Guidance

Austria: Knowledge Base profile

Published 7 March 2024

About: Austria

This document contains useful information about Austria which will assist HM Passport Office staff process passport applications.

Contacts

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Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 3.0
• published for Home Office staff on 1 March 2024

Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated with minor formatting changes.

Austria: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Austria.

Names in Austria consist of 3 or 4 names. It is not compulsory to include all the names in an Austria passport.

The Austria passport:

• allows up to 20 characters
• must include the first given name (the order of the names cannot be altered)

Change of name

Name changes are allowed, and the Austria passport can be aligned.

Austria citizens must change their name on all documentation after they have changed their passport.

Austria: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality from Austria.

Dual nationality is not recognised in Austria.

Austria: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Austria.

Legitimacy

Austria recognises a difference between illegitimate and legitimate births.

A child will be considered:

• legitimate if their parents were married at the time of the birth
• legitimate from the time of the marriage if:
  • previously unmarried biological parents marry after the birth, and
  • an Acknowledgement of Paternity is made, and the birth certificate is reissued with the father’s details
• illegitimate if their parents never marry

Parental responsibility

In Austria both parents will have parental responsibility if they:

• were married at the time of the birth
• marry after the birth and the father acknowledges paternity

Parental responsibility continues to apply following divorce or annulment of marriage.

Only the mother will have parental responsibility if the child’s parents are not married.

Austria: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in Austria.

Surrogacy is not legal in Austria.

Austria: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from Austria.

An Austrian local registry office (or Standesamt) will issue:

• birth certificates (including international birth certificates)
• marriage certificates (including international marriage certificates)
• death certificates (including international death certificates)
• certified declaration of legitimisation of a child through marriage or adoption
• declaration for the future use of a family name or surname of a child

Local certificates will be in German and international certificates will have a translation on the reverse.

Following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, HM Passport Office cannot accept Multilingual Standard Forms (MSFs) issued by member states. An MSF will:

• contains a reference to the convention signed at Vienna on September 8 1976, this may be on the reverse of the document
• be marked as a Formul A (birth certificate), normally in the top right corner on the front of the document in the language of the country where the document was issued:
  • there will also be marriage certificates and death certificates that will have a different Formul version that is also not acceptable

These documents are an extract of a civil registration record translated into the language needed and not a full, original certificate.

A local court will issue the following documents:

• divorce decrees
• decisions in custodial cases
• adoption certificates or decisions in adoption matters
• decisions about guardianship or trusteeships
• change of name decisions

Birth certificates

Births must be registered within one week, as the birth certificate is needed to register the child’s residence.

A birth certificate does not include the mother’s maiden name.

Where an acknowledgement of paternity is made the birth certificate will be reissued to include fathers details.

Marriage certificates

Only a civil marriage ceremony is legal in Austria with a marriage certificate being issued.

International marriage certificates will show the individuals’ names before and after the marriage.

Death certificates

Copies of death certificates can be obtained from the issuing registry office.

Identity documents

Austria has a voluntary identity card for all Austria citizens and European Economic Area (EEA) nationals. These are issued on a state level but processed regionally. They are not laminated.