Austria · Work authorisation

Red-White-Red Card — Other Key Workers

Issued by The Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS) assesses your points score and runs the labour market check; the residence authority for where you will live in Austria issues the card. It is scored rather than checked against a list, which is why this page explains the factors and links the official calculator instead of producing a number.

Basis
Points
Steps
4
Possible outcomes
3
Last checked
2026-08-09

Conditions

What this permit
asks of you.

Which desk decides

The authority, exactly

You may also apply, or have your case assessed, at the Austrian representation (embassy or consulate) responsible for your home country or for the country where you currently reside lawfully.

2026 figure

Salary floor

EUR 3,465 a month

migration.gv.at states this as the statutory minimum gross monthly salary for 2026 that your prospective employer has to pay — a monthly figure, unlike the EU Blue Card threshold on this page, which is stated as an annual amount. Confirm the figure in force on the date you apply.

A figure without the year it belongs to and the condition attached to it is how someone rules themselves out of a permit they qualify for. Both are above.

Qualification

What it wants from your degree

A binding job offer meeting the applicable salary floor, and a score of at least 55 of a possible 90 points against Austria's published criteria: qualification level, work experience, language skills and age. We do not compute or estimate this score.

We do not score you

This one is scored

Red-White-Red Card — Other Key Workers awards points rather than checking a list. The steps below set out the factors the authority scores, and the sources at the bottom are the official pages they come from, including its own calculator where one is published. This page never produces a number: a score computed here would read as a prediction of a decision we have no authority to predict.

The procedure

4 steps,
in the order they happen.

Prepare your documents

  1. Secure a binding job offer that meets the applicable salary floor.
  2. Work out your score against the published criteria: up to 30 points for qualification level (from an apprenticeship-level qualification up to a completed university degree), up to 20 points for work experience, up to 25 points for language skills, and up to 15 points for age.The official points calculator, linked below, is a planning aid — it does not decide your case. The Austrian Public Employment Service scores the application itself.

Get your qualification assessed

  1. Expect the Austrian Public Employment Service to check that no equally qualified jobseeker already registered with it could fill the position, unless your case is exempt from this check.

Register and start working

  1. Apply in person at the Austrian representation responsible for your home country or your country of legal residence, or have your prospective employer file the application, with an employer's declaration, at the residence authority in Austria.

Cost and time

What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.

Fees

Red-White-Red Card application
€218

Timeframes

Red-White-Red Card
Generally issued for 24 months in the first instance
Decision on the application
Not published as a single national figure — ask the representation or residence authority handling your case

Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.

Both halves together

Guides that use this permit.

Each one takes a profession into Austria and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

3 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-08-09, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Is this the right permit for you?

That depends on where you qualified.

The planner compares every route Austria opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.

Check my path →All Austria permits