Moving to Austria

A high-quality, highly regulated country where the paperwork, the quotas and the German are the real barriers.

Austria runs one of the most codified immigration systems in Europe. Almost every route for a non-EU national leads through the Red-White-Red Card, a points-based permit split into separate categories for very highly qualified workers, skilled workers in shortage occupations, other key workers, graduates of Austrian universities and start-up founders. Each category has its own points grid, its own minimum score and its own salary or qualification threshold.

Alongside the points there is a second gate that surprises many applicants: quotas. Settlement permits that do not involve employment are capped by an annual ordinance, and once a category's places for the year are used the applications that follow simply wait. Family reunification for holders of certain permits sits inside the same quota logic. Eligibility and availability are two different questions in Austria, and the second one is not within an applicant's control.

The third constant is German. It appears before arrival for many family applicants, at A2 in the first stage of the integration agreement, at B1 for permanent residence, and at B1 again with a substantially longer residence period for citizenship. Austrian naturalisation is commonly described as among the strictest in Europe, and the requirement to give up the previous nationality is the part that most often ends the discussion.

Region	Central Europe
Capital	Vienna
Population	roughly 9.2 million
Foreign-born residents	around 20% of residents
Official language(s)	German
Currency	Euro (EUR)

Why people move to Austria

• The Red-White-Red Card publishes its points grids, so an applicant can score themselves before applying.
• The annual shortage occupation list lowers the practical bar considerably for listed trades and professions.
• Graduates of Austrian universities have their own Red-White-Red Card category with a reduced salary threshold.
• Social insurance based healthcare covers the insured person and dependent family members on the same contribution.
• Vienna's regulated and subsidised housing stock and its flat-rate annual transport pass hold living costs down.
• Living costs outside Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck are markedly lower than in comparable western European countries.

What to know before you commit

• Naturalisation commonly requires around ten years of lawful residence, and Austria in principle requires renunciation of the previous nationality.
• Citizenship also carries income thresholds covering roughly the preceding three years, so periods of low earnings can reset the plan.
• Quota-limited categories, including the settlement permit without gainful employment, can be exhausted early in the year regardless of how strong an application is.
• German is required repeatedly: before arrival for many family applicants, at A2 within two years, and at B1 for both permanent residence and citizenship.
• Foreign qualifications generally need formal recognition before they count toward points or toward a regulated profession.
• Vienna housing is easier to find than in most capitals, but much of the cheapest stock is council or limited-profit housing that newcomers cannot access immediately.

The eight guides

Official sources

• Migration.gv.at — the official immigration portal
• oesterreich.gv.at — public administration portal
• Federal Ministry of the Interior

Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.