Residence Permit – ICT ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung – ICT")

Are you working as a skilled employee for a multinational company or multinational group of companies and are now supposed to work for a limited time (maximum of 3 years) for the same company or corporate group in Austria within the context of an intra-corporate transfer?

The Residence Permit – ICT targets the following third-country nationals:

• Executives,
• Trainees, and
• Specialists

who have been working for a multinational company or multinational corporate group outside of the EU (i.e., in a third country) for at least 9 months (or at least 6 months for trainees) and who are now supposed to work in the same company or corporate group in Austria.  

• Application form
  Application form Residence Permit – ICT
• Passport
• 1 EU passport sized photo, not older than 6 months (with invoice)
• Police clearance certificate, not older than 3 months
• Proof of health insurance in Austria
  for the duration of the transfer
• Proof of housing
  for the duration of the transfer

Qualification-related documents and documents from your employer

• Work contract (signed by both parties)
  including proof that you have been working for the company/corporate group for at least 9 months (6 months for trainees)
• Current CV
• Proof of all qualifications
  including proof of your quality and suitability as an executive, trainee or specialist 
  e.g. university diploma, recommendations/references
• Contract for the intra-corporate transfer
• Employer's declaration
  Arbeitgebererklärung

• You will have to present one or more police clearance certificates depending upon the country in which you live.
• Personal documents must be specially verified so that these documents are officially recognised. This depends upon the country in which the documents were issued.
• If personal documents are not available in German or English, they must be translated by a court-certified translator (“gerichtlich beeidete Übersetzerin/beeideter Übersetzer”).

After you and your future employer have gathered all the necessary documents, the application has to be submitted to an Austrian public authority.
In this case, there are several options:

1. Your employer submits the application on your behalf to the Immigration and Residence Authority. This applies regardless of your nationality and your current country of residence. This option has the advantage that your application is submitted directly to the public authority which also processes your application. Moreover, this option allows you to submit certain documents per email at a later date (for example certain verifications).  
2. You submit the application to the Austrian representative authority (embassy/consulate) in your current country of residence. If you select this option, your application has to be complete. As a rule, you are not permitted to send any missing documents afterwards per e-mail. Your application is then sent by diplomatic post from the representative authority to Austria. For this reason, the immigration process based on this option usually takes considerably longer than with the first option.   

Please note!
Even if you are principally allowed to travel to Austria without a visa, you are not allowed to personally submit your application for a Residence Permit – ICT in Austria. Only your employer is permitted to do this.  

Before you or your employer submits the application, you have to decide where you want to live in Austria. This is important because Austria does not have one Immigration and Residence Authority but many. Which of these authorities is actually responsible for you depends on your future place of residence in Austria. Once you have selected a particular place, the change is complicated and is not recommended. 

As soon as you or your employer has submitted your application, various public authorities will evaluate your application. The Immigration Authority will check to see if you fulfil all the general prerequisites, for example if your passport is valid for a sufficient period of time or if all your documents have the correct verification.
The Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS) will review the prerequisites under valid labour regulations. The entire evaluation usually takes several weeks, in which you can or must submit certain missing documents if required. At best, the evaluation ends with the formal approval of your application.    

All further steps depend upon whether or not you are allowed to enter Austria without a visa. 

• Are you allowed to enter Austria without a visa? As soon as you have received approval, you will be allowed to come to Austria and have your fingerprints taken at the Immigration and Residence Authority. Furthermore, you will also have to show your original personal documents (passport, birth certificate, police clearance certificate, etc.). Then, your card will be printed. You are only permitted to begin working as soon as you receive it!
• Are you not permitted to enter Austria without a visa? In this case, after you have received approval, you will receive an invitation from the Austrian representative authority (embassy, consulate) in your country of residence. In this invitation, you will be asked to apply for a so-called Visa D (“Visum D”) within the following 3 months and to pick up your Residence Permit – ICT in Austria within a period of 6 months.

In order to receive a Visa D, you will need the following documents: 

• Application form
• Passport with a copy
• Invitation of the representative authority
• Approval of the Immigration and Residence Authority
• Travel insurance (coverage of at least € 30,000)      
• Flight reservation

Generally, it will take about 2 weeks until the Visa D is stamped in your passport. During this processing time, the embassy will keep your passport.

As soon as you have your Visa D, you can travel to Austria and have your fingerprints taken. Furthermore, you will also have to show your personal documents (passport, birth certificate, police clearance certificate, etc.). Your card will then be printed.

You are only permitted to begin working as soon as you receive your card! 

If both your contract for the intra-corporate transfer and your passport are valid for 1 year, your Residence Permit – ICT will also be valid for 1 year. However, as an executive or specialist, you can extend your residence permit for a maximum of up to 3 years to stay in Austria and work at the Austrian company to which you have been transferred. In contrast, as a trainee this only applies until a maximum period of 1 year is reached.

The Residence Permit ICT is based on an EU-Regulation. Thus, for an executive or a specialist it would also be possible to extend the residence permit up to a maximum duration of 3 years (1 year in the case of specialists) in another EU member state.

Whether you are an executive, specialist or trainee – as holder of an ICT - Card issued in Austria, you may stay – but not work – within the Schengen area for 90 within 180 days.

These rules also apply to your family! Your close family members are entitled to apply for a Residence Permit „Familiengemeinschaft ICT“.

If, based on your Austrian Residence Permit ICT, you would like to work in another EU member state (or vice-versa), you would need to apply for a so-called “mobile ICT” permit.

In any case, make sure that you submit your application for extension during the 3-month period before your current residence permit expires!

• If you apply for a Residence Permit – ICT, your family members can get a so-called Residence Permit – Family Reunification ("Aufenthaltsbewilligung Familiengemeinschaft mit ICT"). However, as a rule, your family can first submit the application when your own application for a Residence Permit – ICT has already been submitted and your application process is under way.  
• In contrast to you as a skilled worker, your family is generally required to submit the application to the Austrian representative authority (embassy/consulate) in their country of residence. Your employer is not permitted to submit the application in Austria on behalf of your family. In any case, the applications for your family have to be complete.
• Family members who have a Residence Permit – Family Reunification are generally permitted to work in Austria on a self-employed basis.
  If they want to work as salaried employees in Austria, they must have a specific job offer and apply for a work permit ("Beschäftigungsbewilligung") separately.

In this case, you can submit an application for a change of purpose (“Zweckänderung”) to get a Red-White-Red – Card or a Blue Card. Your family can submit applications for the Red-White-Red – Card Plus.
These residence permits will allow you to settle down in Austria in the long-term, in contrast to the Residence Permit – ICT and the Residence Permit – Family Reunification.

Submit your application for a change of purpose on time, in any case before your Residence Permit – ICT expires. Keep in mind that the processing can take several months!
As soon as your Residence Permit – ICT has expired and can no longer be extended, you will have to leave Austria as well as the EU and the Schengen Area.
This is also the case even if you are principally allowed to enter the Schengen Area without a visa.