Researchers: the settlement permit that follows a hosting agreement
The settlement permit “Researcher” is the title for a third-country national whom an Austrian university or a certified research institution has agreed to host: settlement, no German requirement and a family that may work.
It is issued under § 43c of the Settlement and Residence Act (Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, NAG). Since 1 October 2017 it has been a settlement title: every month counts in full towards the 5 years that permanent residence requires, where a student permit counts half.
Everything rests on the hosting agreement (Aufnahmevereinbarung) under § 43d NAG. Research under it falls outside the Act Governing the Employment of Foreign Nationals (Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz, AuslBG): no employment permit, no labour-market test. The permit runs for 24 months, the authority has 8 weeks to decide and the Red-White-Red Card plus can follow.
| Official name | Niederlassungsbewilligung – Forscher (settlement permit “Researcher”) |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | Third-country nationals hosted by a university or a certified research institution under a hosting agreement |
| Main requirement | A hosting agreement (§ 43d NAG) with a university or a certified research institution, plus means and insurance |
| Right to work | Research for the host institution outside the AuslBG — no AMS permit; the family may work anywhere |
| Validity | 24 months, or the agreement plus 3 months; may be renewed once for job search; then the plus card |
The legal basis
Summary of §§ 43c, 43d and 71 NAG, with § 1(2)(h) AuslBG; mobility under § 61 NAG and § 31(1)(7) FPG — not the statutory wording
Under § 43c(1) NAG the settlement permit “Researcher” is to be issued to a third-country national who
- meets the general requirements of the Act except the proof of accommodation, which is waived;
- carries out, for a research institution, an activity that § 1(2)(h) AuslBG takes outside that Act — work as a researcher;
- proves a hosting agreement under § 43d with a research institution within § 71(1) — certified, or exempt from certification;
- and, if the authority doubts that the activity is research, has the regional office of the Public Employment Service (Arbeitsmarktservice, AMS) confirm it.
§ 43d prescribes the agreement’s contents: the parties; the purpose, duration and financing of the project; the monthly gross pay or equivalent income; the institution’s undertaking to host and the researcher’s to try to complete the research; any intended research stay in another Member State; and a clause ending the agreement automatically if the relationship, the application or the permit ends. The institution has to check the researcher’s qualification for the project before it signs. The authority decides within 8 weeks (§ 43c(4)). The permit runs for 24 months, or a shorter hosting agreement plus 3 months (§ 43c(5)). After the research it may be renewed once, for 12 months, to seek work or found a company, if the holder aims at a further researcher permit, a Red-White-Red Card or an EU Blue Card and still meets the general requirements minus accommodation (§ 43c(2)); a change of purpose from it leads only to those titles or to “Family Member” (§ 43c(3)).
The conditions above are set out in §§ 43c, 43d and 71 NAG, with § 1(2)(h) AuslBG; mobility under § 61 NAG and § 31(1)(7) FPG: § 43c NAG, § 43d NAG, § 71 NAG, § 61 NAG, § 1 AuslBG, § 31 FPG. 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 hosting agreement with a certified or exempt research institution
The host has to be an institution the Act recognises: one certified by the Federal Minister of the Interior for five years under § 71(1) NAG, or one run by a public body, such as a university, which needs no certificate. The agreement is more than a job offer: a document missing one of the items § 43d NAG prescribes is not a hosting agreement. Behind it stands the qualification a researcher needs by definition — a doctorate, or a degree that admits to a doctoral programme — for scientific work that normally requires it (§ 2(17) AuslBG).
Means and insurance, no accommodation, no German — and where to file
You do not prove accommodation. You do prove means at the reference rate — €1,308.39 a month for a single person in 2026, €2,064.12 for a couple — after rent above €386.43 a month is deducted. All-risk health insurance is required; statutory cover that starts with the employment satisfies it. No German is needed before entry and no Module 1 while the permit is held. A first application is filed abroad or, after lawful entry, in Austria, which gives no right to stay; the fee is €218 in 2026. How the application is filed.
24 months, the job-search year and the plus card
Two years, or a shorter hosting agreement plus 3 months. After the research, one renewal of 12 months to look for work or found a company. After two years on the permit the authority may grant a Red-White-Red Card plus (§ 41a(4) NAG), this time with proof of accommodation; it runs for 3 years after two years of settlement where Module 1 counts as fulfilled, which a school-leaving qualification giving university entrance does (§ 20(1a) NAG; § 9(4) Integrationsgesetz).
Your family: a plus card, no German, unrestricted work
The spouse or registered partner — both at least 21 on the day of application — and the unmarried children under 18 receive a Red-White-Red Card plus as of right and without a quota (§ 46(1)(1) NAG), valid as long as your permit, with unrestricted access to the labour market. They may file in Austria with you and, unlike most Red-White-Red Card families, need no German before entry (§ 21a(4)(3) NAG); they show means at the family rate, accommodation and insurance. Family reunification, in full.
Researcher mobility from another EU state
A holder of another Member State’s “Researcher” title has two options. For a research stay of up to 180 days in any 360 he/she needs no Austrian title (§ 31(1)(7) of the Aliens Police Act, Fremdenpolizeigesetz, FPG). For longer there is the temporary residence permit “Researcher mobility” (Aufenthaltsbewilligung – Forscher-Mobilität, § 61 NAG): limited to the research in Austria and to the foreign title’s validity, renewable to 24 months in all and decided within 8 weeks; it may be filed in Austria, with the foreign title and an Austrian hosting agreement (§ 8(5) NAG-DV). It is a temporary permit, counted half towards permanent residence; whoever means to stay takes the settlement permit.
A researcher at a university, or at a company
A company’s research unit can itself be certified — the Minister of the Interior issues the certificate on an opinion of the FFG (Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft) on its research purpose (§ 71(1) NAG) — and then hosts under § 43c like a university. A scientist recruited by a company without a certificate takes an employed title: the EU Blue Card with a degree and at least €55,678 a year in 2026, or a Red-White-Red Card as a very highly qualified worker or an other key worker at €3,465 gross a month. The researcher permit is tied to its institution too: a move needs a new hosting agreement and runs as a change of purpose (§ 26 NAG); the official migration portal (migration.gv.at) says the new post may be started provisionally after 45 days.
What the application turns on
The hosting agreement, read closely: whether the institution is certified under § 71 NAG or exempt; whether the agreement carries every item § 43d requires, the financing and the monthly gross pay or equivalent income above all; and whether that pay still clears €1,308.39 a month in 2026 once rent above €386.43 is taken off. The AMS enters only if the authority doubts that the work is research, so a project described in terms an official recognises as research avoids that referral.
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 a research institution will host you
- 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).
That you can support yourself
- 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.
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
Students
The student permit is the route for someone admitted to a degree programme without a hosting agreement: temporary, renewed each year on study success, work for up to 20 hours a week under an employment permit. A doctoral graduate who is then hosted moves to the researcher permit.
EU Blue Card
The EU Blue Card is the title for a researcher employed by a company that is not a certified research institution: a three-year degree, a matching job and €55,678 a year in 2026. The family’s German exemption is the same; the labour-market test, the AMS confirmation and the tie to one employer are the price.