Settlement Permit – Researcher
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | „Niederlassungsbewilligung – Forscher“ as of 2026-08-12[7][10] NAG § 8 Abs. 1 Z 11 and § 43c name the title. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Settlement Permit – Researcher as of 2026-08-12[2][3] Official English name used by the administering portal, which lists the Settlement permit Researcher among the titles exempt from the accommodation condition. |
| Legal basis | NAG § 43c in conjunction with NAG § 43d (Aufnahmevereinbarung), NAG § 71 Abs. 1 (research institution) and AuslBG § 1 Abs. 2 lit. h as of 2026-08-12[7] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-12[10] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-12[1][2] |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Criminal-record condition | No as of 2026-08-12[3][4] 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 | up to 2 years as of 2026-08-12[7] NAG § 43c Abs. 5: issued for two years unless the hosting agreement is shorter, in which case for the agreement's term plus three months. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | matches the contract |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-12[7] NAG § 43c Abs. 2 contemplates a further grant of the same title after the research activity ends. |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-08-12[7][10] |
Permanent residence and citizenship
Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-08-12[7] NAG § 43c Abs. 1 Z 3: a hosting agreement (Aufnahmevereinbarung) concluded with a research institution must be evidenced. |
|---|---|
| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-08-12[7] The activity falls outside the AuslBG's material scope (§ 1 Abs. 2 lit. h); the regional AMS office is consulted only where the authority has reasoned doubts that the activity is of that kind. |
| Qualification requirement | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-12[7] The research institution is party to the hosting agreement on which the title rests. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-12[7] Not itself a job-search route; the twelve-month job-search extension in Abs. 2 is a follow-on to a completed research activity and is recorded under renewal_requirements. |
Process
| Where to apply from | Not established from a qualifying source |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value as of 2026-08-12[7] |
| Fees | |
| Quota |
Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-12[1][9] NAG § 46 Abs. 1 Z 1 names the „Niederlassungsbewilligung – Forscher“ among the quota-free sponsor titles, so family members receive a „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus“; § 46 Abs. 6 Z 2 requires the decision within eight weeks and ties the card's validity to the sponsor's. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, minor child as of 2026-08-12[1][9] Spouses and registered partners aged 21 or over, and minor unmarried children including adopted and step-children. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Family members' work rights | full as of 2026-08-12[1][10] NAG § 8 Abs. 1 Z 2: the „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus“ carries unrestricted labour-market access. |
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.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
Profile benefits
- A 30-minute call with our consultant, who reads your profile first.
- An offer for legal support built around your case, covering the whole process.
Verification
| Sources cited | 12 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 12 |
| 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] 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 - [2] 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 - [3] 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 - [4] 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 - [5] 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 - [6] 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 - [7] NAG § 43c — „Niederlassungsbewilligung – Forscher“
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2018-09-01 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [8] NAG § 45 — Aufenthaltstitel „Daueraufenthalt – EU“
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [9] NAG § 46 — Bestimmungen über die Familienzusammenführung (version in force from 7 August 2026)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-07 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [10] 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 - [11] „Blaue Karte EU“ – Antrag — EU Blue Card application: conditions, validity, employer change, eight-week statutory decision period, EUR 218 application fee
oesterreich.gv.at — Austrian federal digital-services portal (content responsibility: Federal Ministry of the Interior) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-07 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [12] Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz 1985 (StbG) § 10 — Verleihung (ten years' lawful residence, five of them settled; renunciation rule; constitutional discretionary limb in Abs. 6)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12