Austria is known for having some of the toughest requirements in the European Union when it comes to granting citizenship. In fact, more than 750,000 people who have legally lived in Austria for over a decade still don’t hold an Austrian passport—a testament to the country’s stringent naturalization policies, Monte OZ reports.
Data from Statistics Austria shows that, on average, only six to seven out of every 1,000 non-citizens in Austria achieve naturalization each year. This low rate places Austria among the EU countries with the strictest paths to citizenship.
Political scientist Gerd Valchars explained to The Standard that Austria ranks among the top three or four countries with the lowest naturalization rates across Europe. His comments came ahead of Austria’s recent elections, where approximately 1.5 million voting-age residents couldn’t cast a ballot because they lacked Austrian citizenship.
Under Austrian citizenship law, most foreigners need at least ten years of legal residence to qualify for citizenship, along with meeting several other strict criteria.
Austria’s Citizenship Approvals Surge in 2024
Interestingly, Austria granted citizenship to 11,050 people in the first half of 2024—a notable 66% increase from the same period in 2023. Statistics Austria reports that many of those naturalized were long-time residents, with a significant portion comprising descendants of individuals persecuted during the Nazi era, who accounted for 37% of new citizens.
The data also highlighted Syrians as the largest nationality group to obtain Austrian citizenship in early 2024, with 1,223 naturalizations, followed by Turks and Afghanis, who received 695 and 540 Austrian passports, respectively.
About half of the newly naturalized citizens were women, a third were under 18, and a fifth were Austrian-born, illustrating the diverse backgrounds of those now holding the iconic red-white-red passport.