Austria · Citizenship by naturalisation
Citizenship for Extraordinary Achievements in the Interest of the Republic (§10(6) StbG)
Open, but this is NOT a programme and Austria does not operate a citizenship-by-investment scheme. §10(6) is a constitutional provision letting the Federal Cabinet waive the ordinary requirements where a foreign national has rendered, and is expected to continue rendering, extraordinary achievements in the Republic's special interest. The Interior Ministry states plainly that 'mere monetary flows are not sufficient'.
The honest numbers, which almost no advisory site publishes: an official parliamentary answer of 21 May 2024 confirms 21 people received citizenship under §10(6) in 2022 and 40 in 2023 — against 25,095 total Austrian naturalisations in 2025. The industry's '30–60 per year' matches the 2005–2009 era (peak 60 in 2008), not the present. Crucially, §10(6) grantees are exempt from renouncing their existing citizenship, which inverts Austria's usual rule and is the single most valuable feature of this route.
Qualifying routes
No statutory monetary threshold exists. Practitioners commonly report active direct business investment from roughly EUR 10m with genuine job creation. Passive investment in real estate or government bonds does NOT qualify.
Charitable, scientific or cultural contribution commonly reported from roughly EUR 4m, but the achievement, not the sum, is the legal test. Athletes and researchers of international standing have qualified with no investment at all.
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- €10M
- Total landed cost
- No official figure exists. Market reporting suggests EUR 4–10m+ in qualifying contribution plus roughly EUR 400,000–600,000 in structuring and professional fees. Treat every euro figure here as unofficial: the statute sets no price, and paying one guarantees nothing.
- Timeline
- 12–36 months — The Council of Ministers decides in non-public session roughly twice a year; the file is submitted through one of the nine Länder governments
- Physical presence
- None — the residence requirement is precisely what §10(6) waives. This is the only EU citizenship obtainable without living there.
- Family
- spouse and minor children may generally be included, but each is assessed and inclusion is not automatic
- Permanent residency
- n/a — this route grants citizenship directly
- Citizenship
- n/a
- Language test
- none under §10(6) — the ordinary German requirement is among the conditions waived
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- extraordinary achievements already rendered AND expected to continue, in science, economy, sport or artsconfirmation by the Federal Government (Ministerrat) that the grant is in the Republic's special interestconferral by the relevant Land government under §39 StbGclean criminal record and no threat to public orderno residence, language or renunciation requirement (these are the waived conditions)
- This is discretionary, not purchasable. The Administrative Court has held the confirmation should be granted only in very rare cases, and there is no appeal against the Cabinet's determination.
- Passive investment is explicitly insufficient. Real estate, bonds and bank deposits do not qualify — the BMI says so directly.
- It is not secret. Contrary to some industry marketing, the names and professions of §10(6) grantees are published in the Council of Ministers' resolution protocols.
- Austria does not publish the annual §10(6) count. The only official figures come from parliamentary questions, and no answer covering 2024 or 2025 exists — the newest official data (2023) is over two years stale.
- For everyone NOT using §10(6), Austria's §27 StbG is brutal: voluntarily acquiring any foreign citizenship causes automatic loss of Austrian citizenship ex lege unless a Beibehaltungsbewilligung was issued BEFORE acquisition. Ordinary naturalisation requires renouncing your existing citizenship within 2 years.
- The confirmation comes from the Federal Cabinet but conferral remains with a Land government — two political bodies must align.
- Agents quoting a fixed price and a success rate are selling certainty that does not exist in the statute.