Red-White-Red Card for shortage occupations: the card for an occupation on the 2026 list
The Red-White-Red Card category for someone with a completed vocational training in an occupation on Austria’s 2026 shortage list — nursing, welding, roofing, train driving — and a job offer in it.
The category sits in § 41(2)(1) of the Settlement and Residence Act (Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, NAG); its test is § 12a and Annex B of the Act Governing the Employment of Foreign Nationals (Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz, AuslBG). The occupations are fixed for each year in an ordinance under § 13 AuslBG, the Fachkräfteverordnung: for 2026, 64 nationwide and 66 on the lists of 8 provinces.
A listed occupation, a completed training in it and 55 of 90 points open the card without a labour-market test or a euro salary floor; in all else it is the card of every category — 24 months, one employer, then the plus card.
| Official name | Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte for Fachkräfte in Mangelberufen (Red-White-Red Card — Skilled Workers in Shortage Occupations) |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | Third-country nationals trained in an occupation on the 2026 shortage list, with a job offer in it |
| Main requirement | Completed training in the listed occupation, 55 of 90 Annex B points, pay at least the collective-agreement minimum plus any customary overpayment |
| Right to work | Named employer; Austria-wide, or that province only for a regional occupation; 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)(1) NAG, § 12a and Annex B AuslBG, and the Fachkräfteverordnung 2026 — not the statutory wording
Under § 41(2)(1) NAG and § 12a(1) AuslBG, the card may be issued to a third-country national who meets the general requirements of the Act, less proof of accommodation and means, and for whom the regional office of the Public Employment Service (Arbeitsmarktservice, AMS) has confirmed in writing (§ 20d(1)(2) AuslBG), without a labour-market test, that
- the employment is in a shortage occupation fixed in the ordinance issued under § 13 AuslBG — for 2026, the Fachkräfteverordnung 2026, in force from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026;
- he/she proves a completed vocational training relevant to that occupation — in public transport, a licence under railway or transport law counts (§ 12a(2) AuslBG);
- he/she reaches at least 55 of 90 points on Annex B;
- the pay is at least the minimum due under statute, ordinance or collective agreement, plus any overpayment customary in the company; and
- the general conditions of § 4(1) AuslBG, other than its first item on the state of the labour market, are met by analogy.
A card for an occupation on a province’s list is limited to the employer’s establishments in that province (§ 20d(5) AuslBG). The employer’s written declaration accompanies the application (§ 20d(1) AuslBG); the authority and the AMS decide within 8 weeks (§ 41(3) NAG). Where the application is filed.
The conditions above are set out in § 41(2)(1) NAG, § 12a and Annex B AuslBG, and the Fachkräfteverordnung 2026: § 41 NAG, § 12a AuslBG, § 13 AuslBG, Annex B to the AuslBG, Fachkräfteverordnung 2026. 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
An occupation on the 2026 shortage list — nationwide, or in the province of the job
The list is the gate, rewritten every year. The Fachkräfteverordnung 2026 names 64 occupations that count anywhere in Austria, down from 81 in 2025, and separate lists for 8 of the nine provinces — all but Vienna. A regional occupation opens the card only for an employer seated there, and the ordinance may cap the number of admissions in such occupations (§ 13(3) AuslBG). The 2026 list is below.
A completed vocational training relevant to that occupation
The Act asks for a completed vocational training relevant (einschlägig) to the listed occupation: the certificate of that training — experience alone is not enough. The list is not confined to trades — physicians and graduate nurses sit on the 2026 nationwide list beside roofers and welders — and in public transport a licence under railway or transport law stands in for the training (§ 12a(2) AuslBG).
55 of 90 points on the Annex B table
The training is the whole qualification block, worth 30 points; the other 25 come from experience, language and age, against the table below. Training plus an age up to 30 gives 45; the last ten come from five years of experience in the occupation, or German at A2, or English at B1. Age is taken on the day of filing, and a language certificate older than 5 years earns nothing (§ 20d(6) AuslBG).
Pay at the statutory or collective-agreement minimum, and no labour-market test
The €3,465 a month other key workers must be offered in 2026 does not apply. The AMS checks that the pay in the employer’s declaration reaches the minimum due under statute, ordinance or collective agreement and, where the company customarily pays more, that you are offered the same overpayment. There is no labour-market test: the AMS confirms within 4 weeks without asking whether a registered job-seeker could fill the post.
The Annex B points table: 55 of 90
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Qualification — at most 30 | |
| Completed vocational training in the shortage occupation | 30 |
| Work experience — at most 20 | |
| Per half-year | 1 |
| Per half-year in Austria | 2 |
| Language skills — at most 25 | |
| German A1 / A2 / B1 | 5 / 10 / 15 |
| English A2 / B1 | 5 / 10 |
| French, Spanish or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian at B1 | 5 each |
| Age — at most 15 | |
| Up to 30 / up to 40 / up to 50 | 15 / 10 / 5 |
| Bonus: English as the company’s predominant language | 5 |
| Maximum / minimum required | 90 / 55 |
The table has not changed since 21 April 2023, and no amendment was pending on 12 September 2026. A degree earns no more here than a trade certificate.
The shortage occupation list 2026
The Fachkräfteverordnung 2026 (BGBl. II Nr. 316/2025) names in its first paragraph the 64 occupations that count nationwide: graduate nurses, nursing assistants and physicians; train drivers; roofers, carpenters, welders and motor-vehicle mechanics; graduate engineers in data processing. Its second names, province by province, the occupations that count only for an employer seated there — 66 distinct occupations across 156 entries: floor and wall tilers in six provinces, bricklayers in five, dentists in Upper Austria, primary-school teachers in Vorarlberg.
The full nationwide list and regional list are published in English. An occupation may be listed when, by the AMS’s count, no more than a set number of registered job-seekers exist for each vacancy — a little more where other shortage indicators exist, and for rail occupations regardless of the ratio (§ 13 AuslBG; the ratio, in the glossary). What protects an applicant is the filing date: an application filed by 31 December 2026 is decided under the 2026 list even if the decision comes in 2027.
What the application turns on
The list, then the certificate, then the count. The AMS matches the post in the employer’s declaration against the 2026 list, whose names follow the AMS occupational classification (§ 2 FKV 2026). Then it reads the training certificate against that occupation: § 12a(1)(1) AuslBG asks for a completed training relevant (einschlägig) to it, and one that is not fails whatever the points. Only then does it count the points. The 2026 ordinance expires on 31 December 2026; an application filed before then is decided under this year’s list, whatever the next list says.
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
Other key workers
The other-key-workers category is the route when the occupation is not on the 2026 list or the training is not completed: 55 of 90 points on Annex C, but at least €3,465 a month in 2026 and a labour-market test.
Very highly qualified workers
The very highly qualified category is the route for someone with a four-year degree, a senior salary history or research: 70 of 100 points on Annex A, no labour-market test either, and a six-month job-seeker visa for those without an offer; vocational training earns nothing there.