Temporary employment of third-country nationals in Austria

A temporary residence permit ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung") could be the right type of residence permit for you.There are different kinds of such permits, depending on the purpose of your temporary stay in Austria.

Temporary stay as an intra-corporate transferee or seconded employee

Is the company you work for sending you to Austria for a limited period of time? In this case, one of the following permits could be possible for you:

Residence Permit – ICT ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung ICT")

This permit is an option if you work for a multinational company or group of companies and are "rotating" within the company in order to get to know different positions as a trainee and/or work at different company sites as a specialist or executive. Find out more about this permit!

Residence Permit – Mobile ICT ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung Mobile ICT")

This permit is an option if you currently hold a Residence Permit – ICT from another EU member state and will work in Austria for more than 90 days within the context of this business activity.

Residence Permit – Seconded Employee ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung Betriebsentsandter")

Necessary if you work in Austria as a posted employee for more than six months. If your stay in Austria is for less than six months, a special visa is sufficient. In principle, the secondment or posting of an employee exists if:  

• a foreign employer from a third country (without a business establishment in Austria) posts an employee who is a third-country national to an Austrian contractor to fulfil contractual obligations, or
• the employee of an international corporate group is posted to the headquarters of the corporate group in Austria within the context of a training and professional development programme, or  
• an employee who is a junior executive is posted to an Austrian subsidiary within the context of an in-house rotation.

The Residence Permit – Self-Employed Person ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung Selbstständige") is an interesting option for third-country nationals who only want to stay in Austria temporarily. In order to obtain this permit, you must prove that you have a contractual obligation to carry out a specified self-employed activity for an employer in Austria for a period of more than six months. However, you may not plan to stay in Austria for a period longer than the duration of this obligation.

Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung Sonderfälle unselbstständiger Erwerbstätigkeit")

Relevant for third-country nationals who are gainfully employed in Austria and who do not fall within the scope of the Aliens Employment Act (“Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz” - AuslBG). For example, this can be work as an au-pair, as a participant in an exchange programme, as an exchange teacher or a language assistant.

Residence Permit – Social Worker ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung Sozialdienstleistender") 

Relevant if you work for a non-partisan and non-profit organisation which does not pursue any profit-making purposes itself. Moreover, the specific work for the organisation must be of an educational or training nature and may also not be for profit. This permit is granted for a maximum of twelve months. 

Residence Permit – Volunteer ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung Freiwilliger")

Granted in order to allow a person to work within the framework of the European Solidarity Corps (“Europäische Solidaritätskorps”), formerly known as the European Voluntary Service. For this reason, if you apply for this residence permit, you will need to show an agreement concluded with a host organisation which includes information about the voluntary service to be rendered.

Residence Permit – Researcher Mobility ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung Forscher – Mobilität")

Targets third-country nationals who already have a valid “Researcher” residence permit in another EU member state and who will work in a research facility in Austria. This residence permit is granted for at least the duration of your research in Austria but at the longest for the period of validity of the “Researcher” residence permit of the other EU member state. The Residence Permit – Researcher Mobility can be extended for a total of two years in Austria. Afterwards, a change of purpose ("Zweckänderung") is possible, but an extension (“Verlängerung”) of the permit is not.

This is not a residence permit but a special case of a work permit ("Beschäftigungsbewilligung") for a specialist who works in a project lasting up to six months. A specialist is someone who has indispensable specialized knowledge for the fields of activity, procedures or administration of the receiving establishment, and a high level of qualification for specific work or activities with specific technical knowledge, including appropriate professional experience. The specialist needs a visa in addition to the work permit.