Austria Work Visa: How to Get a Red-White-Red Card, Step by Step

Austria sits at the centre of Europe, inside the EU, the Schengen Area and the eurozone, with the Brenner Pass carrying freight between Germany and Italy, Vienna anchoring the routes into Central and Eastern Europe, and a strong manufacturing base in the west. Its immigration system is unusually transparent: a points system that tells you in advance, on objective criteria, whether you can come.

Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland need no permit. For everyone else, working in Austria means a Red-White-Red Card. This guide explains the categories, the points, the shortage occupation list, the documents, the costs, the timelines and renewal — and gives professional drivers an honest picture of a market that is harder to enter than neighbouring Germany.

What is an Austrian work permit?

The main authorisation is the Rot-Weiss-Rot Karte, the Red-White-Red Card — a combined residence and employment permit in card form. It applies exclusively to third-country nationals, meaning citizens of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland. Its defining feature is objectivity: rather than an official weighing your case, you are scored against fixed criteria — qualification, work experience, language skills and age — and if you reach the required points, labour-market access must be granted.

Red-White-Red Card, RWR Card Plus, and the EU Blue Card

Three cards matter. The Red-White-Red Card is the entry route, valid for two years, and during that time, you may not change jobs — it ties you to the employer that sponsored you. After two years, you can apply for the Red-White-Red Card Plus, which gives another three years, free access to the labour market and the right to change employers; family members receive a derived Card Plus. The EU Blue Card is a parallel route that requires a university degree, a job offer, and an above-average income. Which one fits depends on your qualifications and salary.

Who needs a work permit in Austria?

Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland already have free access to the Austrian labour market and need no permit at all. Every other national needs a Red-White-Red Card or an equivalent title. There is no general low-skilled route: Austria’s system is built around qualifications, points, and salary thresholds, so the question is always which category your job and background fall into.

Types of work authorisation

• RWR Card for Very Highly Qualified Workers — the top of the points scale, allowing a job search on entry.
• RWR Card for Skilled Workers in Shortage Occupations — for trained workers whose occupation is on the annual list, with no labour market test.
• RWR Card for Other Key Workers — for jobs not on the shortage list, with a higher salary floor and a possible labour market test.
• RWR Card for Graduates, Self-employed Key Workers and Start-up Founders — narrower routes with their own criteria.
• EU Blue Card — for degree holders with an above-average salary.

The shortage occupation list and the points system

Each year, the responsible federal ministry publishes the Fachkräfteverordnung, the skilled-workers decree, which lists the occupations deemed short of labour. The definition is statistical: an occupation qualifies when fewer than 1.5 registered jobseekers are available for each vacancy reported to the public employment service (the AMS) over a year. The 2026 decree, published in the Federal Gazette on 23 December 2025 as BGBl II 316/2025, expanded the federal list to 64 occupations, up from 58 the year before, alongside 66 regional shortage occupations that apply only in particular states. New entries for 2026 include locomotive drivers, payroll specialists, and inclusive early childhood educators. If your occupation is on the relevant list, no labour market test is carried out because the shortage is already established, and processing is quicker. You must still meet the minimum score on the points system, in which credit is given for qualifications, experience, age, and language skills in German, English, French, Spanish, or Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian.

Eligibility and salary thresholds

For the shortage-occupation route, you generally need completed vocational training equivalent to a multi-year Austrian apprenticeship in that occupation, plus a matching job offer and sufficient points. Formal recognition of your qualification is required only for regulated professions, which by law may be practised only once qualifications are formally recognised. For the Other Key Workers category — used when the job is not a shortage occupation, or when you have relevant experience but no training in a listed trade — the minimum salary is €3,465 gross a month in 2026, and the AMS is entitled to run a labour market test. That salary floor is the single most important number for anyone whose occupation is not on the list.

Documents you’ll need

The authorities set the list; a typical application includes:

• A valid passport and photographs.
• The employer’s job offer or declaration, stating the role and salary.
• Evidence of your vocational training or degree, with recognition for regulated professions.
• Proof of work experience, references and employer confirmations.
• Language certificates supporting your points claim.
• Proof of health insurance and suitable accommodation.
• Documents translated and legalised as required.

Step by step

1. You check whether your occupation appears on the federal or the relevant regional shortage list.
2. You score yourself against the points criteria for the category that fits.
3. You secure a job offer from an Austrian employer.
4. Your employer applies at the Business Immigration Office, or you apply at the Austrian embassy in your home country.
5. The AMS assesses the criteria and runs a labour market test only where the category requires it.
6. The residence authority issues the Red-White-Red Card.
7. You travel to Austria and register your residence.
8. You work for the sponsoring employer for the card’s two-year term.

Processing time

Shortage-occupation applications are the quickest, because no labour market test is needed — commonly a few weeks rather than a couple of months. Other categories take longer, particularly where the AMS tests the labour market. If you are visa-exempt, you may apply in person during a lawful stay, but be aware that if the card cannot be issued before your legal stay ends, you must leave Austria and wait for the decision abroad.

Fees

Budget for the application fee for the residence title, the card-production charge, any visa fee, and the cost of translating, legalising and, for regulated professions, formally recognising your qualifications. Health insurance is required. Amounts are set by the authorities and change, so confirm the current figures before you apply.

Validity and renewal

A Red-White-Red Card is issued for two years, provided your passport is valid for that period, and you may not change jobs during it. After two years, you can apply for the Red-White-Red Card Plus, valid for a further three years, which frees you from being tied to one employer and gives you unrestricted access to the labour market. Family members can hold a derived Card Plus. Longer-term residence follows from there under the usual rules.

After you arrive

Register your residence with the local authority, join the employer-sponsored health insurance system, and keep your card, contract, and job aligned. Remember the two-year employer tie: leaving the sponsoring employer during that period puts your card at risk, so plan any move around the Card Plus milestone rather than before it.

Common reasons for refusal

The most common problems are falling short on points; an occupation that is not on the federal or regional shortage list, pushing you into the Other Key Workers category where the salary offered is below €3,465 gross a month; vocational training that is not comparable to an Austrian apprenticeship; missing recognition for a regulated profession; or an incomplete file. Applications also fail where the applicant’s stay expires before the card can be issued.

Tips to get approved

Check both lists — federal and regional — because an occupation absent from the national list may be a shortage occupation in the particular state where the job is, and that alone removes the labour market test. Gather language certificates, since points for German, English, French, Spanish, or Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian can decide a borderline case. Make sure the salary genuinely clears the threshold for your category, and start recognition early if your profession is regulated.

Your rights as a foreign worker

Austria has strong collective agreements, and pay and conditions in most sectors are set by them rather than left to negotiation, so a cardholder works on the same terms as an Austrian colleague. Health insurance, pension contributions and working-time protections apply from the start. The main limitation is mobility: for the first two years, the card ties you to one employer, and only the Card Plus lifts that. Family members can join you and receive a derived Card Plus with labour-market access.

For professional drivers in Austria

Austria matters in freight. It is an Alpine transit country whose Brenner corridor is the busiest crossing between Italy and northern Europe, Vienna anchors the routes into Hungary, Slovakia and the Balkans, and the western states feed the German and Swiss networks. There is a driver shortage, as there is across the region. But be realistic about the route in, because Austria is markedly harder for a non-EU driver than Germany next door. The Red-White-Red Card is built around qualifications: the shortage-occupation category expects completed vocational training comparable to a multi-year Austrian apprenticeship, which fits trades far better than professional driving. Tellingly, the transport addition to the 2026 shortage list was locomotive drivers — rail, not road. If road driving is not on the federal list or the regional list for the state where the job is, the fallback is the Other Key Workers category, and that carries a floor of €3,465 gross a month in 2026, which is well above ordinary Austrian driver pay, plus a possible AMS labour market test. Add the two-year employer tie, and the picture is clear. Check the current decree for your state before assuming anything — but where Germany wrote a rule specifically for drivers, Austria did not.

• Browse driver vacancies in Austria.
• Register a driver profile.
• For employers — recruitment and compliance support

Work permits by region in Austria.

The Red-White-Red Card is national, but the shortage occupation list is not entirely national. Alongside the 64 federal shortage occupations for 2026, 66 regional ones apply only in particular states, so where the job is located can determine whether the labour market test applies at all.

Vienna (Wien)

The capital and largest job market, home to the Business Immigration Office that handles many applications, with the densest distribution network and the routes east into Slovakia and Hungary. Driver jobs in Vienna (Wien).

Lower Austria (Niederösterreich)

The state surrounding Vienna, with the Danube corridor, large logistics parks and the main routes toward the Czech and Slovak borders. Driver jobs in Lower Austria (Niederösterreich).

Upper Austria (Oberösterreich)

The industrial heartland around Linz, with steel, chemicals and machinery, the Danube port and the corridor to Germany. Driver jobs in Upper Austria (Oberösterreich).

Styria (Steiermark)

The Graz region is a manufacturing and automotive centre with routes south toward Slovenia and the Adriatic. Driver jobs in Styria (Steiermark).

Tyrol (Tirol)

The Alpine state carrying the Brenner Pass — the busiest freight crossing between Italy and northern Europe, and subject to Austria’s strict transit and night-driving restrictions. Driver jobs in Tyrol (Tirol).

Carinthia (Kärnten)

The southern state bordering Italy and Slovenia, with the Tauern and Karawanken routes and a mix of industry and tourism. Driver jobs in Carinthia (Kärnten).

Salzburg

A central state on the Tauern corridor between Germany and Italy, with logistics, trade and a very large tourism sector. Driver jobs in Salzburg.

Vorarlberg

The westernmost state, bordering Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany, with strong manufacturing and heavy cross-border commuting. Driver jobs in Vorarlberg.

Burgenland

The easternmost state on the Hungarian border, with agriculture, tourism and cross-border traffic toward Budapest. Driver jobs in Burgenland.

Related guides

• EU work visa — overview
• Austria residence permit
• Health insurance in Austria
• Austrian citizenship

Official government sources

• migration.gv.at — the official Red-White-Red Card portal and shortage lists.
• Arbeitsmarktservice — the public employment service, points assessment and labour market tests.
• oesterreich.gv.at — the national portal for residence and administrative procedures.
• Rechtsinformationssystem — the legal information system holding the Fachkräfteverordnung.

Information only — not legal or immigration advice. The shortage occupation list is reissued every year, and salary thresholds change annually. Always confirm current requirements with the official Austrian authorities before you apply or pay anyone.