Red-White-Red Card 2026: pay thresholds, points and the EU Blue Card alternative

A candidate holding an EU or EEA passport can sign an Austrian contract without any work permit. They register their residence and can start like any local hire. Every other nationality requires a residence title that includes the right to work, in place before day one, and for skilled employees that usually means one of two cards: the Rot-Weiß-Rot-Karte (Red-White-Red Card, or RWR) or the EU Blue Card.

This matters for the hiring sequence, not only for the candidate. Social insurance registration has to precede the first working day, and the job cannot begin until the right to work exists. So the permit question comes first. It decides when the job can begin, which salary is acceptable and, in some cases, whether the role can be filled by that person at all.

Candidates already living in Austria are not automatically exempt. A non-EU spouse, a student or someone on a different residence title may or may not have the right to take this particular job, and the answer depends on the title they hold. Ask to see it early, and do not assume that a local address means a local work right.

US and UK nationals are in the same position as every other non-EU national. For British candidates in particular, this was a change after Brexit; our guide for UK companies employing in Austria covers that background, and the guide for US companies covers the American side.

The Red-White-Red Card is a combined residence and work permit tied to a specific employer. It is valid for 24 months. The application goes to the residence authority, which forwards it to the AMS, the public employment service, to check that the criteria for the chosen route are met. The Austrian employer is allowed to lodge the application itself, inside the country, for the applicant, which keeps it close to the file from the start.

Because the card names the employer, the job offer is central to the file. What the application states about duties, pay and working time has to match the signed contract, and the card cannot simply be carried over to a different employer. That is the main practical difference from a local hire: the employment and the right to stay are linked.

The AMS check is a test of the route’s criteria, not a general review of the business. It looks at whether the candidate reaches the required points, whether the salary meets the floor for that route and, where relevant, the collective agreement minimum. A complete, consistent file is the best way to avoid questions coming back.

For the key-worker route, the official migration portal lists an application fee of €218. The details of each category, and the forms, are on migration.gv.at.

The card is not one permit but a family of routes, each with its own test. Three are points-based:

• Very highly qualified workers need 70 of a possible 100 points.
• Skilled workers in shortage occupations need 55 of 90 points, and their pay cannot fall below what the relevant collective agreement sets for that job.
• Other key workers need 55 of 90 points and a minimum gross salary of €3,465 a month in 2026, plus special payments, whatever their age.

Alongside those, the card covers graduates of Austrian universities, self-employed key workers and start-up founders, each on separate criteria. For an employer hiring an experienced professional into a salaried job, the realistic choices are usually the shortage-occupation route, if the role is on the list, or the other key workers route.

The points are awarded according to tables published on the migration portal for each route. We do not reproduce them here because they differ from one route to the next. The practical step is to score the candidate against the right table before an offer is signed, so that a shortfall shows up while there is still time to adjust the role or the salary.

The EU Blue Card is the second main route for highly skilled hires. It requires a university course lasting three years or more, or comparable professional experience in information and communication technology, and a job offer that matches that qualification. In 2026 the salary must be at least €55,678 gross a year, with special payments included. The official criteria are on the Blue Card page of the migration portal.

Like the RWR card, the Blue Card is initially valid for 24 months. Its main advantage comes later: after 12 months the holder can change employer freely. For a candidate who values flexibility, that can make the Blue Card more attractive even when they would also qualify for an RWR card.

The two routes therefore suit different profiles, and the choice is worth making deliberately rather than by habit. A candidate who meets both sets of criteria can pick, and the decision affects how quickly they can change jobs later, which some candidates weigh as heavily as the salary itself. A degree-holding software engineer on a salary well above €55,678 fits the Blue Card naturally. An experienced technician without a degree, or a graduate whose salary sits between the two floors, may be better served by the RWR key-worker route, provided the points add up.

A worked example helps. A candidate offered €4,000 gross a month, paid 14 times, earns €56,000 a year. That clears the key-worker floor of €3,465 per instalment and, just, the Blue Card floor of €55,678. At €3,900 a month the annual figure is €54,600, which is still well above the key-worker floor but below the Blue Card threshold. A small difference in the offer can change which routes are open.

The two thresholds are stated differently, and comparing them without conversion leads to mistakes. The key-worker floor of €3,465 is a monthly figure, with special payments on top. Austrian pay normally comes in 14 instalments, so a salary that meets the floor in every instalment is at least €48,510 a year. The Blue Card floor of €55,678 is an annual figure that already includes the special payments.

Put side by side, the Blue Card asks for about €7,000 a year more than the key-worker route. Why Austrians are paid fourteen times a year explains why Austrian pay is split this way and how the two extra payments are taxed.

A collective agreement minimum can sit below both floors. Under the 2026 IT agreement, a newly placed ST1 professional can be paid €3,267 per instalment, or €45,738 over 14 payments. That is a lawful salary for an EU national, but too low for the key-worker route, which needs at least €3,465 per instalment. When a permit is involved, the salary has to clear the highest of the applicable floors, not only the collective agreement.

There is also a general income requirement for residence titles, set at €1,308.39 a month for a single person in 2026. Any salary that meets either card threshold clears it comfortably.

The first card is a starting point, not the end of the process. An RWR card holder who has been employed for at least 21 of the last 24 months can move to the Rot-Weiß-Rot-Karte plus, which gives free access to the Austrian labour market. From then on, the person is no longer tied to one employer, and a change of job does not need a fresh labour-market check.

For Blue Card holders, the freedom to change employer comes after 12 months, as described above. In both cases, the employee’s long-term position improves with time, and an employer who wants to retain the person should keep the renewal dates in the HR calendar well ahead of expiry.

Throughout, the ordinary Austrian employment rules apply in full. A card holder receives the same contract, the same collective agreement pay, the 14 salary payments, 25 working days of annual leave and the same protection against dismissal as any other employee. Nothing about the permit changes the probation limit of one month or the statutory notice periods.

One point needs particular care. Because the first card is tied to the employment, ending the job during the card’s life can affect the employee’s residence as well as their income. That is a reason to take the one-month probation seriously and to settle any doubts about fit early, rather than months later.

With Employer of Record Austria, we are the Austrian employer named in the contract, so the card question is part of our first conversation with you. Because both cards are employer-specific, whether and how a card can be obtained for a particular role and candidate has to be checked case by case, and we look at it with you while the offer is still a draft.

A sensible order for a non-EU hire looks like this:

• confirm the candidate’s nationality and whether they already hold an Austrian residence title;
• choose the likely route and score the candidate against its criteria;
• set the salary so that it clears the card floor, measured in the right unit, and the collective agreement minimum;
• prepare the contract and the application together, so that the two say the same thing;
• fix the start date only once the card has been issued, then register the employee before the first day of work.

Leave a margin in the start date for the authorities’ processing time, and keep the candidate informed while the file is open. A candidate who is resigning from a job abroad will want to know when to hand in notice, and the honest answer is: once the card has been issued, not when the application is filed. The steps that follow the card, through to the first payslip, are listed in our onboarding sequence for EOR hires, and the cost breakdown for an Austrian employee shows what a salary at these levels costs the employer.