Sunday Times - article by Rosamund Urwin and Tom Calver
Military service is compulsory in Austria, but only those relocating and under 35 will need to enlistJOE KLAMAR
It is a loophole that has been seized on by British nationals wanting to retain their EU citizenship after Brexit, but applying for a second passport can come with a hitch: the fear of being called up for military service.
Men under the age of 35 who apply for Austrian citizenship receive an email instructing them to reveal their location to the country’s ministry of defence.
“All male Austrian citizens between the ages of 17 and 50 are subject to compulsory military service,” the email states. “Male Austrian citizens living abroad are obliged to inform their relevant military command about their whereabouts.”
One Briton, who applied for an Austrian passport this year in response to the UK’s vote to leave the EU, said: “It was a shock. Talk about a plan backfiring.”
Despite the blunt email, the Austrian embassy said men under 35 would need to enlist for military service only if they relocated to Austria; those over 35 were exempt.
New data reveals a surge in Britons applying to other EU countries for passports in recent months in an attempt to keep their rights to work in the bloc and to travel visa-free. Analysis by The Sunday Times shows that since the Brexit vote on June 23, 2016, more than 284,000 British nationals have applied to the 13 EU countries that could provide data.
The vast majority — 261,000 — have applied for Irish passports. A large number of Britons have Irish heritage and the republic has a more generous citizenship policy than most nations. Anyone with a grandparent who was born in Ireland is entitled to a passport.
In the first eight months of 2019 the number of passport applications to other EU countries from Great Britain was five times the total for the whole of 2015.
As well as the large numbers applying for Irish passports, there have been 7,400 applicants to Sweden, 5,200 to France, 5,500 to Germany and more than 1,000 to Cyprus. Greece has recorded a 32-fold increase in demand for passports from UK citizens.
The German figures include the descendants of Nazi victims, driven out of the country by persecution, who are entitled to apply for citizenship under article 116 of the German constitution.
These include thousands of British Jews who wish to retain their EU citizenship, many of whom cite rising anti-semitism in the UK as a reason for their application.
In the first half of 2016 only 27 Britons made requests for German citizenship under article 116. Since the Brexit vote that number has risen sharply, with 1,113 making such a request in the first six months of 2019. Austria, which is opposed to dual citizenship, had 10 applications from Britons in 2015 but 44 in 2018.
Amanda Hopkinson, whose mother was an Austrian Jew who fled to Britain in 1936, found that she was unable to claim dual Austrian nationality because it is passed down only through fathers. However, the Austrian parliament changed the law in September, meaning that from September next year she and others like her should be able to claim an Austrian passport. “It’s not just that I’m a descendant of a European — I am European,” Hopkinson said.
The Austrian Freedom Party, which supported the legal change, referred to Britons seeking dual citizenship as Brexit Opfern: Brexit victims.
It is a loophole that has been seized on by British nationals wanting to retain their EU citizenship after Brexit, but applying for a second passport can come with a hitch: the fear of being called up for military service.
Men under the age of 35 who apply for Austrian citizenship receive an email instructing them to reveal their location to the country’s ministry of defence.
“All male Austrian citizens between the ages of 17 and 50 are subject to compulsory military service,” the email states. “Male Austrian citizens living abroad are obliged to inform their relevant military command about their whereabouts.”
One Briton, who applied for an Austrian passport this year in response to the UK’s vote to leave the EU, said: “It was a shock. Talk about a plan backfiring.”
Despite the blunt email, the Austrian embassy said men under 35 would need to enlist for military service only if they relocated to Austria; those over 35 were exempt.
New data reveals a surge in Britons applying to other EU countries for passports in recent months in an attempt to keep their rights to work in the bloc and to travel visa-free. Analysis by The Sunday Times shows that since the Brexit vote on June 23, 2016, more than 284,000 British nationals have applied to the 13 EU countries that could provide data.
The vast majority — 261,000 — have applied for Irish passports. A large number of Britons have Irish heritage and the republic has a more generous citizenship policy than most nations. Anyone with a grandparent who was born in Ireland is entitled to a passport.
In the first eight months of 2019 the number of passport applications to other EU countries from Great Britain was five times the total for the whole of 2015.
As well as the large numbers applying for Irish passports, there have been 7,400 applicants to Sweden, 5,200 to France, 5,500 to Germany and more than 1,000 to Cyprus. Greece has recorded a 32-fold increase in demand for passports from UK citizens.
The German figures include the descendants of Nazi victims, driven out of the country by persecution, who are entitled to apply for citizenship under article 116 of the German constitution.
These include thousands of British Jews who wish to retain their EU citizenship, many of whom cite rising anti-semitism in the UK as a reason for their application.
In the first half of 2016 only 27 Britons made requests for German citizenship under article 116. Since the Brexit vote that number has risen sharply, with 1,113 making such a request in the first six months of 2019. Austria, which is opposed to dual citizenship, had 10 applications from Britons in 2015 but 44 in 2018.
Amanda Hopkinson, whose mother was an Austrian Jew who fled to Britain in 1936, found that she was unable to claim dual Austrian nationality because it is passed down only through fathers. However, the Austrian parliament changed the law in September, meaning that from September next year she and others like her should be able to claim an Austrian passport. “It’s not just that I’m a descendant of a European — I am European,” Hopkinson said.
The Austrian Freedom Party, which supported the legal change, referred to Britons seeking dual citizenship as Brexit Opfern: Brexit victims.
Brits abroad
Applications by British nationals for citizenship in selected EU countries since 2015. Gaps indicate unavailable data
| Country | 2015 — 2019 |
|---|
|
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
2019
|
|
Ireland
|
26.3k
|
|
|
|
85.5k
|
|
France
|
374
|
|
|
|
3.2k
|
|
Sweden
|
511
|
|
|
|
2.7k
|
|
Germany
|
|
759
|
|
|
1.3k
|
|
Cyprus
|
51
|
|
|
|
463
|
|
Spain
|
50
|
|
|
|
209
|
|
Finland
|
42
|
|
|
|
230
|
|
Austria
|
10
|
|
|
|
44
|
|
Greece
|
4
|
|
|
|
127
|
|
Denmark
|
|
|
134
|
|
489
|
