What documents are necessary?

• A valid passport (§ 7(1)(1) NAG-DV). It is shown in the original before any title is issued, whoever files the application and however it is filed.
• A colour passport-format photograph, 45 × 35 mm, meeting the EU residence-permit photo standard (§ 2a NAG-DV, referring to Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002), not older than six months at the time of the decision.
• Where the application turns on them: your birth certificate, marriage or registered-partnership certificate, divorce decree, adoption order, or the certificate of a child’s birth (§ 7(1)(3) NAG-DV). A certificate issued abroad needs an apostille or consular legalisation, and a German translation, where the authority asks for them (§ 6(3)–(4) NAG-DV) — for civil-status certificates it usually does, though documents in English are often accepted without translation.

• A lease or sublease, a binding pre-contract for one, or proof of ownership (§ 7(1)(4) NAG-DV). “Locally customary” means adequate for a family of your size in that place — not a hotel booking, and not a friend’s sofa.
• Where you will live with someone else, that person’s lease or proof of ownership together with a right-of-residence agreement (Wohnrechtsvereinbarung) or another document giving you a legal claim to the accommodation (§ 7(2) NAG-DV) — accommodation provided free of charge and revocable at any time does not count (oesterreich.gv.at); for spouses and registered partners it is enough that one of them is named in the lease or the land register.
• Not required for the Red-White-Red Card, the EU Blue Card, the settlement permit “Researcher”, or the residence permits for students, researchers on mobility and intra-corporate transferees — the Act waives it for those titles.

• For an employee: the employment contract usually does it — compulsory insurance with the ÖGK starts with the job, and the ordinance asks for a policy only where no compulsory insurance will exist (§ 7(1)(5) NAG-DV). The official migration portal (migration.gv.at) nonetheless lists evidence of health insurance among the documents for every application, so a confirmation from the employer or the insurer is worth including.
• For everyone else: a private policy that matches statutory cover — all risks, no waiting period for treatment, valid in Austria. Travel insurance does not qualify. Vienna publishes a list of accepted insurers and a clause the policy has to carry.
• Voluntary self-insurance with the ÖGK is an alternative for someone already registered at an address in Austria: €565.25 a month in 2026 at the full rate (reducible on application), and €78.84 a month for students. At the full rate it pays for treatment as a rule only after a waiting period — three months under § 124(1) ASVG, extendable to six by the insurer’s statutes; oesterreich.gv.at gives six months — and the authority accepts it only once it pays: until then a private policy has to bridge the gap.

• Payslips, a salary confirmation, an employment contract or a binding pre-contract; pension statements; confirmations of other regular benefits (§ 7(1)(6) NAG-DV).
• The test is net of regular outgoings: rent, loan instalments, maintenance paid to people outside the household and garnishments are deducted, except for the first €386.43 a month (the free-station allowance for 2026). What is left has to reach €1,308.39 for a single person, €2,064.12 for a couple and €201.88 for each child — or twice those amounts for the settlement permit without work. A student or pupil under 24 who comes alone is assessed at €722.58 a month, and at €1,308.39 from the 24th birthday.
• Savings can stand in for income on a fixed-term title, apportioned over the twelve months of its validity, if their origin is shown and they are accessible from Austria. Bank statements over several months, not a single balance.
• Where the Act allows it — for a student, a pupil, an artist or a volunteer, and always for a dependant of an Austrian and for the other relatives or durable partner of an EU citizen under § 56 NAG — a declaration of liability (Haftungserklärung) by a third party, certified by an Austrian notary or court and valid for at least five years (§ 2(1)(15), § 11(6) NAG). It is not admissible for the settlement permit without work, the two cards or their families.
• Not required for the Red-White-Red Card or the EU Blue Card: the salary in the employer’s declaration is the means.

• For a first application for the settlement permit without work, the “Family Member” title, the Red-White-Red Card plus for family, and the other settlement permits: a certificate at level A1 from the ÖSD, the Goethe-Institut, telc or the ÖIF, not older than 12 months when presented (§ 21a NAG; § 9b NAG-DV).
• Not required for the Red-White-Red Card, the EU Blue Card, the settlement permit “Researcher”, any temporary residence permit, children under 14, people who cannot reasonably be expected to provide the certificate on grounds of physical or mental health, or the family of very highly qualified workers, EU Blue Card and mobile Blue Card holders, researchers and holders of a plus card or long-term residence derived from those titles, or of persons granted international protection. The proof is deemed given where the conditions of Module 1 or 2 already exist — in particular a school-leaving qualification that gives general university entrance (§ 21a(3) NAG with § 9(4) Integrationsgesetz).
• For a renewal after two years, and for the three-year card: proof of Module 1 — the ÖIF integration examination at A2, or a school-leaving qualification giving university entrance, or the Red-White-Red Card itself, which counts as fulfilment (§ 9(4) Integrationsgesetz). For long-term residence: Module 2 at B1.

• An internationally recognised diploma or course certificate for German or English (§ 9 NAG-DV) — and for French, Spanish or Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian at B1, which each earn five points. Certificates may not be older than 5 years on the day of application (§ 20d(6) AuslBG).
• A certificate that is one day too old earns nothing. If yours is near the limit, sit the test again before filing rather than after a refusal.

• The degree certificate, and proof of the status of the institution that issued it (§ 9(1)(1) and § 9(2)(4) NAG-DV for the Red-White-Red Card; § 9(6)(2) NAG-DV for the EU Blue Card) — a diploma supplement or transcript usually does the second part. For the very highly qualified, a four-year programme; for other key workers and the EU Blue Card, three; for the Blue Card’s IT-experience route, a work reference and a confirmation of employment showing three years of degree-level experience in the last seven (§ 9(6)(4) NAG-DV).
• For the graduate category: the certificate of the Austrian degree, and for a diploma programme also the record of study and the examination certificates for the second stage (§ 9(3) NAG-DV).
• For a vocational qualification: the certificate or diploma of the completed training. For a shortage occupation, the training has to be in that occupation.
• For “special skills” without a formal qualification — a designer, a musician, an athlete, an IT specialist who learned on the job: employment and training references and an employer’s confirmation (§ 9(2)(2) NAG-DV).
• A degree from outside Austria does not need formal recognition (Nostrifizierung) for the Red-White-Red Card or the EU Blue Card except in a regulated profession — the health professions, for example — but the AMS has to be satisfied it is what it says it is. The official migration portal points to the anabin database: a university listed there with status H+ is recognised, and otherwise a confirmation of the institution’s status from the competent authority of that country is filed with the application. Where the degree itself is in doubt, an evaluation by ENIC NARIC Austria, the national recognition information centre, can be obtained in addition; allow time for it before filing.

• A signed employment contract, or a written offer that states the position, the gross monthly salary, the hours and the start date.
• The employer’s declaration (Arbeitgebererklärung) under the AuslBG — the employer’s written undertaking to observe the stated conditions (§ 20d(1) AuslBG; § 9 NAG-DV). The AMS form, completed and signed by the employer.
• For a shortage occupation: evidence of the collectively agreed minimum for the post and of any overpayment that is customary in the company. For the EU Blue Card: a contract or binding offer for at least six months — the requirement of the EU Blue Card Directive and of the official migration portal; the Austrian statute sets no minimum of its own and issues the card for two years, or for a shorter contract plus three months (§ 42(4) NAG).

• A work reference (Dienstzeugnis) and a confirmation of employment (Arbeitsbestätigung) from each employer (§ 9 NAG-DV) — one describing the work, the other confirming the dates. Both are needed; a CV proves nothing on its own.
• For the very highly qualified: last year’s tax assessment or salary confirmation together with the employer’s confirmation of a senior position, where the salary points are claimed, and proof that the company is listed on a stock exchange or a positive statement on its business from the competent Austrian foreign-trade office (§ 9(1)(3) NAG-DV) — the salary points exist only for a senior position at such a company; publications, an institution’s confirmation or a patent-register extract for research points; the award certificate for an award.
• Experience counts by the half-year, and experience gained in Austria counts double in the shortage-occupation and other-key-worker tables. The dates on the confirmations are what the AMS adds up.

• Your marriage certificate or registered-partnership certificate, and the birth certificates of the children who are applying, with an apostille or consular legalisation, and a German translation, where the authority asks for them (§ 7(1)(3), § 6(3)–(4) NAG-DV) — for civil-status certificates it usually does.
• Your partner’s passport and, for a third-country sponsor, his/her residence title; for an Austrian sponsor, the proof of citizenship; for an EU citizen, the registration certificate. For the NAG family titles — “Family Member”, the Red-White-Red Card plus and the § 69 permit — both spouses have to be at least 21 on the day of application, and a child under 18 (§ 2(1)(9) NAG); the family of an EU citizen follows the wider free-movement definition instead.
• For the settlement permit “Dependant” (§ 47(3) NAG) — parents, a durable partner, other dependent relatives of an Austrian — the sponsor’s declaration of liability in every case, even where the dependant has means of his/her own, certified by an Austrian notary or court and valid for at least five years. For “Family Member” and the Red-White-Red Card plus no declaration of liability is admissible: the family shows its own or household income.

• A valid identity card or passport (§ 53(2) NAG) — the statute names either, and the registration certificate is documentation of a right you already hold, not a residence title, so the NAG-DV list for title applications does not apply.

• For a worker or self-employed person: a confirmation from the employer, or proof of self-employment — a trade-licence extract, a tax number, a company-register extract (§ 53(2)(1) NAG).
• For a person of independent means: proof of sufficient means — bank or pension statements, investment income — and of comprehensive health insurance (§ 53(2)(2) NAG). The EU-law standard is comprehensive cover, not the NAG’s “all risks, payable in Austria” wording, but in practice the same kind of policy satisfies both.
• For a student: the admission to the school or institution, comprehensive health insurance, and a declaration or other evidence of sufficient means (§ 53(2)(3) NAG).

• The EU citizen’s passport or identity card and his/her registration certificate (Anmeldebescheinigung) or certificate of permanent residence; your own passport.
• Your marriage certificate or registered-partnership certificate, or proof of descent, with an apostille or consular legalisation where issued abroad and a German translation where the authority asks.
• For a child or grandchild over 21, or a parent or grandparent, proof that the EU citizen actually maintains you (§ 52(1)(2)–(3) NAG); for a partner in a durable relationship, proof of the relationship (§ 52(1)(4) NAG).
• There is no minimum age for a spouse and no under-18 limit: descendants qualify up to 21, and beyond that if maintained. The 21-year and under-18 limits of § 2(1)(9) NAG belong to the NAG family titles, not to free movement.

• A business plan that lets the AMS assess the market, the competition and the location — its objectives, its financing, and what it will do in Austria.
• Proof of the capital and where it comes from: bank confirmations, the shareholder agreement, the financing commitments. For a self-employed key worker, evidence of the macroeconomic benefit the AMS assesses — typically a sustained transfer of at least €100,000 of investment capital or the jobs created or secured, but the Act names those only as examples and also accepts significance for a region (§ 24(1) AuslBG); for a start-up founder, €30,000, at least half of it equity.
• For a start-up: evidence that the product or service is innovative — a description, a prototype, a patent application — and, for the bonus points, an incubator’s admission or a funding decision from an Austrian start-up support body.
• Proof that you will personally run the business: the company agreement, your appointment as managing director, your shareholding.

• The confirmation of admission from the institution (§ 8(8) NAG-DV) — the notice of admission (Zulassungsbescheid) for a degree programme, or the confirmation for a university course of at least 40 ECTS that is not a language course alone.
• For each renewal: the institution’s written confirmation of study success in the previous academic year — at least 16 ECTS or 8 semester hours (§ 74(6) Universitätsgesetz).

• The hosting agreement (Aufnahmevereinbarung, § 43d NAG) signed by you and by a research institution that is certified for the purpose or exempt from certification (§ 71 NAG) — it states the research project, the duration, the funding and the institution’s undertaking.
• Your doctoral degree, or the qualification that admits you to a doctoral programme — the host institution asks for it because that is how the law defines a researcher (§ 2(17) AuslBG); the ordinance itself lists no degree for this permit.
• For researcher mobility from another EU state: that state’s “Researcher” title and the Austrian hosting agreement (§ 8(5) NAG-DV).

• Your employment contract with the sending company and, where separate, the assignment letter, including the employer’s declaration that you can return to an establishment of the same company or group outside the EU when the transfer ends (§ 8(1)(a) NAG-DV).
• Proof of prior employment in the company or group immediately before the transfer: 9 months for managers and specialists, 6 for trainees (§ 18a(1) AuslBG).
• For a manager: the management function, from the contract. For a specialist: the qualification and the experience — a degree or an equivalent specialist training, plus a work reference and a confirmation of employment. For a trainee: the trainee contract and a university degree.
• Where the post is a regulated profession in Austria, the admission to it.

• The general list of documents in § 7 NAG-DV does not include a certificate of good conduct. The authority assesses the public-order ground on what it holds and can ask for what it needs, and in practice the representations abroad and many authorities — Vienna for every first application — ask for a police clearance certificate from your country of nationality, and from any country you lived in for more than six months before coming to Austria, not older than three months; whether it has to be legalised is for the authority to say. Obtaining one before you file, and keeping it current, avoids a delay at the point where the file is otherwise complete.
• A conviction is not in itself a bar — with the exceptions in § 11(1) NAG: a conviction in the last twelve months for unlawful entry or evading border control, an entry ban or residence ban, and a recent return decision are absolute bars. Otherwise what the authority weighs is whether your stay would endanger public order or security (§ 11(4) NAG). That is a question for a lawyer before it is a question for a form.

§§ 6–9 list the documents an application carries, and the rules on originals, translations and legalisation.

The statute every residence title on this site is issued under, in the consolidated version published by the Austrian legal information system (RIS).

Sets the admission criteria for the Red-White-Red Card (with its points tables) and the EU Blue Card (degree, salary, labour-market test), and governs work permits.

How the authorities calculate income against the reference rates, including the student rates, the free-station allowance and the treatment of savings.

The Vienna residence authority: its procedures, its accepted insurers, and its fees.

The routes and the document points on the permit pages are the same ones the questionnaire returns with its result.