Red-White-Red Card for Austrian graduates: the category without a points test
The Red-White-Red Card category for a third-country national who completed a degree in Austria and has a job offer that matches it: no points table, no labour-market test, no fixed salary floor.
Of the seven categories, this is the one the Act keeps simplest. § 12b(2) of the Act Governing the Employment of Foreign Nationals (Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz, AuslBG) asks for a degree completed at an Austrian university, university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule) or accredited private university, a job that corresponds to its level, and pay at the rate locally customary for Austrian graduates.
The road usually runs from the student permit: a 12-month renewal after graduation to find work, then the card, filed in Austria as a change of purpose, issued for 24 months and leading to the Red-White-Red Card plus.
| Official name | Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte for Studienabsolventen (Red-White-Red Card — Graduates of Austrian Universities and Colleges of Higher Education) |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | Third-country nationals with a degree completed in Austria and a job offer that matches it; no points needed |
| Main requirement | A degree completed in Austria; a job at its level; pay at the rate customary for Austrian graduates |
| Right to work | For the employer named in the application, anywhere in Austria; subsidiary self-employment allowed |
| Validity | 24 months, or a shorter contract plus three months; then, after 21 of 24 months in employment, the Red-White-Red Card plus |
The legal basis
Summary of § 41(2)(3) NAG and § 12b(2) AuslBG, with § 64(4) NAG — not the statutory wording
Under § 41(2)(3) of the Settlement and Residence Act (Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, NAG), read with § 12b(2) AuslBG, a Red-White-Red Card may be issued to a third-country national who meets the general requirements of the Act — accommodation and means excepted — and for whom the Public Employment Service (Arbeitsmarktservice, AMS) has confirmed in writing that
- he/she has successfully completed a diploma programme at least from its second stage, or a bachelor’s, master’s or (PhD) doctoral programme, at an Austrian university, Fachhochschule or accredited private university;
- the intended employment corresponds to his/her level of education;
- the gross monthly pay is at least the locally customary pay of Austrian graduates with a comparable job and comparable work experience; and
- the conditions of § 4(1) AuslBG are met by analogy — without the labour-market test, which the Act waives for graduates.
No points table applies. The application carries the employer’s written declaration that the stated conditions will be observed (§ 20d(1) AuslBG); the AMS has 4 weeks, the whole procedure 8 weeks (§ 41(3) NAG).
The conditions above are set out in § 41(2)(3) NAG and § 12b(2) AuslBG, with § 64(4) NAG: § 41 NAG, § 12b AuslBG, § 64 NAG, § 20d AuslBG. The consolidated German text is published in the Austrian legal information system (RIS); the English on this page is a summary, and where the two differ the German text governs.
What each requirement means
A degree completed in Austria
Four kinds of degree count: a diploma programme completed at least from its second stage, a bachelor’s, a master’s or a doctorate, each at an Austrian university, Fachhochschule or accredited private university. The document is the degree certificate — for a second-stage diploma, the record of study and the examination certificates — with the employer’s declaration; the implementing ordinance adds nothing else to the general documents every application carries (§ 9(3) with § 7 NAG-DV). A degree from outside Austria points instead to the EU Blue Card or the other-key-worker category.
A job that corresponds to the level of education
The offer has to be for a post that corresponds to the level of the degree — § 12b(2) AuslBG speaks of the Ausbildungsniveau, the level of education. The AMS confirms three things — the degree, the level of the post and the pay — and applies the general admission conditions of § 4(1) AuslBG by analogy, without the labour-market test. No official source says whether a job held during the studies and continued after them meets the test of level; that is decided on the individual file.
Pay at the rate customary for Austrian graduates
Since 1 October 2022 there is no fixed euro floor: the statute asks for the locally customary gross pay of Austrian graduates in a comparable job with comparable experience, which the official migration portal (migration.gv.at) glosses as the gross minimum salary comparable Austrian graduates in junior positions receive. No official source describes how the AMS establishes that figure for a post, and a euro figure a private website gives as the graduate minimum is not statutory. Other key workers need €3,465 a month in 2026; a graduate is measured instead against what Austrian graduates are paid for that work.
24 months, then the plus card — and the family from the start
Tied to the employer in the application, anywhere in Austria; a change of employer is a new application, with the 45-day provisional start and, if a job loss is reported to the authority without delay, the 6-month job-search protection since 7 August 2026, and after 21 months of employment in the last 24 the plus card opens the whole labour market. Your spouse or registered partner and unmarried children under 18 receive a Red-White-Red Card plus from the start — quota-free, with unrestricted access to work, valid as long as your card — if they meet the general requirements and show German at A1 before entry — the graduate card carries no exemption from it.
The job-search year after graduation
A student who has completed the degree may have the residence permit “Student” renewed once, for 12 months, to seek work or found a company (§ 64(4) NAG). It is a renewal, filed before the current permit expires, with means and insurance still shown but not accommodation, and the 20-hour employment permit without a labour-market test stays available. From that year a change of purpose is possible only to a Red-White-Red Card, an EU Blue Card, the settlement permit “Researcher” or the “Family Member” title (§ 64(5) NAG). A graduate with an offer already in hand may switch to the card directly. Filed at the latest on the day the student permit expires, the residence stays continuous and the student years count at half towards Long-term Resident – EU; filed later, they may not.
Filing in Austria, and when to file
A graduate who holds the student permit or its job-search renewal files a change-of-purpose application in person with the residence authority in Austria; the employer may file instead, and for your family at the same time. The decision has to be made within 8 weeks of filing, and the official portal’s advice follows from that: apply at least 8 weeks before the job is due to start, since, as a rule, the new job may be started only once the card has been issued. The fee is €218 in 2026. How the application is filed.
What the application turns on
The match between the degree and the post, and the pay. The AMS has no points to count and no vacancy to test, so its 4 weeks go on two questions: is the degree one the Act names, completed in Austria, and is the job a post at the degree’s level, paid at the rate Austrian graduates get for it. The employer’s declaration decides the second: the position and the gross monthly pay it states are what the AMS compares with the pay of Austrian graduates in a comparable job with comparable experience.
Who you are
- 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.
What you are qualified as
- 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.
That an employer in Austria will employ you
- 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).
That you are insured against all risks in Austria
- 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.
Who your family are
- 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.
Whether anything in your record stands in the way
- 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.
How this route differs from the ones next to it
EU Blue Card
The EU Blue Card is the route for a graduate — of any country’s university — whose offer pays at least €55,678 a year in 2026: no points, easier movement within the EU, a family exempt from German before entry. A holder of the graduate card may later switch to it with the same employer without a labour-market test.
Other key workers
For a degree earned outside Austria, or a post that does not match the degree, the other-key-worker category is the usual filing: 55 of 90 points, at least €3,465 gross a month plus special payments in 2026, and the labour-market test that graduates are spared.