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.
Austria · Work authorisation
Red-White-Red Card — Very Highly Qualified Workers
Issued by The Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS) assesses your points score; the residence authority (Provincial Governor's Office or district administration) 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.
Conditions
What this permit
asks of you.
What it wants from your degree
Score at least 70 of 100 points against Austria's published criteria for exceptionally qualified specialists: special qualifications and skills, work experience, language skills, age, and study already completed in Austria. We do not compute or estimate this score.
This one is scored
Red-White-Red Card — Very Highly Qualified 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
- Decide whether you already have a job offer. Without one, you can instead apply for a job-seeker visa once the Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS) confirms you reach the point threshold — it gives you six months in Austria to find qualifying work.
- Work out your score against the published criteria: up to 40 points for special qualifications and skills (the length and level of your degree, whether your subject is mathematics, informatics, a natural science or technology, seniority, research output, or recognised professional awards), up to 20 points for work experience, up to 10 points for language skills, up to 20 points for age, and up to 10 points for study already completed in Austria.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
- Apply in person at the Austrian representation responsible for your home country, or for the country where you currently reside lawfully, for either the job-seeker visa or the card.
Register and start working
- Once you hold a qualifying job, apply for the Red-White-Red Card at the residence authority for where you will live in Austria, or have your employer do so on your behalf.
Cost and time
What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.
Fees
Timeframes
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.
- Austria Work Visa for Software DevelopersRed-White-Red Card for IT specialists
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.
- migration.gv.at — Red-White-Red Card: Very Highly Qualified Workers (criteria, job-seeker visa, fees)AT · checked 2026-08-09
- migration.gv.at — official points calculator for the Red-White-Red Card categoriesAT · checked 2026-08-09
- migration.gv.at — Criteria-based immigration to Austria: the Red-White-Red Card modulesAT · checked 2026-08-09
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.