Post
by ZZTop » Wed Apr 30, 2014 6:30 pm
The facts and implications of this case are very simple:
1) Grandfather was Austrian
2) Father was Austrian because his father (aka the Grandfather) was Austrian at time of his birth.
3.1) If the person writing the post was born BEFORE his/her Father took out US citizenship, then he/she (the person writing) is Austrian at birth
3.2) If the person writing the post was born AFTER his/her Father took out US citizenship, then he/she (the person writing) is NOT Austrian at birth
Note: the reason for this is that the Father voluntarily taking out a foreign citizenship means that he the father automatically looses the Austrian citizenship.
4) If the writer was Austrian at birth AND he is male AND he did NOT (voluntarily take out a foreign (=non Austrian) citizenship OR serve a foreign military) before the daughter was born, the daughter is Austrian at birth (because he retained his Austrian citizenship until the daughter was born).
Small aside: It is not clear to me from the post if the writer is the father or mother of the daughter. If the writer is the mother, then there is a chance that the daughter is not Austrian at step 4, because Austrian citizenship used to run down the male line only. However, if the parents are married at the time of birth, Austrian citizenship of either the mother or the father is sufficient, so long as the child, in this case daughter, was born after January 9, 1983 (so it depends on how old the daughter is).
All of the stuff about not applying for papers (certificates, passports and so on) is irrelevant. Austrian citizenship is a status that does not depend on asserting it by having documents issued.
Practical next steps:
1) You will need to have documents that prove the lineage and no loss of Austrian citizenship. Getting the documents from Austria will not be a problem as all of the documents are in the Austrian archives in Vienna (or the relevant regional capital).
2) You will need to prove all the births and marriages in the USA with original certificates from the Authorities with "Apostiles" to prove to the Austrians that they are authentic
3) You will need to have the Austrian citizenship of the Grandfather, father, the person writing and the daughter determined by the Austrian authorities (establishing the line of Austrian descendants).
4) Once you get the daughter's citizenship determined, she can then apply for the passport and identity card.
Unless you are bi-lingual German/English I would not attempt this. The chance of making an administrative mistake are just to great. Sure the Austrians speak and understand English, but the chances for misinterpretation against your case are also high and part of the natural tendency of officials.
I would retain a lawyer in Vienna to do this work with your assistance. Get the local Austrian lawyer to have his researchers do the archival research in the state archives. You can probably do the US leg work yourself. I estimate the process will take 9-12 months and cost realistically about Euro 2,500-3,000.
I am very certain of the above because I just ran a similar process for myself. I am bilingual German/English, I visited the Austrian archives to do the research myself, I did all the local home work with my local authorities and archives, and it took 6 months from the time I gave all the documents to my lawyer to get the decision, and cost me 1,800 Euro for the lawyer and the fees.
Just in case you think I am a dummy that doesn't know what I am saying and you can do it yourself, I have three degrees including a PhD, lived in German speaking Europe (incl. Switzerland) for 20+ years, run a global business and am pretty conversant with the European and Anglo-Saxon legal systems (run matters in Europe and USA). Believe me, if you want a successful outcome, don't run the process yourself.
Incidentally, the real benefit of all of the work would be the daughter and her children who would have work and residency rights in all of the EU by way of the Austrian citizenship.
Good luck!
