Help in Emergency Situations

If you - an Austrian citizen - are in need of help in case of an emergency, please do not hesitate to contact the Austrian Embassy. However, the Embassy can neither replace nor substitute for the local police, ambulance, medical services, lawyers, banks etc. If you call us in an emergency, please have the following information ready:

1. Last and first names
2. How to contact/reach you (phone, mobile, fax, e-mail)
3. What did happen when, where, and how
4. Whom to contact in Austria

In case of an emergency you may call the Emergency Hotline for Austrian citizens at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs ("Bundesministerium fuer europaeische und internationale Angelegenheiten") in Vienna: +43 501150 4411 (24/7).

If you require immediate assistance please call the Embassy on +61 (0)2 6295 1533. During weekends and after hours you may leave a message on the answering machine and the officer on duty will contact you as soon as possible."

For your trip back home to Austria, the Embassy can provide you with an emergency passport, valid for up to six months (in exceptional circumstances up to one year). It usually takes at least 24 hours before such a passport can be issued. It is recommended that you take a copy of your passport with you on your trip. Furthermore, you must present to the Embassy proof that you have filed a police report and you must credibly show your identity (e.g. driver's license, identity witness) and citizenship.

One passport picture, passport application form (filled out and signed) and flight itinerary must also be submitted.

After the emergency passport has been issued you will have to transfer your Australian or New Zealand entry visa into the new travel document. Please contact the relevant authorities (in Australia: Department of Immigration and Citizenship, in New Zealand: Immigration New Zealand). 

If you (an Austrian citizen) are arrested by Australian police and put into custody, insist on the police notifying the Embassy.

The Embassy can then help you both notify your family, friends and your employer (in Austria) and provide a list of local lawyers (here in Australia).

Consular officials have the right to visit you in prison and to write letters to you. The Embassy, however, can neither represent you nor act on your behalf in legal matters before a court or any other legal institution.

The Austrian Embassy cannot get Austrians out of prison, pay their legal costs or fines, give legal advice, provide representation at legal proceedings or obtain special treatment for Austrians in their dealings with local authorities.

If you have been robbed or have lost your money and/or documents, please go to the nearest police station and file a report immediately. Do not forget to contact your bank and credit card companies to report your lost or stolen cards (ATM, credit card).

The Embassy does not have funds at its disposal to lend you money for continuing your holiday or a return flight to Austria. Please contact relatives or friends in Austria and ask them to send you money e.g. via Western Union (money can then be picked up right away at any Western Union agent).

last updated: 13.12.2011