Court rules:

Russian family must now be naturalized

(Bild: hamzeh - stock.adobe.com)

For several months, a Russian family living in Styria fought for their naturalization. The problem: they would have had to renounce their Russian citizenship at the embassy. Which could have ended up on the front line for them! The regional administrative court has now ruled on the case.

A Russian (47) has been living in Austria with his wife and son for several years. They dutifully pay into the Austrian tax pot, because as an employee of a well-known, large local technical company in a managerial position, he earns accordingly well. The same applies to his wife, who works at a university.

As reported, the three of them have been fighting for a while to finally be allowed to become Austrians. They no longer have much in common with their home country. The three feel at home here, have built up a circle of friends here and speak perfect German.

The province of Styria resisted naturalization
In order to be naturalized, however, you have to renounce your citizenship that you no longer want. The Office of the Styrian Provincial Government therefore asked the family of three to do so. To do so, they should have handed in their passports at the Russian embassy in Vienna, where the greatest danger lurks: if the three of them enter the embassy, they could be taken straight from there to Russia, possibly even directly to the war zone!

Andreas Kleinbichler, a lawyer from Graz, tried to make it clear to the authorities that it would be impossible for the Russian family to return the passport under these circumstances. According to the lawyer, the authorities were aware of the adverse conditions anyway, which is why, according to the law, citizenship could have been granted without leaving the previous confederation.

Lawyer Andreas Kleinbichler

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

However, the province of Styria did not want to accept this, which is why the provincial administrative court came into play. And now, a few months later, it is finally clear: the Russian family must be granted Austrian citizenship! The reasoning: "Since it was both practically impossible and actually unreasonable for the complainants to leave the previous state, the complainants were to be granted citizenship immediately and the complaint was to be upheld," the decision states.

The family is naturally relieved and their lawyer is delighted: "I am very happy that two highly qualified workers who have lived in Austria for many years and paid taxes here can now become Austrian citizens thanks to the decision of the Styrian Provincial Administrative Court!"