Austria Work Visa 2026: Types, Cost, Processing Time, How to Apply

Who needs an Austrian work visa at all

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need no permit. You arrive, work and register your residence (Anmeldebescheinigung) within four months. Nothing else.

Ukrainians with temporary protection (the blue "Vertriebene" card) may work in Austria without a separate work permit since 2023. Protection runs until 4 March 2028.

Everyone else needs a combined residence and work title before starting. Austria's main instrument is the Red-White-Red Card (Rot-Weiss-Rot - Karte), a points-based permit with several tracks. The track that matters for trades is "skilled workers in shortage occupations", and it works, but only if your occupation is on the list and you can prove the training. Beside it there are seasonal contingents in tourism and agriculture. This page covers both.

The permit types and what they cover

• Red-White-Red Card for skilled workers in shortage occupations: for occupations on the national shortage list or on a regional list for one federal state, with a completed apprenticeship or equivalent training in that occupation, a job offer at the pay the collective agreement sets, and enough points (qualification, experience, German or English, age). The lists are set every year by regulation and have for several years included welders, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, roofers, tilers, CNC and metal workers, truck drivers, chefs, nurses and care staff, with regional lists adding more. Card valid two years, tied to the employer; then the Red-White-Red Card plus, which allows any employer.
• Red-White-Red Card for other key workers: for jobs not on the list, with a minimum gross monthly salary (around EUR 3,225 in 2025; as of October 2026 check the migration.gv.at page) and a labour market test by the Public Employment Service (AMS). Rarely reachable for trades.
• Red-White-Red Card for very highly qualified workers and for graduates of Austrian universities: degree tracks.
• EU Blue Card: degree plus a high salary.
• Seasonal work (Saisonniers): employment permits inside annual contingents for tourism and agriculture, up to six months (nine in some cases), applied for by the employer at AMS, with a visa for the season. Registered seasonal workers from earlier years (Stammsaisonniers) have an easier path.

The points: the shortage occupation track requires 55 of 90 points. Completed apprenticeship in the occupation gives 30, experience up to 20, German A1 to B1 and English give points, age under 30 gives points. Most applicants with an apprenticeship and some experience clear 55 if they have A1 German or B1 English.

Who files what, and in which order

• 1. The employer offers a job in an occupation on the current list, at collective-agreement pay, and signs the employer declaration (Arbeitgebererklaerung).
• 2. You apply for the Red-White-Red Card at the Austrian embassy in your country, in person, with the employer declaration and your documents. Alternatively the employer applies on your behalf at the competent authority in Austria (the MA 35 in Vienna, the district authority elsewhere) with your written consent, which is usually faster.
• 3. AMS examines the points, the qualification and the pay, and issues its opinion within a set period.
• 4. The authority issues the card. If you applied abroad, the embassy gives you a visa D to enter and collect the card in Austria. You register your address within three days of arrival.

For seasonal work the order is reversed: the employer applies to AMS for the employment permit inside the contingent, and with the permit you get the visa.

Official fees

As of October 2026, in euro; the authority pages carry the current table:

• Red-White-Red Card application: around EUR 120 on filing, plus around EUR 20 on issue and around EUR 20 for the card, so about EUR 160 in total.
• Visa D for entry: around EUR 150 at the embassy, waived in some cases when the card has been granted.
• Seasonal visa: embassy fee in the same range.
• Translations, legalisation, recognition of your apprenticeship: your own cost, often EUR 200 to EUR 600.

The AMS opinion is free. There is no official fee for the employer declaration.

Processing time

The law gives the authority eight weeks from a complete application. In practice:

• Employer files in Austria, complete file, listed occupation: six to ten weeks.
• Application at an embassy abroad: the embassy forwards the file to Austria, so three to five months is normal, plus the wait for an embassy appointment.
• Seasonal permits: AMS processes them in weeks, but contingents fill early in the season.

A worked example: a Tyrolean plumbing firm offers an Egyptian plumber with a completed three-year trade certificate a job at the collective-agreement rate in March. The firm files the Red-White-Red Card application at the Innsbruck district authority on 20 March with the plumber's consent. AMS asks on 10 April for a legalised German translation of the certificate, which the plumber already has, and gives a positive opinion on 24 April. The card is approved on 8 May, the Vienna embassy in Cairo issues the visa D on 26 May, and the plumber collects the card in Innsbruck on 5 June. Eleven weeks, because the legalisation was done before the job offer, not after.

What slips: the qualification proof. AMS must be satisfied that your training equals an Austrian apprenticeship. A certificate it cannot read or verify means a request for more documents, and the eight-week clock restarts.

Documents and legalisation

Passport, birth certificate, passport photo, proof of accommodation in Austria (a rental contract or the employer's declaration), health insurance covering the first period, the employer declaration, your apprenticeship or training certificates with transcripts, proof of experience, proof of language level (an OeSD, Goethe or telc certificate for German, or an English certificate), and for most countries a police clearance. Foreign documents must be translated into German by a sworn translator and legalised: apostille for Hague countries, full legalisation through the Austrian embassy for others (including Pakistan, Bangladesh and most African countries). Austrian authorities are strict about legalisation; start it before the job offer.

Reality check

• Experience alone does not count as the qualification: the track requires completed training in the occupation. Experience adds points on top of that, not instead of it.
• The list is annual: check the national and the regional list for the year you apply.
• Pay is set by the collective agreement (Kollektivvertrag) for the trade and the state; an offer below it is refused.
• Seasonal is a season: tourism in Tyrol or Salzburg in winter is real work, but it ends with the snow and does not become a card.
• German matters more than in most countries: A1 is enough for points, but living and working in a small town without it is hard.
• Family: can join a Red-White-Red Card holder with the card plus, subject to income and housing, and adults need A1 German before the visa.
• Regional lists are the opening: a trade not on the national list may be on Tyrol's or Upper Austria's. The job must then be in that state.
• Accommodation proof is checked: the authority wants an address in Austria before the card. Employers in tourism usually provide it; in construction, ask.

Where this leaves you

If you have a completed apprenticeship in a listed trade and basic German or English, Austria is one of the best-paid and most orderly routes in Europe. Read the page for your country, for example working in Austria from India or from Egypt, the trade pages electrician jobs in Austria and hotel and hospitality jobs in Austria, and the Austria work permit processing time page.

Whatever route fits you, the Workuro profile is free: employers search the register and contact you, and nobody is ever charged to be listed, so create a free profile and let the employers who can actually sponsor you find you.