Pregnancy and childbirth

We would like to recommend a very helpful website that provides excellent guidelines for all stages of pregnancy:

Digital Babypointhelps you organize tasks related to pregnancy and birth with a personalized checklist. After an initial registration, you can also use the "First issue of certificates" service to apply for a birth certificate, proof of citizenship and confirmation of registration.

As soon as the employer becomes aware of an employee's pregnancy, he/she must comply with the protective provisions of the Maternity Protection Act (Mutterschutzgesetz – MSchG).

The employee must inform the employer of the expected date of birth. The employer may request a medical certificate.

The protective provisions of the Maternity Protection Act apply to:

• Blue-collar workers

• Salaried employees

• Apprentices

• Expectant mothers are protected against dismissal and redundancy. Typically, this protection ends 4 months after the birth of the child. If maternity leave begins after the protection period, protection against dismissal and redundancy continues until 4 weeks after the end of maternity leave. This protection entails that the employer can only terminate employment with the prior approval of the labour and social court.

• There is an absolute ban on employment during the protection period. It generally runs from 8 weeks before to 8 weeks after the birth. However, in the case of a premature birth, multiple birth or caesarean section birth, the protection period lasts until 12 weeks after the birth.

• An expectant mother may not be employed beyond the 8-week period prior to childbirth if the life or health of the mother or child would be at risk at work. In this case, a specialist medical certificate from a doctor must be presented stating this (individual employment ban).

• The employer is exempt from paying remuneration during the protection ban. The pregnant woman or mother receives an average salary from the ÖGK (so-called "Wochengeld").

• The absolute and individual ban on employment also applies to free service contractors.

Once a pregnancy has been established, every pregnant woman resident in Austria receives a Mother-Child Passport from her doctor.

The passport is used for preventive health care for pregnant women and infants up to the age of five.

The examinations provided for in the Mother-Child Passport program are an opportunity for the early detection and timely treatment of illnesses and for monitoring the child's development. All pregnant women and parents of small children should therefore take the opportunity to ensure the best possible preventive care for mother and child and have these examinations carried out.

The examinations are carried out by general practitioners or the respective specialists. The performance of these examinations during pregnancy and up to the child's 14th month of life is a prerequisite for receiving the full amount of childcare allowance (with the exception of pregnancy ultrasounds, hip ultrasounds and midwife consultations).

The ultrasound examinations included in the Mother-Child Passport program serve to monitor the child's development and to detect multiple pregnancies. Ultrasound examinations can provide additional information over and above the clinical examination. This means that abnormalities can be detected at an early stage and taken into account or treated as the pregnancy progresses.

Giving birth in a country other than your own may lead to stress, but Austria offers one of the best health care systems during and after birth.

Nevertheless, there are many questions that need to be answered: Is it preferable to give birth in a hospital with a team of doctors and midwives or with just a midwife?

Which hospitals are particularly well equipped for childbirth? Should the child perhaps be born at home after all? What support measures are available during the birth?

All medical procedures in connection with the birth, including planned or emergency caesarean sections, are covered by public health insurance.

However, the insurance does not cover the cost of contraceptives.

The birth of a child necessarily involves a number of administrative procedures so that the parents receive the most important documents for their child. In this chapter you will find an overview of this topic to help you.

We have prepared a checklist for you, where you will find a link to detailed information on deadlines, the required documents, etc. for each authority.

All the official procedures listed here (submission of declarations) can be completed after the birth at the registry office where the child was born. As it usually takes some time to prepare the documents, they cannot usually be issued immediately. The checklist below is intended to give you a step-by-step overview of the official procedures to be carried out.

The Digital Babypoint supports expectant mothers and fathers with a personalized pregnancy and birth checklist. You can initiate the issuance of documents like birth certificates, Austrian citizenship proofs, and registration confirmations online through the Digital Baby Point platform.

Some hospitals (in Vienna, for example, the General Hospital and the SMZ-Ost/Donauspital) have a branch office of the registry office (so-called "Babypoint"). In some other hospitals (without a branch office of the registry office), special baby certificate services are offered, such as the forwarding of required documents from the parents to the registry office.

The following is a complete list of the documents that must be brought to the registry office if all of the above-mentioned official procedures are to be completed following the birth. The documents required only for the respective official procedure can be called up under the specific link. Documents to be submitted in individual cases (e.g. consent of the legal representative for an acknowledgment of paternity of a minor father) are not listed here.

• Official photo IDs of the child's parents
• Birth certificates of the child's parents
• Married parents: Marriage certificate
• Proof of citizenship of the child's parents
• If residing abroad: proof of the parents' main place of residence
• Possibly divorce certificate with confirmation of the legal validity of the divorced marriage (you can obtain this from the divorce court) or marriage certificate of the last marriage and death certificate of the spouse
• Partnership certificate, if applicable
• Possibly proof of academic degrees of the child's parents
• Possibly proof of acknowledgement of paternity
• Possible notification of name change

The maternity allowance is intended to provide financial support for the expectant mother around the time of the birth and is paid as a replacement for the loss of income (so-called “Wochengeld”). The maternity allowance is paid monthly in arrears.

The maternity allowance is paid in the following period

• eight weeks before the expected date of birth,
• on the day of delivery and

• eight weeks after the birth (in the case of multiple, premature or caesarean births: twelve weeks after the birth). A premature birth is deemed to have occurred if the birth takes place before the 37th week of pregnancy.

If the specialist doctor, the labor inspector or the public health officer has imposed a ban on employment before the start of the protection period or beyond, the maternity allowance is also paid for the duration of this ban on employment.