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Non-Toleration of Dual Citizenship in Austria

    Rainer Bauböck, Gerd Valchars

Dual Citizenship and Naturalisation. Global, Comparative and Austrian Perspectives, pp. 207-228, 2021/05/05

Global, Comparative and Austrian Perspectives

doi: 10.1553/978OEAW87752_Chapt10


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doi:10.1553/978OEAW87752_Chapt10

Abstract

This chapter addresses the puzzle of why Austria has resisted the global trend towards the toleration of dual citizenship, even though none of the common explanations for such resistance apply to the Austrian case. We start by examining the history of Austrian citizenship law and the international conventions that Austria has joined. We then present a detailed analysis of those provisions in Austrian law that are relevant for dual citizenship. We find that Austria has accepted dual citizenship in the case of acquisition by birth but still clings to a general prohibition of dual citizenship in both the naturalisation of immigrants and when Austrians voluntarily acquire another citizenship. We suggest that politicised hostility towards dual citizenship for one particular group of immigrants – those from Turkey – seems to have blocked debates about reform. The chapter ends with the sketching of pathways to policy change and a menu of legislative reforms building on principles – already recognised in Austrian citizenship legislation – that could lead to the toleration of dual citizenship.