Jonas Kaufmann takes second citizenship

Jonas Kaufmann takes second citizenship

News

norman lebrecht

February 11, 2022

The German tenor has moved to Salzburg with his wife, director Christiane Lutz.

Today they were both awarded Austrian citizenship.

(We thought only Brexit fugitives did that.)

 

Comments

  • Nik says:

    Since when does Austria allow dual citizenship?

    • Una says:

      Exactly! My aunt from Kerry had to give up her Irish nationality when she got married to an Austrian in 1962, and has lived there ever since. My cousins, unlike my brother and I of Irish parents born in London, were not entitled to holding both Austrian and Irish passports together – one or the other. All my life from childhood, long before any Brexit thing, I have had two passports, but unless you’re Kaufman, as far as I know you are not allowed two in Austria. As an EU passport, why would you bother?

    • Tiredofitall says:

      Anna, Juan Diego, etc., etc…

    • margaret koscielny says:

      They allow it. My niece, who was born there could be a dual citizen of US and Austria. She chose not to when she reached 21, but she could have been.

      • Nik says:

        That’s totally different. They have always allowed it if you are of mixed nationality parentage and are entitled to dual citizenship from birth. But Austria does not allow you to acquire citizenship later in life without giving up your other one, or vice versa. Unless you are a celebrity, it seems.

  • Felixx says:

    I think only very committed “Brexit fugitives” would be interested in Austrian citizenship as this usually involves having to surrender any other citizenship. Being an international opera star is precisely what double citizenship is made for, in Austrian eyes 🙂

  • Brettermeier says:

    “A*strian citizenship”

    My deepest condolences.

  • HugoPreuß says:

    I guess this is more of a symbolic gesture, to show commitment. He could live and work just as easily on his German passport in Austria. And I seriously doubt that every immigrant who applies for Austrian citizenship gets it awarded in such a posh manner…

    • Becker Waltraud says:

      Netrebko, Florez, Lemeshko (scientist), Kiefer (painter), Bartoli, Garifullina and many others……; they all took the Austrian citizenship in addition to there former one.

  • Jane says:

    May they be very happy there. Out of curiosity, does ‘singer moves house’ count as news? What next, ‘singer puts bins out on wrong day’?

  • Brian says:

    One reason: reduced tax burden.

  • Tanya Tintner says:

    If you become a (full) professor at an Austrian university, you have to be an Austrian citizen, so citizenship is simply given to you. (Dual citizenship no problem.) If, however, you were obliged to run away from Austria in 1938 (having been forced to accept a German passport with a swastika on it), you had to wait until 1992 to get your citizenship back again, a process that involved a very long wait, the payment of a very large fee, and the submission of a police report from every jurisdiction in which you had lived for the previous 20 years to show you did not have a criminal record and were of good character. A travesty, under the circumstances.

  • Jonathan says:

    Siegfried Mauser isn’t a Brexit fugitive but was until very recently a fugitive of justice in Germany, hiding behind his Austrian double nationality …

  • Jenny B says:

    Austrian dual nationality is now offered for those families who were victims of National Socialism. Members of my family have obtained this.

  • Rob says:

    I understand he was given the honour…but SHE? What is her merit?

  • Henry williams says:

    Why not the strudel is the best.

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