Red-White-Red Card plus
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Aufenthaltstitel „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus“ as of 2026-08-12[9][12] NAG § 8 Abs. 1 Z 2 and § 41a name the title. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Red-White-Red Card plus as of 2026-08-12[3][4] Official English name used by the administering portal. |
| Legal basis | NAG § 41a, in particular Abs. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 7a and 7b, in conjunction with AuslBG § 20e as of 2026-08-12[1][9] § 41a is a single title with a dozen qualifying routes into it. This record documents the employment-derived cases; the family-derived case under NAG § 46 is recorded separately as at-rwr-card-plus-family, and the asylum-derived and child-welfare cases in Abs. 3, 8, 9 and 10 are not documented. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-12[12] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-12[2][3] |
|---|---|
| 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[4][8] NAG § 20 Abs. 1: fixed-term residence titles are issued for twelve months unless the Act specifies a longer period, and § 41a specifies none. migration.gv.at states the card is issued for one year. Recorded in months because that is the unit the statute uses. No bound marker: the source frames it as the term, not as a ceiling or a floor. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | fixed |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-12[4][8] migration.gv.at describes the extension procedure and the three-year validity available on extension. |
| Renewal duration | 3 years as of 2026-08-12[4][8] NAG § 20 Abs. 1a: titles under § 8 Abs. 1 Z 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 — the „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus“ is Z 2 — are issued for three years where the holder has fulfilled Module 1 of the integration agreement (§ 9 IntG) and has been lawfully settled in Austria continuously for the preceding two years. |
| Work rights | full as of 2026-08-12[4][12] NAG § 8 Abs. 1 Z 2 and migration.gv.at: fixed-term settlement with unrestricted labour-market access — employed and self-employed activity, not tied to any employer. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
Requirements
| Job offer required | No as of 2026-08-12[1][4][9] The card is granted on the strength of a completed qualifying period or status, not on a job offer, and it is not tied to an employer. |
|---|---|
| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-08-12[1] AuslBG § 20e confines the AMS to confirming the qualifying facts — the § 15 conditions, the 21-of-24-months employment record, or twelve months' full insurance for displaced persons. No labour-market test is provided. |
| Qualification requirement | none as of 2026-08-12[1][9] No occupational qualification is required. Entitlement rests on the prior title and the qualifying period. |
| Employer sponsorship | No as of 2026-08-12[4][9] No employer participates in the procedure; the card is not tied to an employer. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-12[9] Not a job-search instrument. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-12[4] migration.gv.at: visa-free entrants and existing residence-title holders may file with the competent residence authority in Austria; an extension application is filed in Austria, at the earliest three months before the current title expires. |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value as of 2026-08-12[1][9] |
| Fees | |
| Quota |
|
Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-12[2][11] NAG § 46 Abs. 1 Z 1 for holders whose card rests on § 41a Abs. 1, 4, 7a or 7b — quota-free — and § 46 Abs. 1 Z 2 lit. b for every other „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus“ holder, where a quota place is required. Recorded in full on at-rwr-card-plus-family. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, minor child as of 2026-08-12[2][11] 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[2][12] Family members receive a „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus“, which 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.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 14 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 14 |
| 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 § 20e — Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus (the 21-of-24-months employment condition and the six-week AMS deadline) (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] 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 - [4] Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus — qualifying cases, one-year validity, three-year validity on Module 1 plus two years' settlement, 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 - [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 § 41a — Aufenthaltstitel „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus“ (version in force from 7 August 2026)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-07 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [10] NAG § 45 — Aufenthaltstitel „Daueraufenthalt – EU“
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [11] 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 - [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] „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 - [14] 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