The Ambassador

DDr. Petra Schneebauer
Ambassador

Ambassador Schneebauer was born in Wels, Upper Austria, and grew up in a nearby small town until she began her studies at the University of Vienna and the University of Salzburg.

During her time in law school and her simultaneous seven-year career as a language teacher, Ambassador Schneebauer developed an interest in diplomacy and thus completed an internship at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium (1993).

In her early diplomatic career, Ambassador Schneebauer served at the Directorate for International Organizations and at the Department for Disarmament and Arms Control of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1995-1997), as well as at the Austrian Mission to the United Nations in New York (1997–2001), where she was charged with the coordination of the first Austrian EU Presidency in 1998. Ambassador Schneebauer also represented Austria in the First Committee and was elected as its Vice-President in 2000 at the 55th UN General Assembly.

Upon return to Austria in 2001, Ambassador Schneebauer served two Federal Presidents in their consecutive terms of office: Thomas Klestil (2001-2004) and Heinz Fischer (2004–2007).

After her assignment at the Federal President’s Office, she was appointed as Austrian Consul-General in Zurich, Switzerland (2007-2011), and subsequently as Austria’s Ambassador to the Republic of Malta (2011-2015).

In 2015, Ambassador Schneebauer became the head of the Consular Crises Center (2015-2017) where her duties included the timely update of travel advice as well as assisting Austrian victims of terrorist attacks and natural disasters across Europe and the world.

In December 2017, Ambassador Schneebauer was nominated as Director-General for Consular Affairs at the Austrian Foreign Ministry. Core tasks in this position include, among others: the development of (Schengen) visa policy as well as the consular support for Austrians traveling and permanently living abroad (passports, certificates of citizenship, etc.). One of the greatest challenges during this time was the coordination of more than three dozen repatriation flights during the COVID crisis in the spring of 2020. From 2018 until early 2023, she held the function of Austrian National Coordinator and leader of the Task Force for the Combat of Human Trafficking.

Ambassador Schneebauer is a lawyer by profession (Mag. Dr. iur.) and also holds a doctorate in philosophy (Mag. Dr. phil.). 
She is fluent in German, English, French and Italian. She also speaks some Spanish and Russian.