Austria · Red-White-Red Card
Austria's Red-White-Red Card for Highly Qualified Workers
A points test instead of a sponsor, one named employer for two years, and a language score your English already earns you.
Austria doesn't start by asking an employer to vouch for you. It asks you to score points. Clear 70 out of 100? you can fly over with no job offer and go find one. Clear 55 in a shortage occupation and the labor market test disappears. The card that follows belongs to one employer for two years.
Highly Qualified Worker Visa
For highly qualified workers, skilled professionals in shortage occupations, and key workers. Allows living and working in Austria for up to 24 months with a specific employer.
- Government cost
- $160
- Processing time
- ~90 days
- Timeline
- Up to 24 months (renewable)
- Difficulty
- Moderate
Key requirements
- Job offer from Austrian employer
- Meet points-based criteria (qualifications, experience, language, age)
- Proof of adequate means of subsistence
- Health insurance
- Suitable accommodation
About that data card
Three lines above need a footnote. The fee shown is low: Austria charges 218 euros per applicant from January 2026, about $253 in September 2026. The 90 days cuts both ways. The authority is legally obliged to decide within eight weeks of a complete file, while six to twelve is the real range and Vienna's MA 35 runs slower. The accommodation and income lines don't apply on the very highly qualified track.
The points test
One card, two very different bars
Austria runs one permit with separate scorecards, and which one you're graded on changes everything.
Very highly qualified: 70 of 100
Forty of those points sit in your qualifications. A four year degree is worth 20, a degree in math, computing, science or engineering is worth 30, a doctorate the full 40. Age carries 20 more up to age 35, sliding to 10 by 45. Experience adds a point per half year up to 20. There's no salary floor on this track, only the collective agreement your employer already has to honor.
Shortage occupation or key worker: 55 of 90
A different grid, and language counts for far more on it. Training in the listed occupation is worth 30, German at B1 is worth 15, being under 30 another 15. Austria's 2026 list runs 64 occupations nationwide, plus 66 that count only in particular states. If your job's on it, nobody has to prove an Austrian couldn't do it instead.
- Six months of work experience inside Austria is worth 10 points by itself.
- The shortage list is rewritten every year. A job that qualifies in 2026 may not in 2027.
The Red-White-Red Card by the numbers
70
Points to qualify as very highly qualified
out of 100, with no job offer needed to start
55
Points for a shortage occupation
out of 90, and no labor market test
$4,020
Key worker salary floor, per month
3,465 euros gross, Austria's 2026 figure
21 of 24
Months worked before the employer tie drops
then you move up to the Card Plus
Three doors
You can start this from a coffee shop in Vienna
A work visa usually makes you wait at home for permission. Austria gives Americans three openings, and hardly anyone uses the third.
Apply from the States with an offer
An Austrian company hires you, then either you file at the embassy or your employer files at the residence authority. The AMS scores your points and checks the pay, and you collect the card in Austria.
Take the six month job seeker visa
Clear 70 points and Austria issues a category D job seeker visa, good for six months, purely to look for work. It costs 195 euros, roughly $226. No job offer, no employer involved yet.
Or just get on a plane
Austria's guidance says it outright: if you entered under a visa-free regime, you don't need a job seeker visa. Americans get 90 days in the Schengen area. Land a matching job inside those 90 days and you can file from inside Austria. Since April 2026, the EU counts those days biometrically at the border, so 90 days means exactly 90.
Your English scores points, and you don't sit an exam
Language points normally need a certificate from ÖSD, Goethe, IELTS or TOEFL issued within five years. Native speakers are the exception. Austria's worked example on the key worker page hands a 43-year-old Canadian 10 language points on the strength of one sentence: his native language is English. On the very highly qualified grid, 10 is the whole language allowance.
Here's the catch
For two years, the card belongs to your employer
The card is issued for 24 months and names one company. Austria's own FAQ is blunt about what happens when that goes wrong: change employers inside the first two years and you apply for a new card. A layoff isn't only a layoff, it's a residence problem. You must tell the immigration authority immediately.
The way out is real but slow. Work 21 of the preceding 24 months under the card's terms and you move up to the Red-White-Red Card Plus, which cuts the employer tie and opens the whole labor market. Five years of settlement, plus German at B1, gets you long-term EU residence.
One more thing before you fall for the place. Austria doesn't do dual citizenship. Naturalizing generally takes 10 years, and the government expects you to give up your American passport within two years of approval. Permanent residence asks nothing of the kind, and it's the endpoint that matters for anyone who just wants to stay.
What the card actually gets you
Public healthcare
You and your family enroll in the public system through your job, from day one.
Family with work rights
Your spouse and children get the Card Plus, which lets them work without a permit.
Schengen travel
The card doubles as ID and lets you move freely through the Schengen area.
No German required
Card holders are treated by law as meeting the A2 integration rule. Blue Card holders are not.
A fourteen payment year
Two extra salaries a year, taxed at a flat 6 percent, not your marginal rate.
A residency clock
Every month counts toward long-term EU residence at the five year mark.
The money
Divide the salary by 14, not 12
An Austrian job ad quoting 56,000 euros a year isn't quoting 4,667 a month. Austrian salaries are paid in 14 installments: 12 monthly, plus a 13th before the summer and a 14th in November. The real monthly number is 4,000. Americans misread this in both directions, so it's worth knowing before you negotiate.
The good news is those two extra payments are taxed at a flat 6 percent after a 620 euro exemption rather than at your marginal rate, which is why Austrian take-home beats what the brackets imply. The brackets run from 20 percent above 13,539 euros to 55 percent above a million, and employee social security takes about 18 percent of regular pay.
What Austria doesn't have is an expat tax deal. There's no Beckham law, no impatriate regime, no discount for arriving. You'll pay what your Austrian colleagues pay and still file a U.S. return on top. Our work visa hub lays out what other countries ask in exchange.
People who do this for a living
Executive Relocation Austria
Austria Visa and Relocation
An Austria-based specialist covering the visa paperwork and the practical side of landing, from residence registration to finding somewhere to live.
MyExpatTaxes
U.S. Expat Tax Service
A U.S. expat tax service for the return you still owe the IRS every year once your income is Austrian and your tax is already withheld there.
Questions Americans actually ask
What does the Red-White-Red Card cost?
Austria charges 218 euros per applicant from January 2026, about $253 at 1.16 dollars to the euro. The job seeker visa is 195 euros, roughly $226, if you use it. Translations, apostilles and qualification recognition sit on top and are usually the bigger bill.
Do I need to speak German?
Not to get the card. German earns points but no track requires it, and card holders are treated by law as meeting the A2 integration rule other permits impose. You will need B1 German later, for long-term EU residence at five years and for citizenship.
How long does the Red-White-Red Card take?
The authority is legally required to decide within eight weeks of a complete application. Six to twelve weeks is the real range, and Vienna's MA 35 has a reputation for running past the deadline. Gathering and translating documents usually takes longer than the decision.
How many points do I need for the Red-White-Red Card?
It depends on the track, and the grids differ. Very highly qualified workers need 70 of 100. Shortage occupations and other key workers need 55 of 90. Points come from qualifications, work experience, German or English, age, and any study you did in Austria.
Do I need a job offer before I apply?
Not on the very highly qualified track. Score 70 points and Austria issues a six month job seeker visa so you can look in person. Every other track, shortage occupations and key workers included, needs a binding offer first.
Does my American English count for language points?
Yes, and without a test. Certificates from IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge or TELC are the usual proof, but native language skills are accepted instead. Austria's published example awards a Canadian applicant the full 10 language points because English is his first language.
Can I keep my US citizenship if I naturalize in Austria?
Generally no. Austria does not permit dual citizenship outside narrow exceptions, and applicants are expected to renounce their previous nationality within two years of approval. Naturalizing takes 10 years anyway. Long-term EU residence at five years leaves your passport alone.
Can I change jobs on a Red-White-Red Card?
Not freely. The card names one employer and runs 24 months, and Austria says changing employer inside those two years means applying for a new card. Work 21 of the preceding 24 months and you can move up to the Card Plus, which removes the tie.
Not sure Austria is the right bet?
The Expatsi Test matches what you want out of life abroad against the countries that will have you.