Austrian passport

An Austrian passport is issued to citizens of Austria to facilitate international travel. Every Austrian citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card, allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

The application and printing processes of all Austrian passports are handled by the '' Österreichische Staatsdruckerei'' ( de) headquartered in Vienna. The ''Österreichische Staatsdruckerei'' is also tasked with the application and printing processes of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta passport.

Physical appearance

Austrian passports are the same burgundy colour as other European passports, and with the Austrian Coat of arms emblazoned in the centre of the front cover. The words "EUROPÄISCHE UNION" (English: European Union) and "REPUBLIK ÖSTERREICH" ( en, Republic of Austria) are inscribed above the coat of arms and the word "REISEPASS" ( en, Passport) is inscribed below. Austrian passports have the standard biometric symbol at the bottom and use the standard EU design. Each page of the passport shows the coat of arms of a different Austrian state in the background. A new passport design is scheduled for 2023.

Different spellings of the same name within the same document

German names containing umlauts ( ä, ö, ü) and/or ß are spelled in the correct way in the non-machine-readable zone of the passport, but with simple vowel + E and/or SS in the machine-readable zone, e.g. Müller becomes MUELLER, Groß becomes GROSS, and Gößmann becomes GOESSMANN.

The transcription mentioned above is generally used for airplane tickets etc., but sometimes (like in US visas) also simple vowels are used (MULLER, GOSSMANN). The three possible spelling variants of the same name (e.g. Müller / Mueller / Muller) in different documents sometimes lead to confusion, and the use of two different spellings within the same document (like in the passport) may give people who are unfamiliar with the German orthography the impression that the document is a forgery.

Austrian passports may (but do not always) contain a trilingual (in German, English, and French) explanation of the German umlauts and ß, e.g. 'ß' entspricht / is equal to / correspond à 'SS'.

Visa free travel

Visa requirements for Austrian citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Austria. As of 21 September 2022, Austrian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 188 countries and territories, ranking the Austrian passport 5th in the world in terms of travel freedom (tied with the Danish, Dutch, and Swedish passports), according to the Henley Passport Index.

Austrian citizens can live and work in any country within the EU as a result of the right of free movement and residence granted in Article 21 of the EU Treaty.Treaty on the Function of the European Union
(consolidated version)

Holding a second passport

Austria allows its citizens to hold a second Austrian passport to circumvent certain travel restrictions (e.g. some Arab countries do not allow entry with Israeli passport stamps, e.g. Iraq (except Iraqi Kurdistan), Oman and Mauritania).

Holding an Austrian passport and a foreign passport at the same time, i.e. dual citizenship, is restricted under the current Austrian nationality law only to those with dual citizenship by virtue of birth. Austrians must relinquish their citizenship to naturalize as citizens of another country.

History

Before Austria became a member of the European Union in 1995, passports had an outer light brown/inner dark brown cover ("Serie A–E") until sometime during the 1970s, when it switched to a dark green cover.

Image gallery

File:KFJ-Museum-Baden 3810.jpg, Austro-Hungarian Empire passport issued in Bohemia in 1871.
File:1936 Austrian stateless passport.jpg, 1936 Austrian stateless passport used for immigrating to Mandatory Palestine.
File:Post-war Austrian passport issued to Carl Szokoll in 1948.jpg, "Serie A" Austrian passport, issued to Carl Szokoll in 1948.
File:Old Passeport Austria Reisepass Republick Österreich 1970.jpg, "Serie E" Austrian passport, issued in 1970.
File:Old Passeport Austria Reisepass Republick Österreich 1980.jpg, "Green cover" Austrian passport, issued in 1980.
File:Atdiplomaticpassport.jpg, A contemporary Austrian diplomatic passport.
File:Service Passport Austria.jpg, A contemporary Austrian service passport.
File:Konventionspass Österreich.png, Refugee Convention travel document.

See also

* Visa requirements for Austrian citizens
* Passports of the European Union

References

{{Passports

Austria
Government of Austria
European Union passports