Austria · Immigration
The Austrian Red-White-Red Card for Founders
The two routes open to a third-country national founding a company in Austria, what the company has to look like before the file is complete, and which title follows after two years.
Updated 17 September 2026. Every figure below carries the statute paragraph that sets it, or the official portal that publishes it with the date it was read.
Austria admits a founder on one of two Red-White-Red Card routes. A self-employed key worker is admitted on macroeconomic benefit, with no points test (AuslBG § 24 Abs. 1). A start-up founder is admitted on innovation, points and EUR 30,000 of capital (§ 24 Abs. 2). The authority has eight weeks to decide. Read it beside what it takes to open an Austrian company from abroad.
- Do you need this card
- The points test
- The two founder routes
- Route 1: key worker
- Route 2: start-up founder
- Is there a minimum salary
- The company comes first
- Documents, filing and fees
- The deadlines
- Card plus and permanent residence
- Who can come with you
- Employee routes and the Blue Card
- How this page is kept accurate
- Sources
- Questions
- What we do
Do you need this card at all?
The Red-White-Red Card is a residence title for third-country nationals, meaning anyone who is not a citizen of an EEA state or of Switzerland. An EEA or Swiss founder needs none of what follows: three months without a title, then an Anmeldebescheinigung, a registration certificate, within four months of entry, and a certificate of permanent residence after five years.
Everyone else needs a title before they may settle in Austria and work for themselves, and the title has to match the activity the authorities assessed. If you do not want to settle, and only want to work remotely from Austria for a while, that is a different question: is there a digital nomad visa in Austria. If you are coming to be employed, the employee routes and the EU Blue Card are outlined at the foot of this page.
The points test does not apply to every route
Search for this card and you will land on a points calculator. The statute says something else. AuslBG § 24 Abs. 1, the self-employed key worker route, contains no points condition of any kind: the test is whether the intended activity is of macroeconomic benefit, or at least of importance for a region. migration.gv.at says the same on its self-employed key workers page: "For self-employed key workers, there is no points system."
Points belong to the other founder route. AuslBG § 24 Abs. 2 Z 1 admits a start-up founder only if they reach the minimum points for the criteria in Anlage D of that Act, and migration.gv.at publishes the catalogue as a table: 50 points out of a maximum of 85. The official calculator does not say which categories it covers, which is why this page does not send you to it.
The two founder routes, side by side
The two founder routes lead to the same document, but they are separate statutory tests, with separate evidence and, two years later, separate consequences.
| Route 1: self-employed key worker | Route 2: start-up founder | |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory basis | NAG § 41 Abs. 2 Z 4 with AuslBG § 24 Abs. 1 and Abs. 3 | NAG § 41 Abs. 2 Z 5 with AuslBG § 24 Abs. 2 and Abs. 3 |
| The test | macroeconomic benefit (gesamtwirtschaftlicher Nutzen), or at least importance for a region | innovative products, services, processes or technologies developed and brought to market in a newly set-up company |
| Capital | EUR 100,000 of investment capital, named in the statute as one indicator of that benefit, not as a bare threshold | EUR 30,000 for the company to be founded, at least half of it equity: a condition, not an indicator |
| Points | none | at least 50 of a maximum 85, as published by migration.gv.at |
| Salary threshold | none | none |
| Follow-on title after two years | Niederlassungsbewilligung, NAG § 43 Abs. 1: self-employed activity only | Rot-Weiß-Rot Karte plus, NAG § 41a Abs. 7a: self-employed and employed activity |
The two founder gateways in NAG § 41 Abs. 2, with their labour-market tests in AuslBG § 24, in force from 1 October 2022. The follow-on titles, NAG § 43 Abs. 1 and § 41a Abs. 7a, are compared further down.
Route 1: the self-employed key worker
The test is a benefit, not a number.
AuslBG § 24 Abs. 1 admits a self-employed key worker where the intended activity is "von gesamtwirtschaftlichem Nutzen ist oder zumindest eine Bedeutung für eine Region hat": of macroeconomic benefit, or at least of importance for a region.
EUR 100,000 is an illustration of that benefit.
The statute names it with the word insbesondere, in particular: a transfer of investment capital connected with the activity, of at least EUR 100,000. migration.gv.at calls it a sustained transfer to Austria, not a balance shown once.
Jobs are the stated alternative.
The same sentence puts the creation of new jobs, or the securing of existing ones, beside the capital transfer with an oder, an "or". A founder who employs people in Austria does not have to raise EUR 100,000 as well.
The benefit has to leave the firm.
migration.gv.at requires a macroeconomic benefit going beyond a purely operational benefit to the business itself. That is the job of the market, competition and location analysis the file asks for, and it is what a generic business plan misses.
No points, and no salary threshold.
Neither the statute nor the portal sets either one here. The file has to show the benefit, the qualifications the activity requires, and evidence of the capital transfer or of the jobs.
Route 2: the start-up founder, and how the points are scored
This is the scored route. AuslBG § 24 Abs. 2 sets five conditions, and all five must be met before the points are counted.
Z 1. The points. Reach the minimum points for the criteria listed in Anlage D AuslBG. The published catalogue is below.
Z 2. Real innovation. Within a newly set-up company, develop innovative products, services, processes or technologies and bring them to the market. The AMS assesses this, so it is a condition and not an ambition.
Z 3. A coherent business plan for founding the company and for operating it, which the statute requires in terms.
Z 4. Personal control. Exercise substantial influence over the management of the planned company "tatsächlich persönlich", actually and personally.
Z 5. EUR 30,000 of capital for the company to be founded, at least half of it equity. The statute says nachweisen: proved, not asserted.
Two capital figures, and they are not the same figure. EUR 30,000 is the condition in § 24 Abs. 2 Z 5. EUR 50,000 is a separate, additional amount that buys ten bonus points below. EUR 100,000 belongs to the other route entirely. A founder who stacks all three overstates what the law asks by a wide margin.
| Block | Points | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Required minimum | 50 | the score the application has to reach |
| Maximum allowable total | 85 | the sum of all blocks below |
| Qualification | max 30 | vocational training or special know-how 20; a completed three-year tertiary programme 20; a diploma, Bachelor, Master or Doctorate, or vocational training in Austria, 30 |
| Work experience | max 10 | 1 point per half-year of experience matching the qualification |
| Language skills | max 15 | German A2 = 5, B1 to B2 = 10, C1 to C2 = 15; English B2 = 10; French, Spanish, Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian at B1 = 5 |
| Bonus points | max 30 | the three rows below |
| Bonus: further capital | 10 | evidence of additional investment capital of at least EUR 50,000, on top of the EUR 30,000 |
| Bonus: incubator or funding | 10 | admission to a business incubator, or funding by a start-up funding agency in Austria |
| Bonus: age | 10 | age up to 35 years |
The start-up founder points catalogue as published by migration.gv.at, start-up founders, read 17 September 2026. The statutory catalogue is Anlage D AuslBG, not read at source for this page, so the table is attributed to the portal and not to a paragraph.
Is there a minimum salary for a Red-White-Red Card?
Neither founder route has one. Route 1 tests macroeconomic benefit. Route 2 tests capital, innovation, a business plan, personal control and points. Neither AuslBG § 24 Abs. 1 nor Abs. 2 mentions pay at all, and the reason is structural: a founder is not being paid by an employer, so the money question is capital, not salary. If a page tells you that a founder needs a minimum monthly salary for this card, it is describing an employee route and has not said so.
The figures that circulate belong to those employee routes, and they do not agree. migration.gv.at's Other Key Workers page states that the prospective employer will pay "the statutory minimum of EUR 3,465 (2026) gross monthly payments", read there on 17 September 2026, and Chambers repeats EUR 3,465 for other key employees in its Austrian corporate immigration guide of 23 June 2026. Neither says whether special payments are included.
Vialto Partners, in an Austria immigration update of 22 January 2026, states a 2026 threshold of EUR 3,977 gross monthly plus special payments for Red-White-Red Card key workers. The two cannot be reconciled from public sources: no official page carrying EUR 3,977 has been found, and migration.gv.at's shortage-occupation page prints no monthly figure at all. Both are printed here with their attributions rather than one alone, because the conflict is unresolved and pretending otherwise is the more expensive error.
The company comes first: what has to exist before the file is complete
No official page writes this out. The residence file asks for things only the company can produce, and one of them decides which office rules on the application, so the two sequences run together rather than one after the other. The company half in full is on how to start a business in austria.
Check whether a card is needed at all.
An EEA or Swiss founder files an Anmeldebescheinigung within four months of entry and can stop reading here.
Choose the route.
Macroeconomic benefit under AuslBG § 24 Abs. 1, or innovation plus points under § 24 Abs. 2. From here on, the evidence you collect is different.
Decide the company form and the intended seat.
AuslBG § 24 Abs. 3 gives the opinion to the AMS provincial office competent "nach dem beabsichtigten Betriebssitz", by the intended place of business. So the seat decision comes before the application. The forms are compared under austrian company law.
Put the capital in place.
Route 2 has to prove capital of at least EUR 30,000, half of it equity, for a company that need not yet be registered. The statute says nachweisen, prove, so the money has to be demonstrable when the file is lodged.
Sign the articles.
migration.gv.at's start-up document list names the articles of association as the evidence of controlling influence over the management, except in a one-person company. Unsigned articles cannot be that evidence.
Build the file.
Route 2: business plan, innovation evidence, qualification evidence, points self-assessment. Route 1: the market, competition and location analysis, and evidence of the capital transfer or of the jobs.
Add a trade authorisation only where you already hold one.
Both document lists ask for trade authorisations "if already available". Nobody has to hold a Gewerbeberechtigung before applying; where the activity is a regulated trade, that runs on the company side.
File the application.
In person at the competent Austrian representation abroad as the general rule, or in Austria on the founder-route rule set out in the next section.
The clocks start.
Three weeks for the AMS expert opinion, eight weeks from lodging for the decision. Both bind the authorities, and neither is an estimate for you.
Register with SVS once you are self-employed.
Self-employment in Austria carries compulsory social insurance, with its own contribution base and deadlines: the SVS guide.
One consequence worth stating plainly. A route that requires the applicant to exercise substantial influence over the management actually and personally cannot be combined with an arrangement in which somebody else is the real decision-maker, and the same words return at the step-up. Nominee arrangements and a company's real seat are regulated separately in Austria, and neither substitutes for the control this route requires.
Austria · founder route
Two lanes that run together, and the two points where they meet
- 01
Form and intended Betriebssitz
The seat decision comes before the application.
- 02
Capital in place
Route 2 proves at least EUR 30,000, half of it equity, for a company that need not yet be registered.
- 03
Articles signed
Unsigned articles cannot be the evidence of controlling influence.
- 04
Trade authorisation, only where already held
Both document lists ask for it if already available.
- 05
SVS registration once self-employed
Compulsory social insurance, with its own base and deadlines.
Lane A 01 → Lane B 03
The intended place of business fixes which AMS provincial office writes the expert opinion.AuslBG § 24 Abs. 3
Lane A 03 → Lane B 02
The signed articles of association are the evidence of controlling influence for a start-up founder, except in a one-person company.migration.gv.at, start-up document list
- 01
Route choice
Macroeconomic benefit under AuslBG § 24 Abs. 1, or innovation plus points under § 24 Abs. 2.
- 02
The file
Route 2: business plan, innovation evidence, qualification evidence, points self-assessment. Route 1: the market, competition and location analysis, and the capital or the jobs.
- 03
AMS expert opinion
Written by the AMS provincial office.
- 04
Decision
By the competent authority.
- 05
Entry visa
Applied for at the Austrian representation abroad.
- 06
Collection
Of the card itself.
An EEA or Swiss founder files an Anmeldebescheinigung within four months of entry and needs neither lane.
Build the company and the residence file as one project
The seat, the form, the capital and the articles all sit inside the residence file, and the seat decides which AMS office reads it. ask about the company side of your plan, or start your onboarding if you already know what you need.
What a founder submits, where it is filed, and what the state charges
The two founder pages carry overlapping document lists. This is the union of them, with the route-specific items marked.
- A valid travel document.
- A photograph, 45 x 35 mm, not older than six months.
- Proof of health insurance covering all risks and payable in Austria.
- A business plan; for Route 1, a market, competition and location analysis.
- Evidence of the capital: the transfer or the jobs for Route 1, the EUR 30,000 with half equity for Route 2.
- Evidence of the qualifications the intended activity requires.
- The articles of association, except for a one-person company (Route 2).
- Trade authorisations, only where they are already held.
- A criminal-record extract. migration.gv.at recommends one not older than three months, and that is a recommendation rather than a statutory rule.
Two conditions this card does not apply. NAG § 41 grants the Red-White-Red Card on the conditions of Part 1 of the Act "mit Ausnahme des § 11 Abs. 2 Z 2 und 4": proof of a legal claim to locally customary accommodation, and the condition that the stay could not become a financial burden on a public authority, are both excluded. So the equalisation supplement reference rates migration.gv.at prints on its permanent-immigration hub, EUR 1,308.39 for a single person, EUR 2,064.12 for a couple and EUR 201.88 for each child since 1 January 2026, are not what this card is measured against. Read the section after next before relaxing: they come back.
| What applies | Where it comes from | |
|---|---|---|
| A first application, as a rule | filed in person at the competent Austrian representation abroad, which checks that it is complete and forwards it | migration.gv.at, other forms of settlement |
| The founder-route rule | after lawful entry and during a lawful stay the application may be filed with the residence authority in Austria, and an application submitted in person during that period also entitles the applicant to remain even if the visa-free period or the visa has expired | migration.gv.at, start-up founders |
| Other titles, the general warning | for residence titles generally, filing in Austria creates no right to remain beyond the permitted visa-free or visa stay | migration.gv.at, other forms of settlement |
| Which authority decides | MA 35 in Vienna; the Bezirkshauptmannschaft or, in a statutory city, the Magistrat; the Office of the Provincial Government in Lower Austria and in Graz | migration.gv.at |
| Red-White-Red Card, application fee | EUR 218 | migration.gv.at, both founder pages, read 17 September 2026 |
| Rot-Weiß-Rot Karte plus, application fee | EUR 218 | oesterreich.gv.at, page dated 10 August 2026 |
| Daueraufenthalt EU, application fee | EUR 275 | migration.gv.at, other forms of settlement |
Where the file goes, who decides it, and what the state charges in 2026. The plus-card fee is on oesterreich.gv.at, Red-White-Red Card plus; the EUR 275 and the general filing rule are on migration.gv.at, other forms of settlement, in German. None of these is our fee: this site publishes no service price.
The deadlines that bind the authority, and what a negative AMS opinion means
| Deadline | Length | What it binds |
|---|---|---|
| Decision on a Red-White-Red Card | 8 weeks from lodging | NAG § 41 Abs. 3: "unverzüglich, längstens jedoch binnen acht Wochen ab Einbringung des Antrages". It binds the residence authority and the AuslBG authority alike |
| AMS expert opinion | 3 weeks | AuslBG § 24 Abs. 3, on the provincial office competent for the intended place of business, after hearing the Landesdirektorium |
| Entry visa after approval | within 3 months of the mission's notification | oesterreich.gv.at, on the applicant |
| Collecting the card | a further 3 months | oesterreich.gv.at, on the applicant |
| A deadline for submitting the application | none | oesterreich.gv.at: "There are no deadlines for submitting applications" |
| Extension of an existing title | before expiry, and not earlier than 3 months before it | oesterreich.gv.at: filed earlier, it is treated as a fresh first application |
| The general 6 months | 6 months from receipt | the deadline migration.gv.at prints on its page about the other forms of settlement. It is not this card's deadline |
These are legal maximums binding the authority, not observed processing times, and the difference matters. No official figure for the real duration of a Red-White-Red Card procedure exists in any source we hold, so this page prints none. Any number you are given for how long it takes in practice is somebody's estimate, however confidently written: the statute binds the authority to eight weeks and says nothing about queues.
If the AMS opinion is negative, NAG § 41 Abs. 4 is blunt: where the provincial office's opinion in a § 24 AuslBG admission procedure is negative, the application "ist ohne weiteres abzuweisen", refused without further ado. Appeals against decisions are decided by the locally competent Landesverwaltungsgericht, the provincial administrative court. What follows if the eight weeks pass without a decision is stated in neither source, so this page asserts no remedy for that.
The statutory clocks. The eight weeks is NAG § 41 Abs. 3 and the three weeks is AuslBG § 24 Abs. 3; the rest is oesterreich.gv.at, Red-White-Red Card plus, dated 10 August 2026.
Austria · Red-White-Red Card, founder route
The statutory deadlines, drawn on one axis
One axis, drawn to scale: 8 weeks, then 3 months, then 3 months
From lodging the application
8 weeks for the decision
The authorities decide inside eight weeks from the lodging of the application.NAG § 41 Abs. 3
Nested inside those eight weeks
3 weeks for the AMS expert opinion
The AMS provincial office has three weeks, and that period sits inside the authority’s, which is why it is drawn inside the first segment rather than beside it.AuslBG § 24 Abs. 3
After approval
3 months for the entry visa
Applied for within three months of the mission’s notification.
Then
3 months to collect the card
Collection within a further three months.
These are legal maximums, not observed processing times
No official figure for the real duration of the procedure exists, and none is given here.
From the card to the card plus, and on to permanent residence
The two routes separate again at the two-year mark, and the difference is larger than it looks: one leads to a title covering self-employment only, the other to a title that covers employment as well.
| Route 1: self-employed key worker | Route 2: start-up founder | |
|---|---|---|
| Follow-on title | Niederlassungsbewilligung, NAG § 43 Abs. 1 | Rot-Weiß-Rot Karte plus, NAG § 41a Abs. 7a |
| What it allows | fixed-term settlement and self-employed activity only, NAG § 8 Abs. 1 Z 4 | fixed-term settlement, self-employed and employed activity under § 17 AuslBG, NAG § 8 Abs. 1 Z 2 |
| What has to be shown | the Part 1 conditions, and a § 24 Abs. 1 AuslBG activity carried on in the last two years and to be continued | two years holding the card under § 41 Abs. 2 Z 5, the Part 1 conditions, and a written AMS notification under AuslBG § 24 Abs. 4 |
| The 21-of-24-months employment rule | does not apply | does not apply: NAG § 41a Abs. 1 Z 1 reaches § 41 Abs. 1 and Abs. 2 Z 1 to 3a, and leaves out Z 4 and Z 5 |
| Validity of the first card | NAG § 41 fixes no period. NAG § 20 Abs. 1 issues a fixed-term title for twelve months unless the Act sets a longer one, and its three-year rule does not reach this title | the same |
| Validity of the follow-on title | 3 years, on both NAG § 20 Abs. 1a conditions | 3 years, on both NAG § 20 Abs. 1a conditions |
| Permanent residence | Daueraufenthalt EU after 5 years plus Module 2 | Daueraufenthalt EU after 5 years plus Module 2 |
1. At least two full-time workers employed in the company that was founded. AuslBG § 24 Abs. 4 Z 1.
2. Still personally in control. The same words as at entry: substantial influence over the management, exercised actually and personally. Z 2.
3. EUR 200,000 of annual turnover reached, or further financing of at least EUR 100,000 secured. Either one, not both. Z 3.
4. The innovative product or service actually offered or developed. The business plan has to have become a business. Z 4.
The AMS provincial office confirms all four to the residence authority in a written expert opinion, after hearing the Landesdirektorium; where they are not met, AuslBG § 24 Abs. 5 requires it to say so in the same form. That is the whole step-up test: four measurable targets inside twenty-four months.
The waiver is for the entry card, not for life. NAG § 41 excludes accommodation and subsistence from the conditions for the first card. NAG § 41a and NAG § 43 both require "die Voraussetzungen des 1. Teiles", the conditions of Part 1, with no exception clause at all. So at the step-up, and again at permanent residence, locally customary accommodation and the no-financial-burden condition apply in full, and the reference rates above become the measure.
Permanent residence follows five years of continuous lawful settlement plus Module 2 of the Integration Agreement. The Daueraufenthalt EU document runs five years (NAG § 20 Abs. 3) while the settlement right it records is unlimited, and it lapses after twelve consecutive months outside the EEA, or up to twenty-four on particularly worthy grounds notified to the authority in advance (NAG § 20 Abs. 4).
The progression asymmetry, from NAG § 41a, NAG § 43 and NAG § 20. NAG § 20 Abs. 1a issues the three-year title only where Module 1 of the Integration Agreement is complete and the holder has been lawfully settled for the last two years; migration.gv.at states the two years without the module. No validity figure is printed for the first card, because no provision read for this page sets one.
Who can come with you
One short block: family reunification is a subject of its own. The German requirement below applies to the family member, not to the founder.
- German at A1 before entry, on a first application for the Rot-Weiß-Rot Karte plus and several settlement permits.
- The diploma must not be older than one year when the application is submitted.
- Applicants under 14 are exempt, as are the families of very highly qualified workers, Blue Card holders and researchers.
- Accepted issuers: Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch, Goethe-Institut, Telc, Österreichischer Integrationsfonds.
- Spouses and registered partners must be 21 at the time of application; children must be under 18 at that time.
The employee routes and the EU Blue Card, in outline
If you are coming to Austria to be employed rather than to found a company, this table is how to tell in ten seconds. Each row is an outline, and each figure carries the year it applies to.
| Route | Points | The pay condition |
|---|---|---|
| Very Highly Qualified Workers (Besonders Hochqualifizierte) | 100 max / 70 min, across special qualifications (40), work experience (20), language (10), age (20) and study in Austria (10) | no monthly figure on the portal page; 70 points also opens a job-seeker visa (visa D) for 6 months, fee EUR 195 |
| Skilled Workers in Shortage Occupations (Mangelberufe) | 90 max / 55 min | pay at the minimum set by law, regulation or collective agreement. The portal page prints no monthly figure |
| Other Key Workers | 90 max / 55 min | EUR 3,465 gross monthly for 2026, on migration.gv.at. See the salary section above for the unresolved conflict |
| Graduates of Austrian universities | listed as a category | no figures are printed here, because none was sourced for this page |
| EU Blue Card (Blaue Karte EU) | no points system | EUR 55,678 gross per year for 2026, including special payments, set at one times the average full-time gross annual salary under AuslBG § 12c and published by migration.gv.at, verified live 2026-09-17: eu blue card austria |
The employee routes in outline, from migration.gv.at's category pages, read 17 September 2026, except the Blue Card figure, from the portal's German Blaue Karte EU page captured on 6 September 2026. Every threshold here is set annually and carries its year.
How this page is kept accurate
Updated 17 September 2026. Every figure here is cited to the Austrian statute by paragraph, or to the official portal named beside it, and every threshold carries the year it applies to. We are a company-formation provider: we do not act for anyone before an Austrian residence authority or the AMS, and nothing here is legal advice. Our own fee is not published.
Sources
- migration.gv.at, self-employed key workers and start-up founders: the routes, the document lists, the points catalogue, the EUR 218 fee and the in-country filing rule.
- migration.gv.at, permanent immigration: the category list and the equalisation supplement reference rates from 1 January 2026.
- migration.gv.at, other forms of settlement (German): the general filing rule, the general six-month deadline, Daueraufenthalt EU with its EUR 275 fee, and the appeal route.
- oesterreich.gv.at, Red-White-Red Card plus, dated 10 August 2026: the post-approval clock, the absence of an application deadline, the extension window and the plus fee.
- NAG, Gesetzesnummer 20004242: § 8, § 11, § 20, § 41, § 41a and § 43, read as open data published by the Bundeskanzleramt.
- AuslBG, Gesetzesnummer 10008365, § 24 in force from 1 October 2022: both founder tests, the three-week AMS deadline, the competence rule and the four step-up conditions.
- Two market sources, named only where used: Chambers, 23 June 2026, and Vialto Partners, 22 January 2026. Neither is a source of law.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a company in Austria before I apply for the Red-White-Red Card, or does the card come first?
Neither, exactly. The company need not be registered: AuslBG § 24 Abs. 2 Z 5 speaks of capital for the company to be founded. But the file asks for things only the company produces, the articles of association above all, and the intended place of business fixes which AMS office writes the opinion (§ 24 Abs. 3).
Is there a points test for the Red-White-Red Card for self-employed key workers?
No. AuslBG § 24 Abs. 1 contains no points condition: the test is macroeconomic benefit, or at least importance for a region. migration.gv.at states it in terms, that for self-employed key workers there is no points system. Points apply to the start-up founder route under § 24 Abs. 2 Z 1.
How much capital do I need: EUR 30,000 or EUR 100,000?
It depends which route. EUR 30,000, at least half of it equity, is the condition for a start-up founder (AuslBG § 24 Abs. 2 Z 5). EUR 100,000 is named in § 24 Abs. 1 as one indicator that a self-employed key worker's activity is of macroeconomic benefit, the alternative being jobs created or secured. Nobody needs both.
What is the minimum salary for a Red-White-Red Card in Austria?
Neither founder route has one: they are capital tests, not salary tests. The figures in circulation belong to employee routes and they conflict. migration.gv.at states EUR 3,465 gross monthly for 2026 on its Other Key Workers page; Vialto Partners stated EUR 3,977 plus special payments in January 2026. No official page carrying EUR 3,977 has been found.
Who is eligible for a Red-White-Red Card in Austria?
Third-country nationals, meaning anyone who is not an EEA or a Swiss citizen. The routes that matter to a founder are the self-employed key worker (AuslBG § 24 Abs. 1) and the start-up founder (§ 24 Abs. 2). migration.gv.at also lists employee routes: very highly qualified workers, shortage occupations, other key workers and graduates of Austrian universities.
What is the difference between the self-employed key worker route and the start-up founder route?
The test, the evidence and what comes after. Route 1 tests macroeconomic benefit with no points, and leads to a Niederlassungsbewilligung covering self-employment only (NAG § 43 Abs. 1). Route 2 tests innovation, a business plan, personal control, EUR 30,000 of capital and 50 of 85 points, and leads to the Rot-Weiß-Rot Karte plus (NAG § 41a Abs. 7a).
How long does the authority have to decide on a Red-White-Red Card application?
Eight weeks. NAG § 41 Abs. 3 requires a decision "unverzüglich, längstens jedoch binnen acht Wochen ab Einbringung des Antrages", and it binds both the residence authority and the AuslBG authority. The AMS provincial office has three weeks for its expert opinion (AuslBG § 24 Abs. 3). No official figure for the real duration exists, so we publish none.
Which documents does a founder have to submit with the application?
A travel document, a 45 x 35 mm photograph under six months old, health insurance covering all risks and payable in Austria, a business plan or a market, competition and location analysis, evidence of the capital or the jobs, qualification evidence, and the articles of association except for a one-person company. A criminal-record extract is recommended, not required.
Can I appoint someone else to run the company while I hold the card?
Not in a way that displaces you. AuslBG § 24 Abs. 2 Z 4 requires the founder to exercise substantial influence over the management "tatsächlich persönlich", actually and personally, and § 24 Abs. 4 Z 2 requires the same thing again at the step-up two years later. Delegating day-to-day work is not the same as handing over control.
What happens if the AMS opinion on my business is negative?
The application is refused. NAG § 41 Abs. 4 provides that where the provincial AMS office's opinion in a § 24 AuslBG admission procedure is negative, the application "ist ohne weiteres abzuweisen", refused without further ado. Appeals against decisions are decided by the locally competent Landesverwaltungsgericht, the provincial administrative court.
Does the Red-White-Red Card lead to permanent residence in Austria?
It can. Daueraufenthalt EU follows five years of continuous lawful settlement plus Module 2 of the Integration Agreement, and the fee is EUR 275. The document is issued for five years (NAG § 20 Abs. 3) while the settlement right is unlimited. It lapses after twelve months outside the EEA, or up to twenty-four on particularly worthy grounds notified in advance.
What is the Red-White-Red Card plus, and when does a start-up founder get it?
It is the title that adds employed activity to self-employed activity (NAG § 8 Abs. 1 Z 2, § 17 AuslBG). A start-up founder can be granted it after two years on the § 41 Abs. 2 Z 5 card, on the Part 1 conditions and a written AMS notification under AuslBG § 24 Abs. 4, which tests the four step-up conditions above.
Can my spouse and children come with me, and what do they need?
Family members apply separately. A first application for the Rot-Weiß-Rot Karte plus requires German at A1 before entry, with a diploma not older than one year, from the Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch, the Goethe-Institut, Telc or the Österreichischer Integrationsfonds. Applicants under 14 are exempt. Spouses and registered partners must be 21, children under 18.
What if I am an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen: do I need this card at all?
No. You may enter and stay for three months with no title. For a longer stay you apply for an Anmeldebescheinigung, a registration certificate, within four months of entry, and after five years you may apply for a certificate of permanent residence. Nothing on the founder routes above applies to you.
Can I apply from inside Austria, or must I file at an Austrian embassy?
As a rule a first application is filed in person at the competent Austrian representation abroad. migration.gv.at's start-up founder page states a rule for that route: an application lodged in person during a lawful stay entitles the applicant to remain even if the visa-free period or the visa has expired. The portal warns the opposite for titles generally.
What we do on the company side
The company half of the file. Read what it takes to open an Austrian company from abroad for the entity, the seat, the capital and the register work the residence file depends on.
Before you choose a form. Our guide to how you start a business in austria covers what is decided before any application is lodged.
Send the route, the intended activity and where you want the seat: ask about the company side of your plan, or start your onboarding if you are ready to engage.