The Section 58c declaration is a procedure with a defined start, a competent authority and a minimum list of documents. This post walks through the steps as the Interior Ministry and the Austrian diplomatic missions describe them. It follows the official pages closely and flags where they tell you to check elsewhere. Eligibility itself is covered in our post on who qualifies under Section 58c.
Not legal advice. This page gives general information about Austrian citizenship rules, drawn from official Austrian government pages and checked in October 2026. It cannot assess your case. Rules, dates and procedures change, so confirm them with the Austrian embassy or consulate, the responsible provincial authority (in Vienna, MA 35) or a qualified lawyer before you file anything.
The procedure starts with the Anzeige
The procedure begins with a declaration, called an Anzeige. According to the official page, persecuted persons and their direct descendants are entitled to make it. For people not born in and not living in Austria, the competent authority in Austria is the Vienna provincial government, department MA 35. The declaration can be filed with the responsible Austrian embassy or consulate, which forwards the form and attachments to MA 35. If your main residence is in Austria, you contact the provincial government of the state where you live, which in Vienna is again MA 35.
The embassy page adds that the online questionnaire on each mission’s website provides an initial, individual orientation and a list of documents, in German, English, Spanish and Hebrew. Missions publish their own versions, so use the one for the country where you live.
A point many people miss: timing
The official page says that acquisition of citizenship takes effect when the declaration reaches the authority. That means the effect can be immediate once it arrives. The same page therefore advises checking with your home authorities beforehand whether you would lose your current nationality. Some states withdraw citizenship automatically when a person acquires another. Our post on dual citizenship and loss explains what the official pages say, and the right time to ask your home authority is before you file.
Minimum documents
The official page lists the documents that are required at least. They fall into two groups.
Documents about you
- A valid travel document
- A recent photograph
- Your birth certificate
- Documents on your marital status, such as a marriage certificate, especially where your name changed
- A current extract from the criminal record, not older than eight months at the time of filing
Documents about the family line
If you are a descendant of a persecuted person, the page says you also need documents of the persecuted ancestors and certificates that prove the direct-line relationship. In practice, that means a chain of civil records linking each generation, as our post on proving descent describes.
Language, translation and certification
Documents must be in German or English, and otherwise accompanied by a translation made by a sworn, court-certified translator. Unless a document is exempt from certification, it needs diplomatic authentication or an apostille. The page says details on exemptions and on authentication or apostille are on the website of the Austrian mission in the country that issued the document. Check this early, since obtaining an apostille can take time and may require going back to the issuing authority.
| Step | What the official pages say |
|---|---|
| Orientation | Use the online questionnaire on the Austrian mission’s website |
| Form | Fill in the declaration form and gather the minimum documents |
| Filing | Submit at the Austrian embassy or consulate, or to the competent authority |
| Forwarding | The mission forwards the form and attachments to MA 35 |
| Effect | Acquisition takes effect when the declaration reaches the authority |
The declaration form
The Vienna provincial government publishes a bilingual declaration form for adults. It asks you to declare that you are a descendant in the direct descending line of a former Austrian citizen, or a citizen of a successor state, who is the persecuted ancestor, and to give details such as the ancestor’s name and date of birth, the names of the ancestor’s parents, how you are related, the ancestor’s nationality when leaving Austria, the town of the ancestor’s main residence in Austria, and the date of leaving and the destination. Gathering these facts before you start makes the form much easier to complete.
Cost, lawyers and decisions
The Jewish Community of Vienna, in its guidance on the procedure, says that the declaration does not need a lawyer or special legal advice, that the competent provincial government decides on the declaration, that the decision is delivered via the diplomatic mission, and that the granting of citizenship is free of charge. Those are statements from an organisation summarising the procedure, so confirm fees and requirements with the mission or MA 35. Costs for documents, translations and apostilles are separate matters that the official pages leave to the issuing offices.
Invented example: Imagine an invented applicant, Daniel, born in Toronto, whose grandmother left Vienna in 1938. He fills in the questionnaire on the embassy website and gets a document list. He orders his own birth certificate and his parents’ marriage certificate, requests his grandmother’s documents from the records he can find, obtains a police certificate dated within eight months of filing, and has non-English documents translated by a sworn translator. Before filing, he asks his home authority whether acquiring Austrian citizenship would affect his Canadian one. This is a made-up case to show the order of the steps.
Practical checklist
- Read the official pages for your country. Start with the embassy questionnaire.
- Check your home country’s rules on holding two citizenships. Do this before filing.
- Order records early. Civil records, apostilles and translations take time.
- Time the criminal record extract. It must not be older than eight months at filing.
- Keep copies and a log. Note who confirmed what and when.
Where to go next
Read our descent guide for the bigger picture and the citizenship guide for the short version. For records, see the Austrian genealogy guide and the starter kit, which includes a document tracker.
Procedures, forms and fees change. Confirm each step with the competent authority before you rely on this guide.
