In an interview with "Heute Konkret" for ORF 2, Balazs Esztegar, a lawyer in Vienna specialising in citizenship law and co-editor of the new commentary on the Citizenship Act published by Jan Sramek Verlag in April 2017, explained the legal basis for acquiring and losing Austrian citizenship and addressed the legally existing possibilities of dual citizenship.
Austrian citizenship is acquired either by descent from parents or by conferral. The ius sanguinis applicable in Austria means that the citizenship of the parents at the time of birth is relevant for the citizenship of the child. The place of birth is irrelevant. Thus, according to Austrian citizenship law, it is not sufficient for the acquisition of citizenship by descent to be born in Austria (ius soli).
In principle, loss of citizenship occurs if a citizen acquires a foreign citizenship on the basis of his or her application or declaration. There is an exception in the case that he or she was previously granted retention of citizenship by the Austrian authorities. Further cases of loss of citizenship are, for example, participation in armed conflicts abroad or joining a foreign military service. The latter can even result in statelessness.
Under Austrian citizenship law, dual citizenship is therefore only possible in a few exceptional cases: the most frequent case is probably multiple citizenship by birth, for example if the parents have different citizenships at the time of birth. Other cases are the already mentioned granting of retention in the case of the adoption of a foreign nationality as well as the granting of citizenship in the special interest of the Republic of Austria.
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