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Attorney for Austrian Citizenship

Michael Decker
Michael Decker

The Austrian parliament has been working for the past three years to simplify the criteria for obtaining Austrian citizenship for victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants. The new laws already passed, as well as those that are being passed every few months, create an opening for hundreds of thousands of Jews who resided in or were citizens of Austria up to 1955. In this article we present the new instructions for the reader in an orderly way, as well as explaining why it is important to seek an attorney’s assistance in obtaining the citizenship.

In our offices, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, you will find an attorney for Austrian citizenship. The office deals with obtaining citizenship on the basis of roots for those that left countries that were protectorates under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If your ancestors also had ties to the Danube countries and left the country of Austria by 1955, you are apparently eligible to obtain an Austrian passport under the new law.

Attorney for Austrian Citizenship

In September 2019, the Austrian Parliament presented an updated platform concerning the Law of Return for victims of Nazi persecution. Under the new conditions, any Jewish descendant who can prove that a direct ancestor (father/mother, grandfather/grandmother, etc.) had ties to Austria starting in 1933, will be eligible to obtain Austrian citizenship and after that, a European passport. The new instructions represent a revolutionary expansion of the Austrian constitution and in fact sets almost no conditions or restrictions.

Thanks to the Austrians’ full recognition of the rights of hundreds of thousands of innocent people persecuted on racial grounds, the Austrian government will grant the passport under extremely favorable conditions. This applies to women who suffered persecution, and their descendants, as well as men (in contrast to the previous version of the law, which restricted eligibility to descendants of male citizens only).

Important amendments to the law state that the period of eligibility extends to May 1955 – the date of Austrian independence. The update also relates to those who emigrated from Eastern Europe and lived in Austria (either becoming naturalized there or living as temporary residents) and came from one of the countries that were formerly under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Here we are talking about many countries such as Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Serbia, and more, under the condition that they left Austria before May 1955.

Likewise, those eligible are not required to pass examinations on language or culture, to come to Austria or live there, or to make an investment. All that is required is to show documents proving a tie to Austria from 30.01.1933 – 15.05.1955. After that, one must demonstrate the family tie between the applicant and the relative who suffered persecution. If you do not have any documents, our office can help you find them in the Austrian archives. For hundreds of years, the Austrian authorities took care to keep old documents accessible, so that today the documents can be located in most cases.Austrian citizenship attorney

Why choose the law offices of Decker, Pex, Levi?

Our law office provides VIP service to our clients. This means that following proper, professional work methods, we will have you sign a power of attorney that will give us the professional space to deal with the Austrian authorities. It is important to enlist an attorney who is experienced with Austrian law and who knows German fluently in order to avoid embarrassing mistakes which could later cause you difficulties by requiring you to resend documents or cause even more complications due to the application being rejected. This, of course, is in addition to the potential waste of your time and certainly your money.

The new law and its attendant civil processes can sometimes create difficulties for those who prefer to submit their own applications. However, familiarity with the legal minutiae in Austria is essential here. This is required even in the initial stage in order to determine unquestionable eligibility. Therefore, in order not to cause yourself problems through an amateur approach and later risk a negative response from the authorities and a demand to amend the application, it is important to start out prepared and knowledgeable.

Occasionally an applicant receives only a negative answer. In such a case, an appeal needs to be submitted in a law court in Austria which, to tell the truth, makes the process longer and more wearing and expensive, without even a guarantee of success.

The way we prefer to work is to arrange all the required paperwork (a process that generally takes between one and two months), write and translate what is required, and submit the application perfectly on the first try. This demonstrates that the case, and particularly the client’s eligibility, is not troubled by doubts or lack of professionalism (assuming, of course, that we have found the client to be eligible in the initial exploratory conversation). From our experience, the Austrians welcome the new law and therefore do not cause problems for candidates – as long as the applications are orderly and comprehensible, as required.

Contact us – attorneys for an Austrian passport

Attorneys for Austrian citizenship Decker, Pex, Levi & Co. As you have read, thanks to significant efforts by the Austrian Parliament, about 150 thousand Israelis will be able to petition for Austrian citizenship. An attorney for Austrian citizenship can help you obtain a valuable European passport, simply, with a minimum of effort on your part, and without any fine print.

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