Residence purposes for third-country nationals

Residence permits for third-country nationals are only issued for a specific purpose.

The most important residence purposes are residence permits for work/employment, residence permits for family reunification and residence permits for educational purposes. The residence permit "long term resident – EU" is intended for third-country nationals who are long-term residents in Austria.

A residence permit can only ever be granted if the conditions for granting it are met. General requirements for granting are always required. Information on the special requirements for granting a residence permit, which are different for each residence permit, can be found on the subpage for each residence permit. There you will also find information about access to the labour market.

Residence permits for work/employment

• red white red card (Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte)
• red white red card plus (Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus)
• blue card (Blaue Karte)
• settlement permit (Niederlassungsbewilligung)
• settlement permit artists (Niederlassungsbewilligung – Künstler)
• settlement permit researcher (Niederlassungsbewilligung – Forscher)
• settlement permit special cases of gainful employment (Niederlassungsbewilligung – Sonderfälle unselbständiger Erwerbstätigkeit)
• stay permit researcher-mobility (Aufenthaltsbewilligung Forscher-Mobilität)
• stay permit ICT (Aufenthaltsbewilligung Unternehmensintern transferierte Arbeitnehmer - „ICT“)
• stay permit mobile ICT (Aufenthaltsbewilligung Mobiler unternehmensintern transferierter Arbeitnehmer – „mobile ICT“)
• stay permit seconded employee (Aufenthaltsbewilligung Betriebsentsandter)
• stay permit self-employed (Aufenthaltsbewilligung Selbständiger)
• stay permit special cases of gainful employment (Aufenthaltsbewilligung Sonderfälle unselbständiger Erwerbstätigkeit )

Residence permits for family reunification

Whether and which residence permit family members can obtain depends primarily on the residence permit of the reunifying family member in Austria. In particular, the following residence permits are likely to relevant:

• family member (Familienangehöriger)
• settlement permit relative (Niederlassungsbewilligung – Angehöriger)
• red white red card plus (Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus)
• stay permit family unity (Aufenthaltsbewilligung Familiengemeinschaft)

Residence permits for educational purposes

• residence permit student (Aufenthaltsbewilligung Student)
• residence permit pupil (Aufenthaltsbewilligung Schüler)

Residence permit under the Withdrawal Agreement (BREXIT)

• residence permit „Article 50 TEU“

Residence permits for other reasons

• settlement permit except gainful employment (Niederlassungsbewilligung – ausgenommen Erwerbstätigkeit)
• residence permit social service workers (Aufenthaltsbewilligungen Sozialdienstleistende)
• residence permit volunteer (Aufenthaltsbewilligungen Freiwilliger)

Residence permit for long-term settlement in Austria

• long term resident (Daueraufenthalt – EU)

On the migration platform of the federal government (www.migration.gv.at  ) you will find a Quick Check, which will guide you to the right residence permit with just a few questions.

If the Settlement and Residence Act does not contain a suitable residence permit (purpose) for the planned stay, immigration under the Settlement and Residence Act is not possible.

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Last update: 17 April 2024