BiA - 10 Years on from the Referendum

Introduction

We are approaching the 10^th Anniversary of the UK’s Referendum on EU Membership on 23^rd June 2026. It resulted in the decision for the UK to leave the EU. Many grass roots groups have considered this an appropriate time to decide whether or not to carry on. The British in Austria volunteer team thought that we should commemorate the anniversary with a personal reflection.

The small team of volunteers have provided quiet and discrete support to British Nationals living across all nine provinces in Austria. Hopefully our involvement has made the transition from EU nationals to non-EU nationals with special rights that little bit easier.

Even though none of the team voted for the UK to leave the EU, we have had to live with the consequences.

BiE Austria Admin Team

The majority of the team are NOT based in Vienna and we try to provide support to British Nationals and their family members regardless of where they live. The British in Europe ~ Austria Admin team has changed over the years, but here are the most active Admins:

Name	Location	Comments
Debbie Jordan	Styria
Mike Bailey	Vienna
Tim Challenger	Upper Austria
Hendrik Bower	Styria
Keith Davies	Lower Austria
Simon Kilby	Lower Austria	Former Admin
Graham Crewe	Salzburg	Former Admin

Note: Graham Crewe now provides support to all English Speakers in Austria via his website (see below) and some of the team, have contributed several posts.

Main British in Austria Team

In addition to the team above, we have the following additional Admin Team members

Name	Location
Jen Lee	Lower Austria
Tania Casey	Vorarlberg
Wendy Ferrer	Burgenland
Amber Chambers	Vienna
Louis Boyle	Styria

British in Austria Travel Group

The British in Austria Travel Team

Name	Location
Natalie Marchant	Vienna/UK
Daniel Skacel	Tirol
Louis Boyle	Graz

Linda Wright deserves a notable mention for looking after the British in Austria Travel group for several years, especially during the pandemic.

Statistics & Info

Below are a series of useful statistics and information.

British Citizens in Austria

On 1st January 2016 there were 9,962 British Citizens living in Austria and on 1^st January 2026 this has grown to 10,454 (Source: Statistik Austria). Of those, according to the BMIBundesministerium für Inneres The Bundesministerium für Inneres (BMI) / Ministry for the Interior (UK counterparty: the Home Office) is competent for public security, policing, border control as well as residency and citizenships. It is also responsible for elections and direct democracy instruments as well as the civil service in the respective provinces, as well as municipal level where they are not covered by the Federal Chancellery. 9,729 have residence permits in April 2026 (the difference cannot be explained). Below is a breakdown of Withdrawal AgreementWithdrawal Agreement The Withdrawal Agreement sets out the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and provides for a deal on citizens’ rights. It sets out a transition period which lasts until 31 December 2020. During this time you can continue to live, work and study in the EU broadly as you did before 31 January 2020. If you are resident in Austria at the end of the transition period, you will be covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, and your rights will be protected for as long as you remain resident in Austria. Any rights that are not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement will be the subject of future negotiations. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-withdrawal-agreement-and-political-declaration permits but the majority now have permanent residence.

Naturalised British Citizens

Since 2016, 6,072 British Nationals have now also become Austrian Citizens. Some of these have given up their British Citizenship due to Austria’s strict Citizenship rules.

These figures include some of the British in Austria team, and since 2021 also include those obtaining Austrian citizenship by Declaration under Article 58c of the Austrian Citizenship Act (StbG). Despite giving up their British Citizenship, they retain a certain degree of British identity and feel a continuing commitment to supporting British Nationals living in Austria.

Funding

British in Austria has received no UK Government funding over the years. The UK government did allocate over £4 million in grant funding through the UK Nationals Support Fund, but we did not receive any.

We have however enjoyed hospitality laid on by the British Embassy in Vienna – thank you to the Embassy staff for inviting some of our volunteers. 😊

We (British in Austria) did not receive any funding from the EU Commission apart from some expenses for our participation in team meetings as part of Project ICE. The team spent over 200 hours working on Project ICE in just over a year.

We are affiliated with British in Europe (see link below) and we regularly rely on their expertise and advocacy. The team there are excellent and we encourage people to support their activities. Jane Golding and Fiona Godfrey deserve a special mention.

BiE Austria Facebook Group

The British in Europe ~ Austria Facebook Group was created on 1^st June 2017, it has 2,700 members and it is where we provide the majority of the support and advice. In the last year, there were around 120 posts.

British in Austria Website

The British in Austria website was launched in Autumn 2020 during the Covid pandemic, while some of our team were in a meeting with the then Ambassador. Since the 2020 launch the team have published 130 pages and 80 posts to inform British Nationals in Austria and others.

Some of our articles (e.g. on EES & ETIASEuropean Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) The European Commission's proposed European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is intended to strengthen security checks on those persons who travel visa-free to the EU, currently nationals from over 60 countries. The largely automated IT system will identify any security or irregular migratory risks posed by visa-exempt visitors travelling to the Schengen area, whilst at the same time facilitating crossing borders for the vast majority of travellers who do not pose such risks. Non-EU nationals who do not need a visa to travel to the Schengen area will have to apply for a travel authorisation through the ETIAS system prior to their trip. As of September 2025, it is planned to go live during the last quarter of 2026) have been publicised at an European level.

Follow-Up Cases

Since 2021, the team have handled in excess of 150 cases which required some sort of follow-up outside of the normal response on Facebook due to their complex/difficult nature. In some cases, this was via email, Whatsapp, Facebook messenger and other means. In a few cases, team members have accompanied British Nationals to their meetings with the Austrian authorities.

Your Europe Advice

Although some of the team quite like legal matters, the team are not lawyers/legal experts and we rely on the expertise of Your Europe Advice and the legal experts at British in Europe. Since 2021 the team have lodged over 40 requests to Your Europe Advice.

EU Commission Complaints

In addition to the feedback provided to the British in Europe team for their meetings with the EU Commission and the EU-UK Specialised Committee on Citizens Rights, the team have lodged two formal complaints for a breach of EU law. These were

Property Rights in Lower Austria in 2025
Equal Treatment regarding Unterhaltsvorschuss (Maintenance Advances Grant) in 2026

Notable Mentions

Last but my no means least we would like to thank the team at the Austria’s Ministry of the InteriorBMI The Bundesministerium für Inneres (BMI) - Austria's Ministry for the Interior - is the competent ministry for issues related to residency and citizenship. (BMI; Bundesministerium für InneresBundesministerium für Inneres The Bundesministerium für Inneres (BMI) / Ministry for the Interior (UK counterparty: the Home Office) is competent for public security, policing, border control as well as residency and citizenships. It is also responsible for elections and direct democracy instruments as well as the civil service in the respective provinces, as well as municipal level where they are not covered by the Federal Chancellery.) who have worked very cooperatively over the years on residency rights. Without their timely intervention, some of the cases we have dealt with would have been a lot more difficult.

Friedrich/Fritz Bruckner from the Vienna Business Agency (see link below) also deserves a special mention. He really did a lot in the run-up to the transition to help British nationals in Vienna (and Austria) and continues to do so.

We would also like to thank the consular team at the British Embassy in Vienna who have worked in a collaborative way over the years. They don’t always deserve the bad press they sometimes receive from disgruntled Brits living in Austria.

And of course we would like to thank our families. Without their support we would not be able to carry out this volunteer work. Most of us have day jobs and juggling the work/life balance is not always easy!

Useful Links

Last Modified

7 June 2026

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