Which residence permit is yours?
Austrian residence law does not ask one broad question about you. It defines a set of routes, each with its own test, and an application has to land inside one of them. This page is for working out which.
Two facts decide most of it before any form is filled in. The first is your passport: a citizen of an EU or EEA member state or of Switzerland has a right of residence under EU law and only registers it, while everyone else — a third-country national — needs a residence title under the Settlement and Residence Act (Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, NAG) for any stay of more than six months. The second is what you are coming to do: work for an employer, run a business, live on private means, join a spouse, study. Each of those is a different route with a different gate.
Everything else varies on four axes, and they are the columns of the table below: who the route is for, the main requirement it turns on, what right to work it carries, and how long it is issued for. Two routes can be open at once — a graduate with a high salary may fit both the EU Blue Card and a Red-White-Red Card category — and where that happens the better one is a question of what each carries with it, not of which is easier to get.
Every euro figure on this page is the 2026 figure, and the euro figures change on 1 January; the points, capital and time rules change only when the Act does. The figures page holds them all in one dated table with the previous year for comparison.
The routes, compared
| Route | Who it is for | Main requirement | Right to work | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EU, EEA and Swiss citizens §§ 51–53a NAG |
Citizens of EU and EEA states and Switzerland staying longer than three months | One of three grounds: work or self-employment; means and health insurance; or study with both | Unrestricted — EU, EEA and Swiss citizens are outside the Act Governing the Employment of Foreign Nationals | No expiry date; the right lasts as long as its ground does, and becomes permanent after five years |
| Red-White-Red Card § 41 NAG |
Third-country nationals with a job offer or a business, in one of seven categories | The category’s own test — points, a salary floor, the shortage list, or the business — plus, in the employed categories, an employer’s declaration | The named employer, anywhere in Austria (a regional shortage occupation: that province only) — or, in the self-employed categories, the assessed business; subsidiary self-employment allowed | 24 months, or a shorter contract plus three months; then the Red-White-Red Card plus for the employed categories, a settlement permit for self-employed key workers, the plus card on conditions for start-ups |
| Very highly qualified workers § 41(1) NAG |
Third-country nationals scoring 70 of 100 points on degree, salary history, experience, language and age | 70 of 100 points on Annex A, confirmed by the AMS, and a job that matches the qualification | For the employer named in the application, anywhere in Austria; subsidiary self-employment allowed | 24 months, or a shorter contract plus three months; then, after 21 of 24 months in employment, the Red-White-Red Card plus |
| Shortage occupations § 41(2)(1) NAG |
Third-country nationals trained in an occupation on the 2026 shortage list, with a job offer in it | Completed training in the listed occupation, 55 of 90 Annex B points, pay at least the collective-agreement minimum plus any customary overpayment | Named employer; Austria-wide, or that province only for a regional occupation; subsidiary self-employment allowed | 24 months, or a shorter contract plus three months; then, after 21 of 24 months in employment, the Red-White-Red Card plus |
| Other key workers § 41(2)(2) NAG |
Third-country nationals with a job offer at or above €3,465 a month in 2026 and 55 points; no degree needed | 55 of 90 points; at least €3,465 gross a month plus special payments in 2026; the labour-market test | For the employer named in the application, anywhere in Austria; subsidiary self-employment allowed | 24 months, or a shorter contract plus three months; then, after 21 of 24 months in employment, the Red-White-Red Card plus |
| Austrian university graduates § 41(2)(3) NAG |
Third-country nationals with a degree completed in Austria and a job offer that matches it; no points needed | A degree completed in Austria; a job at its level; pay at the rate customary for Austrian graduates | For the employer named in the application, anywhere in Austria; subsidiary self-employment allowed | 24 months, or a shorter contract plus three months; then, after 21 of 24 months in employment, the Red-White-Red Card plus |
| Self-employed and start-ups § 41(2)(4)–(5) NAG |
Third-country nationals who will run a business in Austria — a self-employed key worker or a start-up founder | The business: macroeconomic benefit or at least significance for a region (§ 24(1) AuslBG) — or, for a start-up, 50 of 85 points, an innovative product and €30,000 in capital, at least half of it equity | Self-employment in the business the AMS assessed; no employer and no employer’s declaration | 24 months; then a settlement permit (self-employed key workers) or, if the company meets the conditions of § 24(4) AuslBG, the Red-White-Red Card plus (start-ups) |
| EU Blue Card § 42 NAG |
Graduates — or IT managers and professionals with three years’ experience in the last seven — with a job offer at or above the salary floor | A three-year degree, a matching job offer (the Directive and the official portal ask for at least 6 months), €55,678 gross a year in 2026, and the labour-market test | For the employer named in the application, anywhere in Austria; subsidiary self-employment allowed | 24 months, or a shorter contract plus three months; then, after 21 of 24 months in employment, the Red-White-Red Card plus |
| Intra-corporate transferees § 58 NAG |
Managers, specialists and graduate trainees posted by a non-EU employer to an Austrian entity of its group | 9 months in the group (6 for a trainee) immediately before, a contract with a return guarantee, and Austrian pay and conditions | For the host entity named in the application, in the approved function; work at its clients’ sites under a contract for work is covered | Renewable up to 3 years in the EU (1 year for a trainee), then more than 4 months outside before a new ICT permit |
| Settlement permit without work § 44 NAG |
Retirees and people of independent means who will not work in Austria; a quota place is needed | Fixed and regular income at twice the reference rate, and a place in the province’s quota for the year | None. Any gainful employment is excluded; working later needs a change of purpose to a title that allows work | 12 months, renewed without a quota place; 3 years once Module 1 is fulfilled and two years of settlement have passed |
| Family reunification §§ 46, 47 and 54 NAG |
Spouse, registered partner, minor children of Austrians or of settled third-country nationals; the spouse, children and dependent parents of EU citizens | The sponsor’s status; then, outside EU free-movement law, the family’s own means, accommodation, insurance and German A1 (not required, among others, where the sponsor holds a card for the very highly qualified, an EU Blue Card or the researcher permit) | Unrestricted with “Family Member”, the plus card and the residence card; none for a dependant of an Austrian | Follows the sponsor’s Red-White-Red Card, EU Blue Card or researcher permit; two years for the family of a plus-card holder under § 41a(1) or (7a) or of a former Blue Card holder; otherwise 12 months and then 3 years; residence card 5 years |
| Students § 64 NAG |
Third-country nationals admitted to a university, a university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule), a private university or a college of teacher education, or to a 40-ECTS university course | Admission, and means of €722.58 a month under 24 or €1,308.39 from 24 in 2026, net of rent above the €386.43 allowance | Up to 20 hours a week under an employment permit the employer obtains, without a labour-market test | 12 months, renewed on study success; two years in a mobility programme; once 12 months to find work |
| Researchers § 43c NAG |
Third-country nationals hosted by a university or a certified research institution under a hosting agreement | A hosting agreement (§ 43d NAG) with a university or a certified research institution, plus means and insurance | Research for the host institution outside the AuslBG — no AMS permit; the family may work anywhere | 24 months, or the agreement plus 3 months; may be renewed once for job search; then the plus card |
| Red-White-Red Card plus § 41a NAG |
Red-White-Red Card and EU Blue Card holders after two years, and the spouse and children of a card holder | 21 of the last 24 months employed under the card’s conditions, confirmed by the AMS — or the family tie | Unrestricted: any employer, or self-employment, anywhere in Austria (§ 17 AuslBG) | 12 months, or 3 years where Module 1 is fulfilled and two years of lawful settlement have passed (§ 20(1a) NAG) — on our reading a former Red-White-Red Card holder meets both, since the card counts as Module 1, though the official portal states one year as the default; 12 months after an EU Blue Card unless Module 1 is otherwise fulfilled; for the family of a card holder, as long as the sponsor’s card, or two years where the sponsor already holds the plus card (§ 46(1a), (6) NAG) |
| Permanent residence § 45 NAG |
Third-country nationals settled in Austria for five uninterrupted years on a settlement title | Five years of settlement, Module 2 of the Integration Agreement (B1) and the general requirements still met | Unrestricted access to the labour market — any employer, anywhere in Austria (§ 17 AuslBG) | Unlimited; the card is issued for 5 years and renewed on application, even after it has expired |
Three pairs sit close together and are worth reading against each other. The EU Blue Card and the Red-White-Red Card for other key workers cover the same person — a professional with a job offer — and part on the degree, the salary and the points. The very highly qualified and everyone else part on whether a job offer is needed before entry: only the very highly qualified may come on a six-month job-seeker visa to find one, though the card itself always requires a job that matches the qualification. And the settlement permit without work stands apart from all the others on two counts: it is the only route whose first application always needs a quota place (family reunification needs one only for certain sponsors, § 46(1)(2), (4) and (5) NAG), and — like the settlement permit for dependants of Austrians (§ 47(3) NAG) — one that excludes every form of work for its holder.
The routes, in full
For EU, EEA and Swiss citizens
No permit, but a registration — and a residence card for family members who are third-country nationals.
Coming to work
The Red-White-Red Card in its categories, the EU Blue Card, and the permit for transfers within a company group.
Very highly qualified workers
The points test and the job-seeker visa.
Shortage occupations
The card for an occupation on the 2026 list.
Austrian university graduates
The category without a points test.
Self-employed and start-ups
The category without an employer.
Intra-corporate transferees
The ICT permit for a posting in a group.
Living in Austria without working
The one route for retirees and people with private means — and the one route that always needs a quota place.
Settlement permit without work
Austria’s quota-bound settlement permit.
Joining family
Which title a spouse, partner or child receives depends on who is already here.
Studying and research
A temporary permit for students and a settlement permit for researchers — for many, the first step into the permanent system.
Staying on
What the first permit becomes: the Red-White-Red Card plus after two years, permanent residence after five.
Each page sets out the statutory conditions in a labelled summary, restates every requirement in plain English with the 2026 numbers, lists the documents that route turns on, and says how it differs from the routes next to it. If none of them looks like your situation, the questionnaire is the faster way to find out — it works through the requirements one at a time rather than asking you to match a whole route at once.
By nationality
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need no permit and register within four months. British citizens have been third-country nationals since 1 January 2021; those who lived in Austria before then hold the “Article 50 TEU” title instead. Citizens of the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and the other visa-exempt countries enter for 90 days in any 180 without a visa, may not work during that stay, and may file a first application for a residence title from inside Austria during it — and, since 7 August 2026, a Red-White-Red Card applicant who files in person in Austria may, according to the official migration portal, await the decision here even after the visa-free period ends; every other in-country applicant must leave when it does. Everyone else files at the Austrian representation abroad as the rule — or, for the Red-White-Red Card, the EU Blue Card, the researcher and student permits and the family of Austrians, in Austria after a lawful entry on a visa — and enters on a Visa D once the title is approved. The routes themselves are the same for all third-country nationals; what differs is where the application is filed and whether a visa is needed to enter.