Red-White-Red Card for other key workers: the category with a salary floor
The Red-White-Red Card category for someone with a job offer paying at least €3,465 gross a month in 2026 and 55 points on the key-worker table — a degree helps, but is not required.
The category for the sales director, the project manager, the developer who learned on the job — anyone with an offer who fits neither the 70-point table of the very highly qualified, nor a shortage occupation. It has two tests of its own, a fixed salary floor and the points table in Annex C to the Act Governing the Employment of Foreign Nationals (Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz, AuslBG), and it shares a third, the labour-market test, with the EU Blue Card.
| Official name | Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte for Sonstige Schlüsselkräfte (Red-White-Red Card — Other Key Workers) |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | Third-country nationals with a job offer at or above €3,465 a month in 2026 and 55 points; no degree needed |
| Main requirement | 55 of 90 points; at least €3,465 gross a month plus special payments in 2026; the labour-market test |
| 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)(2) NAG and § 12b(1) AuslBG, with Annex C and § 4b AuslBG — not the statutory wording
Under § 41(2)(2) of the Settlement and Residence Act (Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, NAG), read with § 12b(1) 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 the regional office of the Public Employment Service (Arbeitsmarktservice, AMS) has confirmed in writing that
- he/she reaches the minimum points on the criteria in Annex C — 55 of 90;
- the intended employment pays a gross monthly salary of at least half the monthly maximum contribution base under § 108(3) ASVG, plus special payments — in 2026 half of €6,930, that is €3,465; and
- the conditions of § 4(1) AuslBG are met by analogy, including the labour-market test (§ 4b(1) AuslBG).
Salary and age are assessed on the day of application; language certificates may not be older than 5 years (§ 20d(6) AuslBG). 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)(2) NAG and § 12b(1) AuslBG, with Annex C and § 4b AuslBG: § 41 NAG, § 12b AuslBG, Annex C to the AuslBG, § 4b AuslBG, § 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 binding job offer at or above the statutory minimum salary
The floor for 2026 is €3,465 gross a month, with the special payments — the thirteenth and fourteenth salaries of Austrian practice — on top of it, not inside it. It is half the maximum contribution base for social insurance, €6,930 in 2026, and the day of filing decides which year’s floor applies. Until 30 September 2022 an applicant over 30 had to be offered more; since 1 October 2022 the floor is the same at every age.
55 of 90 points on the Annex C table
Four things score — qualification, work experience, language and age — and two bonuses. A three-year degree scores highest, but the category is built for people without one: completed vocational training scores, and so do “special knowledge or skills in the intended occupation”, for which migration.gv.at says expressly that no formal training certificate is needed. Experience counts by the half-year from the dates on the work references, double for time worked in Austria; age is taken on the day of filing; a language certificate older than 5 years on that day earns nothing.
The labour-market test
Before it confirms, the AMS checks whether the post could be filled by an Austrian, or by a foreign national already available on the Austrian labour market who is willing and able to do the job on lawful terms; among foreign nationals, those entitled to unemployment benefit, EEA and Swiss citizens, Turkish workers under the Association Agreement and people with unrestricted labour-market access are to be preferred (§ 4b(1) AuslBG). The test runs inside the AMS’s 4 weeks. The very highly qualified, shortage occupations, Austrian graduates and regular workers in tourism, agriculture and forestry are exempt from it, and the self-employed categories are assessed by expert opinion instead — the seven categories compared.
24 months, one employer, and the rules since 7 August 2026
Two years, or a shorter contract plus three months, for the employer named in the application, anywhere in Austria. A change of employer is a new application; since 7 August 2026 the new job may be started provisionally 45 days after it is filed, and a holder who loses the job and reports it to the authority without delay keeps the card for at least 6 months of job search (§ 28(5a) NAG). After two years, 21 months of employment under the card’s conditions in the last 24 open the Red-White-Red Card plus and the whole labour market.
The Annex C points table: 55 of 90
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Qualification — at most 30 | |
| Completed vocational training, or special knowledge or skills in the intended occupation | 20 |
| General university entrance qualification | 25 |
| Degree from a tertiary institution, programme of at least 3 years | 30 |
| Work experience — at most 20 | |
| Per half-year | 1 |
| Per half-year in Austria | 2 |
| Language skills — at most 25 | |
| German at A1 / A2 / B1 | 5 / 10 / 15 |
| English at A2 / B1 | 5 / 10 |
| French, Spanish or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian at B1 | 5 each |
| Age — at most 15 | |
| Up to 30 / up to 40 | 15 / 10 |
| Bonus points | |
| Professional athletes and professional coaches | 20 |
| English, where it is the company’s predominant language | 5 |
The AMS counts from the documents; the official points calculator on migration.gv.at gives an indication, not a decision.
Is the EU Blue Card the better option?
It depends on the salary, the degree and the family — the answer comparing the two cards — and on three points that answer leaves out. A Red-White-Red Card counts as fulfilling Module 1 of the Integration Agreement (§ 9(4) Integrationsgesetz); an EU Blue Card does not. Since 7 August 2026 an application filed in person in Austria no longer ends the right to stay when the visa-free period expires — the official migration portal says the applicant may remain while the Red-White-Red Card application is decided (§ 21(6) NAG as amended); a Blue Card applicant must still leave when the permitted stay ends. And this card’s holder may switch to a Blue Card with the same employer without a new labour-market test (§ 12c(5) AuslBG).
What the application turns on
The labour-market test, and then the count. The test is the AMS’s, on the post as the employer describes it; an offer that also fits the shortage list or the graduate category avoids it. The points are counted from documents — a work reference and a confirmation of employment for every job, a language certificate within 5 years, a degree the AMS can place — and the declared salary and your age are checked against the 2026 floor and the age bands on the day of filing.
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.
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).
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.
How long you have worked, and where
- 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.
Which languages you speak, for the points
- 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.
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 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. It asks for the degree and the salary where this card takes experience and €3,465 a month; both carry the labour-market test.
Shortage occupations
If your trade is on the 2026 shortage list — 64 occupations nationwide, regional lists in 8 provinces — that category is the one for the offer: the same 55 of 90 points, the collective-agreement minimum plus customary overpayment instead of a fixed floor, no labour-market test — and a completed vocational training in the occupation.