under §58c

Through a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent

  • Evidence your ancestor lived in Austria (Meldezettel, birth or marriage record, school or employment record)
  • Evidence of persecution and departure (emigration papers, ship manifests, restitution files)
  • Birth and marriage records for each generation to you

Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.

07What it takes

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizen by descent (§7)

Time
6–12 months for the citizenship determination, then a passport.
Cost
About $300–600 in fees, copies and translations.
The hard part
Austria does not allow dual citizenship on this route as a rule; the answer turns on whether your parent kept Austrian citizenship when they took American.
Who decides
The Austrian consulate, then the provincial government.
The first record
Your parent’s Austrian citizenship certificate (Staatsbürgerschaftsnachweis) or birth record, from The Standesamt or the family’s own papers. Start with the family’s papers; then the Standesamt of the birthplace. oesterreich.gv.at

How it’s filed

Where
The Austrian mission for your U.S. state (same three districts as §58c), which issues the Staatsbürgerschaftsnachweis; doubtful cases go to the provincial government for a formal determination office list
How
In person; you appear in person
Appointments
BMEIA appointment system, category 'Passports, ID Cards, Citizenship Certificates'. BotDetect captcha; New York warns of longer waits for appointments and written replies.
Fee
About $55
Decision
1–12 months
What goes in the file (5)
  1. Your valid passport
  2. Your birth certificate, apostilled
  3. Your parents' marriage certificate, apostilled
  4. The Austrian parent's proof of citizenship at your birth (Staatsbürgerschaftsnachweis, passport)
  5. The Austrian parent's U.S. naturalisation certificate if any, with any Beibehaltungsbewilligung (retention permit), to show citizenship was not lost before your birth
What goes wrong (4)
  • Fee: the BMEIA Abuja page gives €48 as the consular fee for a Staatsbürgerschaftsnachweis; the U.S. missions' own amount was not published on the pages checked (unverified for the U.S.).
  • Austria does not generally allow dual citizenship here: an Austrian parent who took U.S. citizenship without a retention permit lost Austrian citizenship, and a child born afterwards did not acquire it. A child who was Austrian and American from birth keeps both.
  • Without a main residence in Austria, the Nachweis can only be issued abroad by the mission.
  • The takes estimate (6–12 months) covers a formal provincial determination; a simple parent-line Nachweis at the mission can be much quicker.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Declaration under §58c

Time
3–9 months once filed. No fee, no move, no language test.
Cost
About $300–700: certified copies, apostilles and translations. The declaration is free.
The hard part
Showing your ancestor lived in Austria and left before 15 May 1955 to escape persecution: a residence registration (Meldezettel), an emigration record, or a restitution file.
Who decides
The Austrian consulate for your address, which forwards to the Vienna city government (MA 35).
The first record
Your ancestor’s Vienna residence registration (Meldezettel) or birth record, from The Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, or the town’s Standesamt. Email the Vienna archive with the name and approximate dates; they search the registration cards and reply in 2–8 weeks. The Arolsen Archives are the other place to look. wien.gv.at

How it’s filed

Where
The Austrian mission for your U.S. state, which forwards to MA 35 (Vienna city government): Embassy Washington (AL, AR, DE, DC, FL, GA, KS, LA, MD, MS, MO, NC, OK, PR, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV, USVI); Consulate General New York (CT, IL, IN, IA, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT, WI, Bermuda); Consulate General Los Angeles (AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NE, NV, NM, ND, OR, SD, UT, WA, WY, Pacific islands) office list
How
By post; no appearance needed
Appointments
BMEIA appointment system (appointment.bmeia.gv.at). Uses a BotDetect captcha. An appointment is optional for §58c: the Anzeige need not be filed in person and may be posted, but only the mission for your main residence can accept it.
Fee
No fee
Decision
3–18 months
What goes in the file (9)
  1. Completed and signed Anzeige form
  2. Valid passport, original
  3. Current biometric photo (not older than 6 months)
  4. Your birth certificate, original, apostilled
  5. Marriage, partnership, divorce and death certificates, and name-change documents, originals, apostilled
  6. Naturalisation certificates or other proof of how you acquired your other citizenships
  7. FBI Identity History Summary, apostilled, not older than 8 months when filed
  8. Birth, marriage and paternity/adoption records linking each generation to the persecuted ancestor
  9. The ancestor's documents where they exist: birth certificate, old Austrian passport, Heimatschein, Meldezettel, emigration papers, Opferausweis or compensation records
What goes wrong (8)
  • Fill in the BMEIA online questionnaire from your own mission's site first; it tells you which documents Austria already holds (e.g. Nationalfonds or Opferausweis files), and the mission pre-checks your papers by post or email before the formal filing.
  • No fee: filing at a mission is exempt from federal fees and Vienna charges no Land fees (Vienna: 'Kosten: Keine').
  • Citizenship is acquired retroactively from the day the Anzeige reaches the authority. Do not apply for any other new citizenship while the case is pending: that would cause retroactive loss and bar a new Anzeige.
  • Your own documents must be apostilled originals (U.S. vital records from the issuing state); the ancestor's documents need no apostille and copies are accepted if originals are lost. Originals are checked and returned on filing.
  • Not available to a descendant who already held Austrian citizenship and lost it after 1 May 2022 by taking another citizenship (unless unaware of holding it), or who renounced or was deprived of it.
  • Ancestors who left before 12 November 1918 do not qualify; the ancestor must have left before 15 May 1955 for fear of persecution, or been deported, killed, or prevented from returning 1933–1945.
  • MA 35 decides and may write to you directly (82-ref@ma35.wien.gv.at); the mission hands over the positive Bescheid. Processing time is not published; the range here is an estimate that widens for archive-heavy cases.
  • From CA/GB/AU/NZ/BR/AR/ZA: file with the Austrian embassy or consulate for your main residence; Portuguese and Spanish records need an Austrian court-certified translation; the criminal record comes from your country of residence, apostilled.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.

08Where the records live

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

  • birth1939–2026

    The Standesamt (civil registry): births and deaths from 1 January 1939, marriages from 1 August 1938 (Burgenland from 1 October 1895); certificates are obtainable from any Austrian Standesamt once the entry is in the central civil register

    Write to the Standesamt of the town where the event happened; for Vienna, the Standesamt Wien. Vienna's online ordering only serves people with a Vienna main residence, so a U.S. requester writes by letter or email.

    Ask
    By email, in German
    Fee
    34.1 EUR (about $39)
    Takes
    2–9 weeks
    Good to know (2)
    • Vienna charges a €21 application fee for written requests (letter, fax, email, online) plus €13.10 per certificate; enclosures sent on paper cost €6 each (max €36).
    • Ask for an international (multilingual) certificate if it will be used outside Austria; for the §58c Anzeige, documents about the persecuted ancestor need no apostille.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • birth1784–1938

    The religious community that kept the registers (Matriken) before 1939: the Catholic parish (Pfarramt) or its diocesan archive, the Protestant parish, or for Jews the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (IKG Wien Matrikenamt holds Vienna, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola registers c. 1784/1826–1938)

    Identify the parish of the birthplace (or the IKG for Jewish births). Catholic registers of most dioceses are scanned on Matricula; Vienna's Jewish registers are held by the IKG Matrikenamt in Vienna.

    Ask
    By email, in German
    Takes
    3–13 weeks
    Good to know (3)
    • Parishes and the IKG Matrikenamt are legally bound to issue extracts from pre-1939 registers; fees vary by parish and the IKG charges for some certificates (amount unverified).
    • The IKG archive site's certificate had expired on 2026-09-25, so its pages could not be loaded; contact details were taken from search snippets only.
    • For a §58c Anzeige the ancestor's birth certificate is not strictly required: MA 35 can search Austrian archives itself (BMEIA FAQ).

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • marriage1938–2026

    The Standesamt of the place of marriage (civil marriages from 1 August 1938)

    Ask
    By email, in German
    Fee
    34.1 EUR (about $39)
    Takes
    2–9 weeks

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • marriage1784–1938

    The parish or IKG that performed the marriage (religious registers before August 1938)

    Ask
    By email, in German
    Takes
    3–13 weeks

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • residence1904–1975

    Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv (MA 8): historical Vienna police registration records (Meldezettel), about 1904–1975 for people deregistered by 1975

    Vienna only. For other towns, the municipal office (Gemeindeamt/Magistrat) or the Land archive holds old registration records.

    Ask
    Online, in German · request page ↗
    Fee
    35 EUR (about $40)
    Takes
    2–9 weeks
    Good to know (4)
    • Charged at €35 per started half hour of search time (council resolution of 24 September 2025), including unsuccessful searches; one form per person.
    • Records cannot be viewed in person; answers come by email within two months.
    • Give full name plus a distinguishing detail (date of birth, occupation, an address at a known date); for common names the birthplace (women) or occupation (men) is essential.
    • Meldezettel are the standard proof that the ancestor lived in Austria and when they deregistered (left).

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • citizenship

    Heimatrolle / Heimatschein records (proof of the pre-1939 right of domicile, the old proof of citizenship), held by the municipality or its archive (in Vienna, the Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv)

    Ask
    By email, in German
    Takes
    4–17 weeks
    Good to know (2)
    • Heimatscheine are no longer issued; the BMEIA says the ancestor's Heimatrecht may still be on record in archives the deciding authority can access, so the family need not find it before filing.
    • Vienna archive research is charged by time (see residence record).

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • other1938–1938

    Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik: 1938 property declarations (Vermögensanmeldungen) of Jews to the Vermögensverkehrsstelle, and restitution files

    Ask
    By email, in German · request page ↗
    Takes
    1–6 months
    Good to know (2)
    • Written inquiries use the archive's PDF form, emailed to the relevant department; general orientation is free, research by staff is charged.
    • A property declaration is strong evidence of Jewish persecution and of residence in 1938.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • other

    Arolsen Archives: deportation, camp and displaced-persons records

    Ask
    Online, in English or German · request page ↗
    Fee
    0 EUR (about $0)
    Takes
    1–13 months
    Good to know (1)
    • Average 5 months, up to 13, for a written inquiry; search online first.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into
German
Who may translate
A sworn translator in the country
About
$40–$100 a page

For §58c, documents in German or English need no translation; other languages need a German translation by an Austrian 'allgemein beeideter und gerichtlich zertifizierter' translator (court-certified list at the Ministry of Justice), with no further legalisation of the translation. MA 35 may ask for a translation of an English document in an individual case. Per-page prices are an estimate.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where
In person at the Austrian mission for your U.S. state (or an honorary consulate authorised for passports), after the positive Bescheid; the passport is produced in Austria and sent to the mission within a few weeks
Fee
About $127
Time
3–9 weeks

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Former places

Places on old papers that lead to Austria

If your family’s records name one of these, Austria’s law may be the one that applies. The town decides.

10Law changes

Recent and pending changes

The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Austria.

The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.

11Other doors

If descent doesn’t reach you

2 residence programs lead to Austria without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

12Sources

Every source on this page

5 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing. Records and filing checked 25 September 2026.

  1. LawNationality Act (StbG) §7: acquisition by descent
  2. LawNationality Act (StbG) §27
  3. LawNationality Act (StbG) §28: retention of citizenship on acquiring a foreign one
  4. LawNationality Act (StbG) §58c: citizenship for victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants · §58c(1) and (3) with §10(1) Z 2-6 and 8 and §10(2) Z 1 and 3-7
  5. LawAustrian Foreign Ministry: Citizenship for Persecuted Persons and their Direct Descendants
  6. RecordsThe Standesamt or the family’s own papers: Your parent’s Austrian citizenship certificate (Staatsbürgerschaftsnachweis) or birth record
  7. RecordsHow to file: Citizen by descent (§7) · checked 25 September 2026
  8. RecordsApplication for a Staatsbürgerschaftsnachweis (proof of citizenship) at the Austrian mission for your residence · checked 25 September 2026
  9. RecordsBMEIA appointment system, category 'Passports, ID Cards, Citizenship Certificates' · checked 25 September 2026
  10. RecordsThe Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, or the town’s Standesamt: Your ancestor’s Vienna residence registration (Meldezettel) or birth record
  11. RecordsHow to file: Declaration under §58c · checked 25 September 2026
  12. RecordsAnzeige gemäß § 58c StbG (declaration form, German/English), produced after the BMEIA online questionnaire or emailed as a PDF by MA 35 · checked 25 September 2026
  13. RecordsBirth records, 1939–2026: The Standesamt · checked 25 September 2026
  14. RecordsMatricula Online (Catholic parish registers, free) · checked 25 September 2026
  15. RecordsResidence records, 1904–1975: Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv · checked 25 September 2026
  16. RecordsCitizenship records: Heimatrolle / Heimatschein records · checked 25 September 2026
  17. RecordsOther records, 1938–1938: Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik · checked 25 September 2026
  18. RecordsOther records: Arolsen Archives · checked 25 September 2026
  19. RecordsArolsen online archive · checked 25 September 2026
  20. RecordsTranslations into German · checked 25 September 2026

Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.

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