Settlement Permit

When applying for the Settlement Permit – Relative, it is important whether you are allowed to enter Austria without a visa or not.

• Are you allowed to enter Austria without a visa? As soon as you have gathered all the necessary documents, you can come to Austria and submit your application for the Settlement Permit – Relative to the competent Immigration Authority (“Aufenthaltsbehörde”). The application will then be processed by the Immigration Authority for several weeks and approved. Subsequently, your Settlement Permit will be printed. If you want, you will be allowed to work on a self-employed basis as soon as you receive the card. You are not allowed to pursue gainful employment as a salaried employee.

Please pay attention to the number of visa-free days you are entitled to! Generally, you have a maximum of 90 days (out of 180) in which you can stay in the Schengen Area. If you have not received the Settlement Permit within these 90 days, you must leave the Schengen Area and apply for the Visa D in the country in which you currently live. Generally, it is advised to await approval of your application in your home country.

• Are you not permitted to enter Austria without a visa? In this case, you will have to submit your entire application for the Settlement Permit to the Austrian representative authority (embassy, consulate) in your country of residence. Your application will then be sent to Austria by the representative authority where it will be processed. Once your application has been approved, you will receive an invitation from the Austrian representative authority. In this invitation, you will be asked to apply for a so-called Visa D within the following 3 months and to pick up your Settlement Permit 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 Authority
• Travel insurance (coverage of at least € 30,000)      
• Flight reservation

Usually, it will take about 2 weeks until the Visa D is stamped in your passport. During this processing time, the representative authority 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 Settlement Permit will then be printed. Once you receive it, you are permitted to begin working on a self-employed basis if you want.

• You are not entitled to enter Austria without a visa, but would like to submit your application directly to the Immigration Authority in Austria? This is possible, provided that you have a valid visa that entitles you to enter and stay in Austria. The procedure can be awaited in Austria as long as the visa is valid. If the visa expires before your Settlement Permit is issued, you must leave the country in time. For a new entry to pick up the Settlement Permit, a Visa D must be applied for at the respective Austrian representative authority (embassy/consulate).

Validity, extension and family 

The first Settlement Permit is usually valid for 1 year and can then be extended again for 1 year. After 2 years in Austria, you can get a Settlement Permit which is valid for 3 years.

Note

If you want to pursue gainful employment as a salaried employee, you can change to a Red-White-Red – Card Plus under certain conditions after 2 years. In this case, the Austrian Public Employment Service AMS must confirm that permission for you to pursue employment is warranted on the basis of your particular social and family roots in Austria. In this case, you must be prepared for a complex process lasting several months until you receive your residence permit. This only makes sense if you want to pursue gainful employment as a salaried employee, because this is not permitted with a Settlement Permit. In other words, it is not necessary to change over to a Red-White-Red – Card Plus if you wish to continue working on a self-employed basis or if you do not intend to work at all. 

As a rule, joint children (up to the age of 21) who are third-country nationals and whose parents are an EU national with a life partner who has a Settlement Permit can be granted a Residence Card (“Aufenthaltskarte”) due to their close family relationship with an EU national.  

If there is no family relationship between your child and an EU citizen, your child can get a Settlement Permit as well. For this purpose, they need a quota place.

Settlement Permit as an extension of a Red-White-Red – Card for Self-Employed Key Workers

After a period of 2 years, third-country nationals who have a Red-White-Red – Card for Self-Employed Key Workers (“Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte für Selbstständige Schlüsselkräfte”) can receive a Settlement Permit which is then valid for 3 years. This is only possible if all requirements are still met. A Settlement Permit only allows you to continue working on a self-employed basis. You are still not permitted to work as a salaried employee.

However, in the case of a subsequent extension, after being in Austria for a total of 5 years, you can apply for the Long-Term Resident EU permit (“Daueraufenthalt EU”) if you fulfil all requirements. The Long-Term Resident EU permit gives you unrestricted access to the Austrian labour market and also allows you to work as a salaried employee.

Individuals who have a Red-White-Red – Card for Start-Up Founders (“Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte für Start-Up-GründerInnen”) can receive a Settlement Permit after 2 years if they do not fulfil all the requirements for the Red-White-Red – Card Plus.