Students: the residence permit that follows admission
The residence permit “Student” is the title for a third-country national admitted to a degree programme in Austria: temporary, renewed each year on study success and the usual first step for those who stay on.
The Settlement and Residence Act (Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, NAG) treats it as a temporary residence permit (Aufenthaltsbewilligung), not settlement: issued for 12 months at a time, free of any quota and of any German requirement, but counted only at half towards the 5 years that permanent residence requires, and only where it runs immediately before the settlement title (§ 45(2) NAG). It is an entitlement, not a discretion.
What the law attaches to it sets it apart: an employment permit, obtained by the employer from the AMS, for up to 20 hours a week without a labour-market test, a 12-month renewal after graduation to find work and a Red-White-Red Card category for graduates of Austrian universities with no points test.
| Official name | Aufenthaltsbewilligung – Student (residence permit “Student”; the official portal writes “Students”) |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | 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 |
| Main requirement | 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 |
| Right to work | Up to 20 hours a week under an employment permit the employer obtains, without a labour-market test |
| Validity | 12 months, renewed on study success; two years in a mobility programme; once 12 months to find work |
The legal basis
Summary of § 64 NAG, with § 4(3)(5) and § 4(7)(2) AuslBG — not the statutory wording
Under § 64(1) NAG a residence permit “Student” 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 — and who
- is admitted as a regular student to a degree programme at a university, a university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule), a private university or private higher-education institution, or a college of teacher education (§ 64(1)(2));
- or to a university course of at least 40 ECTS credits that is not purely a language course (§ 64(1)(3));
- or to a preparatory, recognition or statutory post-degree course (§ 64(1)(4)–(7)).
A renewal for the same purpose requires the institution’s certificate of study success (§ 64(2)). Employment is governed by the Act Governing the Employment of Foreign Nationals (Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz, AuslBG) and must not impair the study as the sole purpose of the stay (§ 64(3)). After completing the studies the permit may be renewed once for 12 months to seek employment or found a company, if the holder is aiming at a Red-White-Red Card, an EU Blue Card or the settlement permit “Researcher” (§ 64(4)). The permit is issued for 12 months, or two years for a student in an EU or multilateral mobility programme or covered by an agreement between two or more higher-education institutions (§ 64(6)). Under § 4(7)(2) AuslBG the employment permit for up to 20 hours a week is granted without a labour-market test.
The conditions above are set out in § 64 NAG, with § 4(3)(5) and § 4(7)(2) AuslBG: § 64 NAG, § 4 AuslBG, § 74 UG. 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
Admission to a qualifying programme
The document the application rests on is the confirmation of admission (Aufnahmebestätigung) that the implementing ordinance lists for a first application (§ 8(8)(a) NAG-DV). It has to be admission as a regular student to a degree programme (§ 64(1)(2)), or to a university course of at least 40 ECTS credits that is not a language course alone. A first application is filed abroad or, after lawful entry, in Austria; the authority has to decide within 90 days (§ 19a NAG), the fee is €218 in 2026, and someone who needs a visa to enter pays €195 for the Visa D to collect a title approved while abroad. How the application is filed.
Means of subsistence at the student rates
Students under 24 are assessed against a lower rate than the general one — €722.58 a month in 2026 — and from 24 against the single rate of €1,308.39, both taken from the orphan’s-pension rates of the social-insurance system. Accommodation is not proved as such, but rent above the first €386.43 a month (the 2026 allowance) is deducted from income. Savings spread over the twelve months can stand in if their origin is shown, and a declaration of liability by a third party, certified by an Austrian notary or court and valid for at least five years, is allowed (§ 64(1) NAG).
Health insurance covering all risks in Austria
For a student the practical answer is voluntary self-insurance with the ÖGK at €78.84 a month in 2026, open to a regular student at a recognised institution who is not otherwise insured. It requires habitual residence in Austria, so a first application filed abroad is usually supported by a private policy matching statutory cover, switched once you are registered. Travel insurance is never enough, and Vienna accepts ÖGK cover only where there is no waiting period.
Study success at every renewal
Each renewal is filed before the permit expires, at the earliest three months before, with the institution’s written confirmation of study success for the previous academic year: for a university, examinations passed worth at least 16 ECTS credits or 8 semester hours (§ 74(6) Universitätsgesetz), with the current record of study and the confirmation of continuation (§ 8(8)(b) NAG-DV). Means and insurance are proved again each time.
Working while you study
A student holds a residence permit, not a work permit, and the AuslBG applies in full: every job, marginal employment included, needs an employment permit (Beschäftigungsbewilligung). What the Act waives is the labour-market test: for a student, and for a graduate on the job-search renewal, the employer is entitled to the permit for up to 20 hours a week without the AMS asking whether a registered job-seeker could fill the post (§ 4(1) and (7)(2) AuslBG); above that, the test applies. The limit that bites is § 64(3) NAG: the work must not impair the study as the sole purpose of the stay, and a renewal file with a full-time job and few credits is read in that light.
After graduation: the job-search year and what follows
Once the degree is complete, the permit can be renewed once for 12 months to look for work or found a company (§ 64(4) NAG). From that renewal a change of purpose is possible to four titles only: a Red-White-Red Card, an EU Blue Card, the settlement permit “Researcher” or, as the family member of an Austrian, “Family Member” (§ 64(5)). The natural destination is the Red-White-Red Card for graduates, which needs a job matching the degree and no points test; a graduate with an offer at €55,678 a year or more in 2026 may take the EU Blue Card instead.
What the application turns on
Two documents and one calculation. The admission has to be to a qualifying programme, as a regular student and not to a language course; and the means have to reach the student rate after rent is deducted — a room in Vienna at market rent can push a file that looked sufficient below €722.58 in 2026. At renewal the study-success certificate decides. And filing in Austria gives no right to stay — the exception since 7 August 2026 covers Red-White-Red Card applicants only — so a visa-free national who files late and is not decided in time has to leave.
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 you have been admitted
- The confirmation of admission from the institution (§ 8(8) NAG-DV) — the notice of admission (Zulassungsbescheid) for a degree programme, or the confirmation for a university course of at least 40 ECTS that is not a language course alone.
- For each renewal: the institution’s written confirmation of study success in the previous academic year — at least 16 ECTS or 8 semester hours (§ 74(6) Universitätsgesetz).
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
Graduates
The Red-White-Red Card for graduates is what the student permit leads to once there is a job: a degree completed in Austria, a post that matches it, pay at the customary graduate rate — no points, no labour-market test and a settlement title that counts in full towards permanent residence.
Researchers
The settlement permit “Researcher” is the route for a doctoral graduate — or someone whose degree admits to a doctorate — hosted by a university or a certified research institution. It is settlement rather than a temporary permit, counts in full and brings the family with unrestricted access to the labour market.