Financially independent persons
The residence permit wealthy families use to settle in Austria without local employment — quota-limited, paperwork-heavy, and worth planning a year ahead.
In short
- Formally the settlement permit excluding gainful employment (Niederlassungsbewilligung – ausgenommen Erwerbstätigkeit) — the de facto route for financially independent newcomers.
- A strict annual quota applies: places open in early January and are typically gone within days.
- Income of at least twice the social-insurance reference rates — for 2026: EUR 2,616.78 a month for a single applicant, EUR 4,128.24 for a couple, plus EUR 403.76 per child — assessed case by case.
- Also required: permanent accommodation in Austria, health insurance covering all risks, and German at A1 level before applying.
- No gainful employment in Austria is permitted.
- Spouse and children under 18 can be included — each needs their own quota place.
- Twelve-month permit, renewed for a further twelve months and then for three years once you have two years' settlement and A2 German; permanent residence possible after five years.
Who the permit is for
Austria has no investor visa and no golden visa. What it offers instead is a settlement permit for people who do not need to earn a living here: retirees, investors, entrepreneurs who have sold their businesses, and families living off capital, dividends, rent or pensions. For high-net-worth individuals relocating to Vienna without taking up Austrian employment, this is the standard route — most private-client relocations from outside the EU run through it.
The trade-off is written into the permit's name: gainful employment is excluded. The holder may not take a job in Austria or run a business here. Managing one's own private wealth — rebalancing a portfolio, instructing bankers — is a different matter from working, but the line can blur quickly: sitting on boards, actively directing a foreign company from a Vienna desk, or invoicing consultancy work all sit badly with the permit and can, separately, pull the company itself into the Austrian tax net through its place of management, as explained under foreign income and companies.
Those who do want to work or trade have their own routes — the Red-White-Red Card for employment, the self-employed key worker category for entrepreneurs — compared side by side on the immigration hub.
The income test
Applicants must show fixed and regular monthly income at a level the authorities judge sufficient — the statute sets the floor at twice the social-insurance reference rates (ASVG-Richtsätze), and regular outgoings such as rent, loan instalments and maintenance paid to others are taken into account on top, though a fixed allowance (EUR 386.43 a month in 2026) is disregarded once, so only the excess raises the bar. The assessment is case by case; the figures below are the 2026 baseline, not a promise that the baseline suffices.
| Household | Minimum monthly income (2026) |
|---|---|
| Single applicant | EUR 2,616.78 |
| Married couple / registered partners | EUR 4,128.24 |
| Each child, in addition | EUR 403.76 |
Income means demonstrable, recurring inflows: pensions, dividends and distributions, rental income, annuities from insurance wrappers. Substantial liquid capital supports the file — in practice authorities accept that a large portfolio produces the required income — but the evidence should be organised as income, not merely as balances: bank confirmations, custody statements, tax returns from the country of departure. Applicants comfortably above the floor rarely fail on this criterion; borderline files invite questions.
The quota — and the January rush
The permit is quota-limited. Each year a federal regulation (Niederlassungsverordnung) fixes how many settlement permits of this type each of the nine provinces may issue — a few hundred places nationwide, of which Vienna receives only a share. Demand reliably exceeds supply, so the quota year is effectively decided in its first days: applications lodged when the window opens in early January stand a chance; a file lodged once the year's places are gone is dismissed without examination rather than carried over, and must be lodged again when the next quota year opens.
Two planning consequences follow. First, the calendar is fixed for you: a family deciding in spring to move will normally be applying the following January, with the move itself later that year. Second, the file must be complete and correct on day one — a January application returned for missing documents can forfeit its place. This is why the permit rewards preparation that starts in the preceding autumn: gathering apostilles, sitting the German exam, securing accommodation, arranging insurance.
Because a quota place must exist for each applicant, processing of quota applications can also take considerably longer than for non-quota permits — a point the relocation timeline builds in.
The quota wait is not dead time — it is planning time. The months between the decision to move and the January window are exactly when investments, companies, trusts and estate plans should be restructured, as set out under pre-immigration planning. Once residence begins, the best options are gone.
Requirements and documents
Beyond income, the application must establish four things. Permanent accommodation: a legal right to housing in Austria — an owned flat, a signed lease, or a duly documented right of use. Insurance: health cover valid in Austria and covering all risks; private international policies qualify if comprehensive. Language: German at A1 level of the Common European Framework, evidenced by a certificate from a recognised examination body and obtained before the application. Character: a criminal-record certificate no more than three months old from the country of nationality — and one from any other country where the applicant has lived for more than six months.
The first application is filed in person, as a rule at the Austrian consulate serving the applicant's place of residence; nationals entitled to enter Austria without a visa — American, British, Canadian, Australian, Japanese and most other likely applicants — may instead lodge it in Austria during their lawful visa-free stay, in Vienna by appointment with the immigration authority MA 35. Filing here buys no extra time: if no decision has come by the end of the visa-free stay, the applicant must leave and await it abroad. Biometric data are taken at filing. Civil-status documents (birth and marriage certificates) generally need apostilles or legalisation and certified German translations. Official fees are modest — EUR 218 per application as of 2026 — and immaterial next to the preparation effort. The permit, once granted, is collected in Austria and runs for twelve months; renewals are filed domestically before expiry, with income and insurance shown afresh.
Family applications
A spouse or registered partner and children under 18 can relocate under the same rules, filed together in the same January window — but the quota counts heads, not households: a family of four needs four quota places. Family members aged 14 and over must each show A1 German and are each covered by the income calculation above; children are included in the household figures and, once here, slot into Vienna's school landscape, surveyed under schools and universities.
Children over 18 cannot be included and need a route of their own — study, employment or their own independent means. The general rules for joining relatives are under family reunification.
After arrival — and the years that follow
The first weeks follow the standard sequence — address registration within three days, then banking, insurance and the rest of the first-weeks checklist. The consequential change is fiscal: settling in Austria begins Austrian tax residence and worldwide taxation, on the terms described under tax residence. For this permit's typical holder — someone living off investment income — the difference between a reviewed and an unreviewed move is usually measured in percentage points of the portfolio, not in fees.
The permit is renewed against the same criteria — and against one more: within two years of the first permit the holder must complete Module 1 of the Integration Agreement, an examination covering German at A2 and basic values, and renewal is checked against it. The first renewal again runs twelve months; once two years' continuous settlement and Module 1 are behind you, the permit is issued for three years at a time. After five years of continuous settlement, holders can apply for permanent residence, which requires German at B1 level; after ten years — six in privileged cases — citizenship becomes possible, though Austria generally requires other citizenships to be given up. A holder who later decides to work in Austria does not extend this permit but switches to a working title, such as the Red-White-Red Card.
Questions on this page
When should I apply for the independent-means permit?
In the first days of January. The annual quota opens at the start of the year and the places — a few hundred nationwide — are typically claimed almost immediately. Preparation should begin months earlier, in the preceding autumn.
How much income do I need for the permit?
At least twice the Austrian social-insurance reference rates. For 2026 that means monthly income of EUR 2,616.78 for a single applicant, EUR 4,128.24 for a couple, plus EUR 403.76 per child — and on top of that any regular housing and loan costs, to the extent they exceed a fixed allowance of EUR 386.43 a month. Authorities assess sufficiency case by case and comfortable headroom helps.
Can I work remotely for my foreign company while on this permit?
The permit excludes gainful employment in Austria, and routinely working from Austria — even for a foreign employer or your own foreign company — sits badly with that restriction and can create tax exposure for the company. Take advice on your specific setup before relying on remote work.
Can my spouse and children be included?
Yes — a spouse and children under 18 can apply alongside you, but each family member needs their own quota place and every applicant aged 14 or over must show A1 German. Family applications are filed together in the January window.
What if the quota is already exhausted?
It is dismissed, not parked. If no place is left when the application is lodged or decided, the authority rejects it without examining the merits, and a fresh application has to be filed when the next quota year opens on 1 January. Families who cannot wait sometimes qualify for a non-quota route instead — for instance the Red-White-Red Card where there is an Austrian job offer, or free movement where one spouse is an EU citizen.
Considering a move to Austria?
Tell us where you stand — the country you are leaving, the shape of your family and your assets, and when you plan to move. We advise on the legal and tax consequences of relocating to Austria and coordinate with advisers in the country of departure.
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