Residence in Austria

Overview

The Settlement and Residence Act (in German Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz) regulates:

Who is allowed to live in Austria.

The Settlement and Residence Act is briefly worded as follows: NAG.

It applies to foreigners,
who want to stay in Austria for more than 6 months.

Foreigners are all people,
who do not have Austrian citizenship.

If they want to stay in Austria for up to 6 months,
they usually need a visa.

People from some countries do not need a visa.
They are allowed to come to Austria without a visa for a certain period of time.

Information on entering Austria can be found Fremdenpolizei und Grenzkontrolle (only in German).

The Residence and Settlement Act also applies to citizens from an EEA State and Switzerland.

The Residence and Settlement Act applies:

If they want to stay in Austria for more than 3 months.
This also applies to their family members.
EEA countries are part of the European Economic Area.

These are:

all member states of the European Union (EU for short),
Iceland,
Liechtenstein and
Norway.

People from these countries have special rights.
These rights come from the rules of the European Union.

The evidence of those rights is worded as follows:
Documentation.

For people from all other states, different rules apply.
These people are called:
Third country nationals.

They will receive a residence permit.

The Residence and Settlement Act states:

when a person gets a residence permit or documentation.
when a residence permit or documentation is not issued.
when a residence permit or documentation can be withdrawn.

Please Note

Do you have any questions about your application?

Then please contact the authority,
to which you submitted the application.

Only this authority can tell you
how far your application has been processed.

An authority is, for example, the Bezirkshauptmannschaft or the magistrate.

Do you have general questions about entering Austria or getting a visa?
A visa is valid for a stay of up to 6 months.

Then you can call this phone number:
+43 1 53126-90 7769

The hotline is available from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Do you have general questions about a residence permit?
A residence permit is valid for a stay of more than 6 months.

Then you can call this phone number:
+43 59 133 90 72 31

The hotline is available from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Is the line occupied?

Then please try again later.

We take our time to answer all enquiries.

This may take some time.

back to overview

Samples of residence permits and documentation

Residence Permits

A residence permit is an ID card.
It looks like a credit card.

The residence permit states:

why a person is allowed to live in Austria, and
whether the person is allowed to work.

This information is on the back.

In the residence permit is a small computer chip.
Data is stored on the chip.
These include:

the name of the person.
gender of the person.
the nationality of the person.
a photo of the person.
fingerprints of the person.

For EEA citizens and Swiss citizens, the proof for their right of residence is issued on paper.
These include:

the registration certificate.
the certificate of permanent residence.

There is also a photo ID cards for EEA citizens. It looks like a credit card.

Family members of citizens from an EEA country or Switzerland sometimes come from another country.

These family members get a plastic card.

With this plastic card, they can show:
They are allowed to live and work in Austria.

These cards were called:

Residence card.
Permanent residence card.

Since July 2020, the residence card and the permanent residence card are also available as plastic cards in the same format as the residence permit.

You can download current and older samples of residence permits and other forms of proof of a right to residence.
These documents were issued in Austria in accordance with the applicable residence rules.