I am a US citizen whose ancestors fled Austria after the Anschluss. As a result, I am eligible for Austrian citizenship under [its new laws](https://www.austria.org/the-latest/2019/10/7/austrian-citizenship-descendants-victims-nazi-persecution). I started the process about a year ago.
Today I received an email stating that:
`The Austrian parliament recently passed an amendment to the “new” path to citizenship for direct descendants of victims of National Socialism. This makes it necessary for all declarants to clearly state that after having submitted their declaration;
1. they have not applied (and will not apply) for citizenship of yet another country,
2. they have not voluntarily served and never will voluntarily serve in any military (other than the Austrian military).
While I’m likely too old to serve in any military, I wouldn’t rule out making moving to Israel in the future. Would doing this void my Austrian citizenship?
5 comments
From what i know (as an Austrian) you‘re not allowed to move there. Your Austrian citizenship is voided if you get another one
Service age for Austrian army is 35.
As for moving to Israel : you can move there. You just can’t get Israeli citizenship without loosing the Austrian one.
I also want to point out that you are already in a privileged position. You can keep your US citizenship while nearly everybody else has to give up their original citizenship to get the Austrian one.
If you apply for another citizenship after getting Austrian citizenship you’ll lose the Austrian citizenship (and can’t easily re-apply for a new one). But the other direction works (first getting the other citizenship and the Austrian one afterwards).
Hey i am a austrian american dual citizen aswell and you would loose your austrian citizenship if you gained the israeli one!
You should definitely visit austria one day it is amazing and i would say a much better place to live than the us. Also the austrian passport is way superior than the israeli one.
I would suggest if you’re planning on making aliyah, it would be wise to check the conditions for Israel’s mandatory military service, plus Austria’s. There’s apparently now more of a civil service option in Israel, so might get around the military component, but I’d check on that.
I’d consult the Austrian immigration authorities/a lawyer on this, since you’d need to argue keeping any existing citizenships on the grounds of hardship. You’d have to prove why it’s necessary to keep the US and possible Israeli one. Could be cause you have family or a job in these places and will be back frequently.