Residence Permit – Student
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Aufenthaltsbewilligung als Student as of 2026-08-12[10][12] NAG § 64 and § 8 Abs. 1 Z 12 name the permission. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Residence Permit – Student as of 2026-08-12[5][13] Official English usage of the administering portal and of oesterreich.gv.at, which render the title as „Aufenthaltsbewilligung – Student“. |
| Legal basis | NAG § 64, with NAG § 20 Abs. 1 for validity and NAG § 45 Abs. 2 for the effect on permanent residence as of 2026-08-12[8][10][13] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-12[12] An Aufenthaltsbewilligung under NAG § 8 Abs. 1 Z 12 — a temporary residence permission granted without an intention to settle, which is a materially different instrument from the settlement titles in this record even though the vocabulary calls both residence_permit. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-12[2][4] |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Criminal-record condition | No as of 2026-08-12[5][6] Austrian residence law imposes no clean-criminal-record condition as such. NAG § 11 Abs. 1 lists the mandatory grounds of refusal and none of them is a conviction in general: the only conviction-based ground is Z 6, a final penalty in the last twelve months for circumventing border control or unlawful entry. A criminal record can still defeat an application through the public-interest test in NAG § 11 Abs. 2 Z 1, which is why migration.gv.at records that many authorities ask for a police-record extract not older than three months with a first application. So the answer here is "no" in a narrow sense: a clean record is not a condition of this permit, but a conviction can still cost an applicant the permit. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | 12 months as of 2026-08-12[8][13] NAG § 20 Abs. 1 read with oesterreich.gv.at: one year. NAG § 64 Abs. 6 requires two years instead where the student takes part in a Union or multilateral mobility programme or is covered by an agreement between two or more higher-education institutions. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | fixed |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-12[10][13] NAG § 64 Abs. 2 governs extension and conditions it on evidence of study progress. |
| Work rights | hours capped as of 2026-08-12[5][10] NAG § 64 Abs. 3 refers work rights to the AuslBG, and the activity must not impair study as the exclusive purpose of residence. migration.gv.at: a student needs a Beschäftigungsbewilligung, which the employer applies for, and it is available for up to 20 hours a week without a labour-market test — including for marginal employment. Recorded hours_capped for the 20-hour ceiling; the separate authorisation requirement is the second half of the rule and the field holds one value. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
Requirements
| Enrolment status required | admitted as of 2026-08-12[5][10] migration.gv.at requires a written confirmation of admission (Aufnahmebestätigung) as an ordinary or extraordinary student. NAG § 64 Abs. 1 Z 2 to 7 set out which programmes qualify: an ordinary degree programme at a university, university of applied sciences, private university or university college of teacher education; an extraordinary university course of at least 40 ECTS that is not purely language teaching; a preparatory course for a prescribed supplementary examination; an equivalence programme; certain single courses after a preparatory course; and the professional training legally required after a degree. |
|---|---|
| Means requirement | EUR 722.58 per month as of 2026-08-12[5] |
| Work-hours cap | 20 as of 2026-08-12[5] migration.gv.at: a Beschäftigungsbewilligung for up to 20 hours a week is available without a labour-market test. |
| Post-study route exists | Yes as of 2026-08-12[3][10] NAG § 64 Abs. 4: a one-off twelve-month extension for job search or business founding after successful completion. |
| Post-study permit duration | 12 months as of 2026-08-12[3][10] NAG § 64 Abs. 4 read with NAG § 20 Abs. 1. |
| Post-study income requirement | Not established from a qualifying source NAG § 64 Abs. 4 requires the general conditions of the first Part other than the accommodation requirement to continue to be met, which imports the § 11 Abs. 2 Z 4 means test, but no figure specific to the job-search extension was found. migration.gv.at records that a Haftungserklärung may be given for this extension. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-12[5][13] First applications are filed at the competent Austrian representation abroad; persons entitled to enter visa-free may file in Austria, and migration.gv.at names the „Aufenthaltsbewilligung – Student“ among the permissions that may be applied for in Austria after lawful entry and during a lawful stay. |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Fees | |
| Quota |
|
Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-12[5][11] NAG § 69 Abs. 1: family members of a holder of an Aufenthaltsbewilligung may be granted a derived Aufenthaltsbewilligung, and § 69 Abs. 2's list of excluded sponsor permissions does not include students. Recorded in full as at-aufenthaltsbewilligung-familiengemeinschaft. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, minor child as of 2026-08-12[5][11] migration.gv.at: spouses and registered partners who have completed their 21st year, and unmarried minor children including adopted and step-children. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Family members' work rights | authorisation required as of 2026-08-12[1] AuslBG § 20d Abs. 9: where the „Aufenthaltsbewilligung – Familiengemeinschaft“ is to grant labour-market access, the admission procedure applies and the regional AMS office checks the § 4 Abs. 1 conditions other than Z 1. Access is therefore conditional on a separate permission rather than automatic. |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 13 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 13 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-08-12 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-12 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-17 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] AuslBG § 20d — Zulassungsverfahren for the Red-White-Red Card, EU Blue Card, Niederlassungsbewilligung – Künstler and Grenzgänger permission, including the four-week AMS deadline and the six-month post-unemployment job-search period (version in force from 7 August 2026)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-07 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [2] Familienzusammenführung — family reunification: definition of family member, which title each sponsor category yields, the quota rule, 'Deutsch vor Zuzug' A1 requirement, 2026 equalisation supplement reference rates, fees
migration.gv.at — joint portal of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection and the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 · Archived copy - [3] StudienabsolventInnen — twelve-month job-search/business-founding extension of the Student residence permission and the Red-White-Red Card for graduates of Austrian higher education
migration.gv.at — joint portal of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection and the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 · Archived copy - [4] Permanent immigration — Red-White-Red Card groups and general requirements for issuing residence permits (incl. the equalisation supplement reference rate from 1 January 2026)
migration.gv.at — joint portal of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection and the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [5] Temporärer Aufenthalt — the Aufenthaltsbewilligung (temporary residence permission) catalogue: general conditions, 2026 equalisation supplement reference rates including the reduced rates for pupils and students, labour-market access for pupils and students
migration.gv.at — joint portal of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection and the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 · Archived copy - [6] NAG § 11 — Allgemeine Voraussetzungen für einen Aufenthaltstitel (incl. Abs. 5: subsistence measured against the § 293 ASVG reference rates)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [7] NAG § 13 — Niederlassungsverordnung (the annual quota ordinance and the exhaustive list of quota-bound residence titles)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [8] NAG § 20 — Gültigkeitsdauer von Aufenthaltstiteln (12-month default, three-year issue after Module 1, five-year long-term-resident document, EEA absence rule)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [9] NAG § 45 — Aufenthaltstitel „Daueraufenthalt – EU“
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [10] NAG § 64 — Aufenthaltsbewilligung als Student (version in force from 7 August 2026)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-07 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [11] NAG § 69 — Aufenthaltsbewilligung Familiengemeinschaft
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-12-01 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [12] Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz (NAG) § 8 — Arten und Form der Aufenthaltstitel (consolidated federal law, version in force on the access date)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-07 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [13] „Aufenthaltsbewilligung – Student“ – Antrag — student residence permission: one-year validity (two years on a Union mobility programme), post-study extension, EUR 218 application fee
oesterreich.gv.at — Austrian federal digital-services portal (content responsibility: Federal Ministry of the Interior) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-03 · Accessed 2026-08-12 · Archived copy