Vienna naturalisations rise 60.5 percent in first half

Vienna granted Austrian citizenship to 3,333 people in the first half of the year, a 60.5 percent increase on the same period last year, ORF reported, citing Statistics Austria.

People who previously held Syrian citizenship accounted for the largest group, with 723 naturalisations. They were followed by people who had held Afghan, Turkish and Iranian citizenship.

Naturalisation numbers also rose across the rest of Austria, but by just under 23 percent. The number of citizenship grants to people living abroad, including descendants of victims of the Nazi regime, fell by 9.6 percent.

Vienna’s immigration authority, MA 35, said it had processed almost 3,000 more cases than in the first half of 2025. Authority head Nicole del Carmen Garfias said some applicants who arrived in Austria in 2015, including people from Syria, were able to prove the legally required period of residence in 2025.

However, the average processing time remains 322 days. The law sets a target of six months, Garfias said, adding that MA 35 had not yet reached that target.

Rights group SOS Mitmensch criticised what it described as Vienna’s low naturalisation rate. Spokesperson Alexander Pollak said the rate was 0.9 percent in Vienna and 1 percent across Austria, meaning fewer than one in every 100 people living in Vienna is naturalised each year. He said this limited their participation in democratic processes.