Vienna wants to make the application for Austrian citizenship more accessible for children and their parents by introducing an online application assistant.
Christoph Widerkehr, the City Councill for Integration, presented the initiative to improve accessibility for residents who want to file their children’s application for Austrian citizenship, Schengen.News reports.
This tool, which was initially introduced in Vienna, includes a multi-stage questionnaire, and after each question, more specific information about the application process will appear.
According to data by Statistics Austria, Vienna had the highest number of naturalisations for 2024 out of all regions, as 1,921 people there became Austrian citizens. This indicates that the new tool could be a great help for residents in Vienna, where a high number of people file for citizenship.
Vienna’s City Council to Reform Immigration & Citizenship Procedures for Improvement of Communication
An online assistant has been introduced to make it easier for those who apply for Austrian citizenship for their children. It also uses simple language, which is easier to understand for those filing the application.
This tool can also serve to book appointments for residents in Vienna who want to obtain Austrian citizenship, and the survey is built in a way that if the applicant fails to meet any requirement, information that explains why the survey cannot go any further appears.
In addition, a similar tool to the Online Citizenship Assistant (Online-Assistent Staatsbürgerschaft), called the Online Immigration Assistant (Online-Assistent Einwanderung), allows users to submit applications for residence permits, which can be filed for the applicants themselves, for their children or their employees.
Naturalisations in Austria Up by 66% in the First Half of 2024
The number of people who obtained Austrian citizenship between January and June of 2024 reached 11,050. This means that naturalisations in Austria were 66 per cent higher than in the same period of 2023 when 6,658 people became Austrian citizens.
Data reveals that in 2024, the Austrian government granted citizenship the most to politically persecuted persons from Israel, accounting for 2,380 naturalisations or 21.5 per cent of all naturalised individuals for this period.
The remaining number of politically persecuted persons who obtained Austrian citizenship in 2024 came from the United States – 873 or 7.9 per cent of the total, and the United Kingdom – 422 or 3.8 per cent. In total, 4,125 individuals in this scheme became Austrian citizens in 2024.
For other naturalised citizens, Syrian nationals represented 11.1 per cent of the total number, accounting for 1,223 people obtaining Austrian citizenship. Turks followed second with 695 naturalised citizens, while Afghanis were third (540 naturalisations). The total number of naturalised citizens from other countries who were not politically persecuted reached 6,925.
Source: https://schengen.news/vienna-eases-austrian-citizenship-application-process-for-children/
