Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment

The “Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment” is intended for researchers in European Union research programmes and in academic exchange programmes involving Austrian universities provided that the exchange is carried out via associations of which either an Austrian university is a member or which work in cooperation with an Austrian higher education institution (e.g. OeAD scholarship holders).

It is possible that doctoral students / PhD students meet the requirements for a “Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment” (e.g. academic exchange programme) as well as for a "Residence Permit – Student" (notification of admission of a university, enrolment). In this case they can apply for either of the two residence permits.

The application for the “Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment” has to be submitted at the competent Austrian representative authority (embassy, consulate with power to issue visa) in your country of residence. In case of a positive decision of the locally competent residence authority in Austria, the application for a visa D can be filed at the Austrian representative authority. The visa D will be issued for four months if it is not possible to enter Austria visa-free. You can enter Austria with a visa D and collect the settlement permit at the competent residence authority in Austria.

Apart from this it is also possible to submit an application for a “Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment” at the locally competent residence authority in Austria after lawful entry and during a lawful stay (e.g. visa-free, residence title or visa of an EU member country) instead.

Please note, however, that taking up research activities in Austria is only permitted after receipt of the “Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment”.
Please also note, however, that the application does not permit you to overstay your visa-free stay or the period of residence defined in your visa or in your residence title.

You will find all the requirements for granting a "Residence Permit - Special Cases of Gainful Employment" in the checklist.

In principle travel health insurance must be taken out to enter Austria. Please note that this insurance must be valid in Austria and provide sufficient cover for various health issues (insurance cover well over 30,000 Euro, including guarantee to cover possible recovery and repatriation costs and costs for treatment of the COVID-19 disease).

Third-country nationals will only receive a residence title if they can additionally provide proof of having a health insurance "covering all risks". A travel health insurance is only sufficient for the period until a “health insurance covering all risks” can be taken out after entry.

Researchers, who are employed by an Austrian research institution, fulfil the requirement of a “health insurance covering all risks” due to the statutory insurance associated with this employment. Provided that the salary exceeds the limit ("Geringfügigkeitsgrenze") of EUR 518.44/month [as of 2024] employees will automatically be covered by health insurance (and also accident and pension insurance).

Alternatively, it is possible to take out a private health insurance to fulfil the requirements of having a “health insurance covering all risks”.

If all requirements are met, the “Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment” will be issued for a period of 12 months. If you applied for a shorter term or your travel document is valid for a shorter period of time, your residence permit will be issued for a shorter period.

Researchers with a visa for gainful employment or a “Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment” are exempted from the provisions of the Act Governing Employment of Foreign Nationals and can take up employment in this field without any permit.

You have to apply for a renewal of your residence permit at the competent residence authority in Austria before your residence permit expires; however, at the earliest 3 months before expiry of the residence permit. Until a decision about your application for a renewal is taken you are considered to be lawfully resident, even if your current residence permit expires in the meantime.

Further information about the topic "renewal of residence title" can be found here.

It is also possible to change to another residence title if you meet the conditions for it.

Family members* of researchers holding a “Residence Permit — Special cases of gainful employment” can apply for a “Residence Permit — Family Community” (“Aufenthaltsbewilligung — Familiengemeinschaft”).

As a general rule, family members of researchers have to apply at the competent Austrian representative authority (embassy, consulate with power to issue visa) in their country of residence.
In case they are permitted to enter Austria without a visa they can alternatively apply at the competent residence authority in Austria.

Family members with a “Residence Permit — Family” require a work permit to be employed in Austria. The Public Employment Service Austria ("Arbeitsmarktservice"/"AMS") may grant this permit after carrying out a labour market check.

* Spouses, partners in a civil union and unmarried minors. Spouses and partners in a civil union must be at least 21 years old at the time of application.

The “Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment” will be issued in credit card format with a photograph and also serves as an ID document. You should carry your “Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment” at all times to prove your entitlement to residence in Austria.

During its validity period your "Residence Permit – Special Cases of Gainful Employment" entitles you to travel through and to stay in other Schengen countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Croatia) for a maximum duration of 90 days within a time period of 180 days.

You have to register within three working days of arrival in Austria with the registration office at your place of residence.
A registration with the registration office is not needed if you reside in a tourist accommodation (e.g., hotel, guest house, campsite, private room, AirBnB) for a maximum of 2 months.

You have to enclose to the application photocopies of the following documents with the personally signed application form (explanation of the application form) and additionally show only the originals:

• Valid travel document
• Passport-sized photograph according to the ICAO criteria (colour photograph, size 3.5 x 4.5 cm) not older than 6 months
• Employment contract / preliminary contract / scholarship award notice
• minimum funds to finance your stay in Austria [as of 2024]:
  • EUR 1,217.96/month
  • for couples: EUR 1,921.46/month for both
  • for each child additionally: EUR 187.93/month
  If the rent for accommodation and/or instalment is higher than 359.72 Euro/month, you have to prove additional funds.
• Declaration of regular expenses (loans, maintenance payments or other financial burdens)
• Proof of accommodation in Austria according to the local standards (e.g. rental or subtenancy contract, legally valid preliminary contract, accommodation agreement ["Wohnrechtsvereinbarung"])
• Proof of health insurance covering all risks (unless you have or are going to have statutory health insurance)

In case of first-time application additionally:

• copy of the passport (all pages)
• Police clearance certificate from your country of residence (in individual cases also from your country of origin) not older than 3 months at the time of application (legalised and afterwards translated)

In case of renewal application additionally:

• current extract from the files of an officially recognised credit reference agency (e.g. KSV 1870 Information GmbH)

It is recommended to submit all foreign documents in German language.

Foreign documents and proofs (e.g. birth certificate, police clearance certificate) need to be legalised according to the applicable regulations and have those translated afterwards into German language by a sworn and court-certified interpretor as the residence authority can ask for a German translation.

The residence authorities may require the submission of further documents and confirmations (e.g. birth certificate) in individual cases. In order to avoid delays, we recommend that you submit all the above-mentioned documents together with your application.

Further information can be found here.

Documents issued by authorities of a member state of the EU only need to be translated if the authority has not attached a multilingual form (will be issued by the authority of the EU member state) to the document as well.

Costs: EUR 160 (EUR 120 when submitting the application, EUR 20 when the permit is granted and EUR 20 fee for the collection of police identification data)
Additionally for foreign civil status documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, civil union certificate) depending on the type of document: EUR 3,90, EUR 7,20 or EUR 14,30

The residence permit will be issued in credit card format with photograph and also serves as an ID document. It is recommended to carry it at all times.

You have to enclose to the application photocopies of the following documents with your personally signed application form (explanation of the application form) and additionally show only the originals:

• Valid travel document
• Passport-sized photograph according to the ICAO criteria (colour photograph, size 3.5 x 4.5 cm) not older than 6 months
• Proof of sufficient financial means to cover the living costs [as of 2024]:
  • couples: EUR 1,921.46/month for both
  • for each child additionally: EUR 187.93/month
  If the costs for accommodation and/or instalment exceed EUR 359.72/month [as of 2024], you have to prove additional funds. You also have to prove sufficient funds for the necessary health insurance in case co-insurance as dependent is not possible.

• Declaration of regular expenses (loans, maintenance payments or other financial burdens)
• Proof of accommodation in Austria according to the local standards (e.g. rental agreement, accommodation contract with a student hall of residence, accommodation agreement ["Wohnrechtsvereinbarung"])
• Proof of health insurance covering all risks (e.g. by means of dependent coverage) in Austria

In case of first-time application additionally:

• copy of the passport (all pages)
• Police clearance certificate from your country of residence (in individual cases also from your country of origin) not older than 3 months at the time of application (legalised and afterwards translated)
• Proof of family relationship (e.g., marriage certificate, birth certificate, civil union certificate; legalised and afterwards translated)

In case of renewal application additionally:

• current extract from the files of an officially recognised credit reference agency (e.g. KSV 1870 Information GmbH)

It is recommended to submit all foreign documents in German language.

Foreign documents and proofs (e.g. birth certificate, police clearance certificate, marriage certificate) need to be legalised according to the applicable regulations and have those translated afterwards into German language by a sworn and court-certified interpretor as the residence authority can ask for a German translation.

Further information can be found here.

Documents issued by authorities of a member state of the EU only need to be translated if the authority has not attached a multilingual form (will be issued by the authority of the EU member state) to the document as well.

Costs: EUR 160 (EUR 120 when submitting the application, EUR 20 when the permit is granted and EUR 20 fee for the collection of police identification data)
Additionally for foreign civil status documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, civil union certificate) depending on the type of document: EUR 3,90, EUR 7,20 or EUR 14,30

The residence permit will be issued in credit card format with photograph and also serves as an ID document. It is recommended to carry it at all times.