Austria’s federal government has given the green light to a package that could radically shorten the time it takes for companies to bring non-EU talent into the country. State Secretary for Cutting Red Tape, Josef Schellhorn (NEOS), told reporters after the 10 December Council of Ministers that the Red-White-Red Card – Austria’s flagship work-and-residence permit for highly skilled and shortage-occupation employees – will be “modernised from top to bottom”.
Under the concept approved in cabinet, applications will move to a fully digital, one-stop-shop platform co-ordinated by the Economic Chambers and the Public Employment Service (AMS). Employers will upload contracts, proof of qualifications and salary data into a single portal; the system will then distribute the file simultaneously to the AMS, the immigration authority and the relevant professional body. The government wants to cut end-to-end processing from today’s three-to-six months to a maximum of eight weeks.
To help employers adapt, VisaHQ’s Austria team (https://www.visahq.com/austria/) can manage Red-White-Red Card submissions, digitise supporting documents and monitor approvals in real time, ensuring assignments stay on schedule even as the government transitions to the new platform.
![Austria Speeds Up Skilled-Worker Immigration: Government Announces Major Red-White-Red Card Reform]()
Vienna also plans to review the labour-market indicators that decide which jobs land on the shortage-occupation list and how many points are awarded for experience. Companies have long argued that the current matrix is too rigid: a DevOps engineer or a green-hydrogen specialist often falls through the cracks because the occupation list still references 2019 job titles. Schellhorn said a rapid-reaction mechanism will allow sectors in acute need – for example, semiconductor manufacturing in Carinthia or alpine hospitality in Tyrol – to request temporary fast-track status.
In a move welcomed by multinationals, adult apprentices trained at foreign subsidiaries of Austrian firms will be able to jump straight into a Red-White-Red Card if the home entity guarantees a full-time contract in Austria. The government will circulate a draft bill for consultation in Q1 2026, with implementation slated for the second half of the year. Until then, HR teams should continue to file under the current rules but begin mapping data flows to integrate with the future portal. Experts advise reviewing salary grids ahead of the annual indexation on 1 January 2026 to ensure new hires will still clear the higher thresholds.
For mobility managers the implications are clear: faster approvals mean shorter project lead-times and less reliance on costly business-visa extensions. However, once the one-stop shop is live, authorities will expect impeccable, digitally verifiable documentation. Companies should therefore audit their internal HR systems now to guarantee they can export employment contracts and pay slips in machine-readable formats when the portal launches.
Under the concept approved in cabinet, applications will move to a fully digital, one-stop-shop platform co-ordinated by the Economic Chambers and the Public Employment Service (AMS). Employers will upload contracts, proof of qualifications and salary data into a single portal; the system will then distribute the file simultaneously to the AMS, the immigration authority and the relevant professional body. The government wants to cut end-to-end processing from today’s three-to-six months to a maximum of eight weeks.
To help employers adapt, VisaHQ’s Austria team (https://www.visahq.com/austria/) can manage Red-White-Red Card submissions, digitise supporting documents and monitor approvals in real time, ensuring assignments stay on schedule even as the government transitions to the new platform.
Vienna also plans to review the labour-market indicators that decide which jobs land on the shortage-occupation list and how many points are awarded for experience. Companies have long argued that the current matrix is too rigid: a DevOps engineer or a green-hydrogen specialist often falls through the cracks because the occupation list still references 2019 job titles. Schellhorn said a rapid-reaction mechanism will allow sectors in acute need – for example, semiconductor manufacturing in Carinthia or alpine hospitality in Tyrol – to request temporary fast-track status.
In a move welcomed by multinationals, adult apprentices trained at foreign subsidiaries of Austrian firms will be able to jump straight into a Red-White-Red Card if the home entity guarantees a full-time contract in Austria. The government will circulate a draft bill for consultation in Q1 2026, with implementation slated for the second half of the year. Until then, HR teams should continue to file under the current rules but begin mapping data flows to integrate with the future portal. Experts advise reviewing salary grids ahead of the annual indexation on 1 January 2026 to ensure new hires will still clear the higher thresholds.
For mobility managers the implications are clear: faster approvals mean shorter project lead-times and less reliance on costly business-visa extensions. However, once the one-stop shop is live, authorities will expect impeccable, digitally verifiable documentation. Companies should therefore audit their internal HR systems now to guarantee they can export employment contracts and pay slips in machine-readable formats when the portal launches.
