Guidance

Austria: Knowledge Base profile

Updated 1 October 2025

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About: Austria

This document contains useful information about Austria which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff process passport applications.

Contacts

If you have any questions about the document and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the document has factual errors then email the Guidance team.

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Publication

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

  • version 4.0
  • published for Home Office staff on 28 April 2025

Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated to explain what a Multilingual Standard Form is and that HM Passport Office cannot accept them.

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.

HM Passport Office cannot accept Multilingual Standard Forms (MSFs) issued by EU member states. An MSF is a translation aid to help another EU member state to understand a public document in a different language.

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 1 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.

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