Red-White-Red Card for Registered Seasonal Core Staff
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Aufenthaltstitel „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte“ (StammmitarbeiterInnen) as of 2026-08-12[1][11] NAG § 41 Abs. 2 Z 3a names the title; AuslBG § 12d names the category. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Red-White-Red Card for Registered Seasonal Core Staff as of 2026-08-12[6] Translation of the official German designation; the administering portal's English pages do not name this route separately. Marked as a translation, not an official English name. |
| Legal basis | NAG § 41 Abs. 2 Z 3a in conjunction with AuslBG §§ 12d and 20d Abs. 1 Z 6 as of 2026-08-12[1][2][11] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-12[15] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-12[4][5] |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Criminal-record condition | No as of 2026-08-12[7][8] 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[6][11] NAG § 41 Abs. 5: two years, or the contract term plus three months where the contract is shorter (this is an Abs. 2 Z 3a case, inside the shorter-contract rule). migration.gv.at states 24 months. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | matches the contract |
| Renewable | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-08-12[2][6][11] |
Permanent residence and citizenship
Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-08-12[1][6] AuslBG § 12d Z 3: the employer must hold out the prospect of an open-ended employment relationship. |
|---|---|
| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-08-12[1] AuslBG § 12d Z 4: the individual labour-market test is dispensed with. |
| Qualification requirement | none as of 2026-08-12[1][6] No occupational qualification is required. The route's conditions are a work history and a language level: at least seven months' employment as a registered Stammsaisonier under AuslBG § 5 Abs. 6a or 7 in the same economic sector in each of the two preceding calendar years, and German at CEFR A1 evidenced by a diploma or course certificate no older than five years. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-12[2][6] Employer declaration required. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-12[6][11] This is an employment route. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-12[6] Personally at the competent Austrian representation abroad, or with the competent residence authority in Austria after lawful entry and during a lawful stay; the intended employer may also file in Austria. |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value as of 2026-08-12[2][11] |
| Fees | |
| Quota |
|
Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-12[4][14] NAG § 46 Abs. 1 Z 1: family members of a Red-White-Red Card holder are to be granted a „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus“, and migration.gv.at states that titles issued to family members of Red-White-Red Card and EU Blue Card holders are not quota-limited. The family route itself is recorded separately as at-rwr-card-plus-family. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, minor child as of 2026-08-12[4][14] migration.gv.at's definition of family member under the NAG: spouses, registered partners and minor unmarried children including adopted and step-children. Spouses and registered partners must have completed their 21st year at the time of application. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Yes as of 2026-08-12[2] AuslBG § 20d Abs. 1 second sentence: the intended employer may file the application in Austria for the foreign national and, where filed at the same time, for their family members. |
| Family members' work rights | full as of 2026-08-12[4][15] 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
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Verification
| Sources cited | 17 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 17 |
| 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 § 12d — Stammmitarbeiter (two calendar years of registered seasonal employment, German A1, open-ended contract offer)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2023-04-21 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [2] 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 - [3] 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 - [4] 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 - [5] 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 - [6] StammmitarbeiterInnen — Red-White-Red Card for registered seasonal core staff: two-year seasonal-employment history, German A1, permanent contract, 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 - [7] 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 - [8] 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 - [9] 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 - [10] 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 - [11] NAG § 41 — Aufenthaltstitel „Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte“ (version in force from 7 August 2026)
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-07 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [12] 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 - [13] NAG § 45 — Aufenthaltstitel „Daueraufenthalt – EU“
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-12 - [14] 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 - [15] 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 - [16] „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 - [17] 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