Austria granted 303 naturalizations from 2006 to 2017 in special interest of the Republic according to a latest report. In 2017, 19 citizenships were granted for extraordinary achievements.
The Citizenship awarded “in the special interest of the Republic” benefits, celebrities from business, sports, science and culture.  The Federal Government no longer announces who receives Austrian citizenship by express procedure, for privacy and data protection. The residence requirements, language skills and renunciation of previous citizenship is waived for special cases.
According to Austrian Government, Art 10 (6) – a constitutional regulation – of the Austrian Citizenship Act (StbG) stipulates as follows:
The conditions pursuant to (1) (1) and (7) as well as (3) do not apply if the federal government confirms that the granting of citizenship to the applicant is in the interest of the Republic of Austria due to her/his extraordinary past or prospective achievements.
The refusal rate for such special interest citizenship applications is about 55%, 318 received, 141 positive case decisions and 177 refused cases.
Source: addendum.org (in german only)
