# US citizen wants to retire in Austria



## Billt4sf (Nov 20, 2016)

HELLO fellow EXPATS:

Wife and I are retired and have gained temporary residency in Portugal. We like it there but we have just been visiting Austria where we have some friends and it definitely offers some advantages to Portugal. We would not be working but we would have rental income from the US, as well as pensions and savings.

What are the requirements to establishing residency and ultimately citizenship in Austria?

It seems as if Austria does not have a specific retirement visa.

I have seen a list of what we would need for a residency visa, but I did not see specifics about how much income is required and what type of health insurance is required.

Beyond those questions, I am wondering if, once we got residency in Austria, we could continue to renew it and how often we would have to do so. Then there is the questions of how much time out of the renewal period we need to stay inn-country And finally we need to know the requirements for citizenship.

One thing I know for sure after visiting German-speaking lands: I can learn German more easily and quickly than I can learn Portuguese! That’s for sure.

Thanks for any help or re-directtion.

Bill & Emily


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

Billt4sf said:


> HELLO fellow EXPATS:
> 
> Wife and I are retired and have gained temporary residency in Portugal. We like it there but we have just been visiting Austria where we have some friends and it definitely offers some advantages to Portugal. We would not be working but we would have rental income from the US, as well as pensions and savings.
> 
> ...


How long have you been resident in Portugal?


For Austrian naturalization, you have to be legally resident in Austria for at least ten years and of that at least five years on indefinite leave to remain.

You need to show that you speak German, have an adequate income and have knowledge of the history, laws and customs/culture of Austria and the province you live in.

You also have to renounce your US citizenship.









Allgemeine Einbürgerungsvoraussetzungen







www.oesterreich.gv.at


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

As far as the visas necessary, you should probably refer to the visa pages on the website for the Austrian Consulate in Portugal: Visa – Österreichische Botschaft Lissabon

Oddly enough, although the consulate's website is mostly in Portuguese and German, the visa pages seem to be in English. But if you have problems you can always consult the visa pages from the US consulate website: 





Settlement and Residence







www.bmeia.gv.at





The procedures may vary a bit depending on which consulate website you're looking at - and chances are, you will have to apply for your visa through the consulate for the area in which you are currently resident. There is a provision, however, for applying for your visa after your arrival in Austria (sort of like how Germany handles visas for some nationals).

And just for reference, renouncing your US citizenship costs $2350 per person currently. Obviously that could change over the next 10 years.


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## Billt4sf (Nov 20, 2016)

We have been residents in Portugal for just a couple months.

Ten years is a LONG time to wait pending citizenship. I am 70, my wife 65. 

We would not consider renouncing our US citizenship.

- Bill & Emily


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

With the caveat that I don't know much specifically about Austria (except for some research recently when we considered a possible job move) here's how it works in Germany, where the laws are generally very similar:

There is no retirement visa as such. To obtain a residence permit, you need to have a "useful" reason for living in the country, most typically study or work. They basically aren't interested in having people come and live indefinitely off of savings and passive income. (Portugal and some other countries take a very different approach, and will allow this; with the "golden visa" schemes they will even put you on a faster path to citizenship if you spend enough money on real estate.) Finally, at your age, and without working, you would be required to use private health insurance, which can be quite expensive.

Germany, and presumably Austria, isn't really an option for retirement unless you have some sort of connection or status already. We recently had dual citizen here who realized that after spending most of her life in Canada, she could not retire back to Germany because the health insurance costs were prohibitive. (I have vague memories of someone suggesting there was a way out, so maybe take that as possibly not as bad as it first looked.)


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Billt4sf said:


> We have been residents in Portugal for just a couple months.
> 
> Ten years is a LONG time to wait pending citizenship. I am 70, my wife 65.
> 
> ...


Generally speaking Germany and Austria are countries that have some of the strictest rules about citizenship, though 10 years of residence is not that uncommon a requirement even among some of the southern countries. (There are usually exceptions for someone married to a local national or with other close family members.) But even between Germany and Austria, things can be pretty strict.

When I was working in Germany, my secretary was married to an Austrian citizen and when she was automatically granted Austrian citizenship (on moving to Austria with her husband), Germany revoked her German nationality (also automatically). Her husband then got a job in Germany so they returned to Germany and she had to go through all the hoops to get a work visa, even though she was born and raised in Frankfurt. Obviously this was back before the EU came into existence - but the principles now apply to those from outside the EU. There are only very limited exceptions to the rule that you can have only one nationality if you are German or Austrian, even these days.

Though, to be honest, it's not really necessary to take the nationality of the country in which you are living. Other than to be able to vote there, and to avoid paying renewal fees for your residence permits, the differences between being a citizen and being a long-term resident (i.e. expat) are pretty minimal.


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