A Ukrainian man risks losing his Austrian citizenship because he refused to sing the Austrian hymn during an award ceremony.
The Austrian authorities viewed this as a lack of willingness to identify with Austria, which is why the man will be stripped of his Austrian citizenship, Schengen.News reports.
Anyone who refuses to identify with Austria only shows that they are not willing to accept the basic principles of our homeland.
According to local media, the Ukrainian man is believed to have communicated that he was not prepared to sing the anthem during the ceremony. The Citizenship Act regulates that the granting of citizenship must take place in a ceremonial setting, which is expressed by “the joint singing of the national anthem.”
Austrian Authorities Suspect This Incident Might Be a “Provocation”
During his speech, Vice-President Landbauer mentioned “provocation” and pointed out that the authorities will not be “fooled” by such incidents.
Citizenship is not a gift but an award that requires respect and identification with Austria.
Every year, thousands of foreign nationals living in Austria obtain Austrian citizenship after being a resident of the country for ten consecutive years.
Over 15,000 People Obtained Austrian Citizenship So Far in 2024
According to data from Statistics Austria, a total of 15,824 people obtained Austrian citizenship between January and September. One-fifth of them were born in Austria, representing a total of 3,227 people, while nearly 40 per cent of new Austrian citizens, accounting for 6,133 individuals, lived abroad.
Most of the naturalised citizens who were already living in Austria were Syrian nationals. Compared to other nationalities, Syrians represent 17.5 per cent of the total number of new citizens.
Türkiye follows as the country of origin for 1,013 naturalised citizens, or 10.5 per cent of the total, and Afghanistan is listed third, with 753 naturalisations, or 7.8 per cent share.
This means that the trend of rising naturalisation figures observed from 2021 onwards has continued after the 1.1 per cent decline in 2023. The increase in 2024 is mainly due to the fact that naturalisations of victims of National Socialism and their descendants more than doubled with 137.9 per cent to 6,105.
The data reveals that in 2024, there are 1.8 million non-Austrian nationals living in the country, representing 19.7 per cent of the total population. Foreign-born nationals represent 22.3 per cent of the population, accounting for over two million individuals.