Nearly 2,000 citizenship applications in Vienna have been languishing without a decision for at least two years, highlighting deep-seated administrative backlogs at the city's immigration and citizenship authority, MA35. Official figures released by municipal authorities following a freedom of information request show that the overall volume of unresolved naturalization cases in the Austrian capital reached approximately 19,400 pending files by the end of June 2026.
The latest figures mark a distinct rise from the end of 2025, when 18,350 applications were awaiting adjudication. Over the span of six months, the active queue expanded by roughly 1,050 cases, or nearly 6 percent. A breakdown of the June 2026 backlog reveals that around 30 percent of all open applications—totaling approximately 6,000 files—have remained in administrative limbo for a year or longer.
Among the cases pending at the end of June 2026, about 44 percent had been waiting for under six months, while 26 percent had been in progress for between six and twelve months. Furthermore, around 14 percent had been pending for 12 to 18 months, 7 percent for 18 to 24 months, and approximately 10 percent—representing roughly 1,940 individual applications—had been awaiting a resolution for two years or more.
The City of Vienna noted that the June 2026 data remains provisional and approximate, covering all files managed across the citizenship division of MA35.
In tandem with the growing backlog, median processing times for citizenship decisions have lengthened substantially in recent years. In 2023, the median processing duration stood at 167 days. That metric steadily crept upward to 219 days in 2024 and reached 251 days in 2025. During the first six months of 2026, the median processing period stretched further to 258 days.
Within the city's evaluation for the first half of 2026, the single longest recorded processing time reached 1,350 days, or more than three and a half years, though officials clarified that this figure reflects a completed procedure included in processing-time statistics rather than the oldest active application still awaiting a decision.
The City of Vienna previously addressed structural difficulties in tracking these timelines during a September response to a parliamentary question. In that submission, municipal officials admitted that producing ad hoc, highly detailed statistical evaluations of citizenship procedures remains complicated and yields results that are not entirely reliable, even as overall evaluation tools continue to improve.
City representatives also acknowledged a minor statistical discrepancy in their 2025 evaluation, noting that an earlier internal assessment had calculated the median processing time as 252 days instead of the 251 days cited in the September response.
For prospective citizens, official processing duration represents only a portion of the actual waiting period. Before an individual can formally lodge a standard naturalization application, they must first secure an appointment with MA35. According to the authority's annual report for 2025, applicants faced an average wait of 310 days—more than 10 months—just to obtain a submission appointment.
Although this represented a minor decrease from the 318-day average wait recorded in 2024, the City Council acknowledged that pre-application waiting times remain exceptionally long due to sustained high demand.
Once an application is successfully submitted, the subsequent formal evaluation takes additional months. MA35 data indicates that average post-submission assessment times expanded from 247 days in 2024 to 301 days in 2025. Because obtaining an appointment and evaluating the application are distinct administrative stages, the total period elapsed between an applicant's initial attempt to apply and receiving a final decision can far exceed standalone processing statistics.
Administrative bottlenecks have led to a sharp increase in official grievances regarding citizenship procedures. While the city reported progress in curbing delays within its immigration division, municipal authorities conceded that MA35 has been unable to achieve a similar reduction in complaints regarding citizenship processing delays.
These formal legal complaints, known as Säumnisbeschwerden, occur when a public authority fails to issue a decision within statutory time limits.
Independent data published by Austria's public Ombudsman Board, the Volksanwaltschaft, underscores the expanding surge in citizen dissatisfaction. In its 2025 report covering Vienna, the oversight body recorded 1,216 complaints regarding MA35's citizenship operations, nearly double the 657 complaints received in 2024. Of the total complaints logged in 2025, 1,154 pertained specifically to excessive processing times.
Following review, the Ombudsman formally established findings of maladministration in 746 cases. The Ombudsman's figures reflect independent complaints brought directly to the board and are separate from formal legal complaints filed with administrative courts.
Addressing the persistent delays, the City Council stated that improving citizenship processing times remains particularly difficult because the governing legal framework is highly challenging. Municipal officials in Vienna have repeatedly highlighted that federal regulations complicate administrative procedures and slow decision-making down.
Furthermore, city authorities explained that processing speed is frequently hindered by necessary waiting periods when requesting background information and documentation from other domestic public bodies as well as international agencies.
The Local Austria asked Vienna’s immigration and citizenship authority, MA35, for information on applications still awaiting a decision. The figures provided by the authority reveal a growing number of pending cases, with thousands of people having waited for over a year.
READ ALSO: Vienna's immigration office sees new wave of complaints despite reform claims
