Austria is opening a brand-new immigration channel for people who live just across the border but work in the country on a daily or weekly basis. From 1 December 2025, eligible **“frontier workers”** (Grenzgänger) may file for the dedicated Frontier-Worker Permit; approvals will allow the holder to keep their main residence in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary or Slovenia while taking up **dependent employment** in an adjacent Austrian district. The scheme plugs a long-standing gap in Austrian law: EU citizens already enjoy free movement, but third-country nationals who settled in neighbouring EU states previously had no streamlined path to cross-border commuting.
The permit is tightly framed. Applicants must (1) hold **permanent residence and unrestricted labour-market access** in their country of residence; (2) commute to an Austrian work site located in a district that directly borders that country; (3) pass a labour-market test issued by Austria’s Public Employment Service (AMS) confirming that **no suitable local candidate is available**; and (4) re-enter Austria regularly for work. Family members are *not* granted derivative status and must obtain a separate residence title if they wish to join.
![Austria to Launch Frontier-Worker Permit on 1 December]()
For employers, the new route promises quicker staffing of hard-to-fill roles in border plants and laboratories. Multinationals with mirrored production lines on both sides of the frontier—particularly in precision manufacturing and life-sciences—expect to move specialists back and forth without the expense of full relocation packages. Human-resources teams, however, must still factor in the AMS labour-market test, which can block a case unless detailed evidence of recruitment efforts is produced. Experts advise companies to line up vacancy adverts, collective-agreement salary tables and proof of skills shortages before filing.
Worker advocates welcome the option but warn that strict quotas (the government foresees **about 250 approvals in the pilot year**) and the case-by-case AMS scrutiny could create backlogs. They will monitor whether salary levels match those of resident employees and whether the commuter model sets precedents for other EU countries facing similar regional labour imbalances.
In the longer term, the permit could recalibrate talent flows around Austria’s eastern and southern borders. If the pilot proves successful, officials hint that the scheme might be expanded to cover other neighbouring states or occupations—though any enlargement would again be tied to AMS assessments and collective-bargaining minima. Companies should therefore treat the launch phase as a learning curve: early adopters will shape administrative practice and influence whether the programme becomes a permanent feature of Austria’s immigration landscape.
The permit is tightly framed. Applicants must (1) hold **permanent residence and unrestricted labour-market access** in their country of residence; (2) commute to an Austrian work site located in a district that directly borders that country; (3) pass a labour-market test issued by Austria’s Public Employment Service (AMS) confirming that **no suitable local candidate is available**; and (4) re-enter Austria regularly for work. Family members are *not* granted derivative status and must obtain a separate residence title if they wish to join.
For employers, the new route promises quicker staffing of hard-to-fill roles in border plants and laboratories. Multinationals with mirrored production lines on both sides of the frontier—particularly in precision manufacturing and life-sciences—expect to move specialists back and forth without the expense of full relocation packages. Human-resources teams, however, must still factor in the AMS labour-market test, which can block a case unless detailed evidence of recruitment efforts is produced. Experts advise companies to line up vacancy adverts, collective-agreement salary tables and proof of skills shortages before filing.
Worker advocates welcome the option but warn that strict quotas (the government foresees **about 250 approvals in the pilot year**) and the case-by-case AMS scrutiny could create backlogs. They will monitor whether salary levels match those of resident employees and whether the commuter model sets precedents for other EU countries facing similar regional labour imbalances.
In the longer term, the permit could recalibrate talent flows around Austria’s eastern and southern borders. If the pilot proves successful, officials hint that the scheme might be expanded to cover other neighbouring states or occupations—though any enlargement would again be tied to AMS assessments and collective-bargaining minima. Companies should therefore treat the launch phase as a learning curve: early adopters will shape administrative practice and influence whether the programme becomes a permanent feature of Austria’s immigration landscape.
