Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

MOVING TO AUSTRIA

What makes Austria a difficult country for foreign residents to get started?

Austria generally ranks high in quality of living surveys, but it can be complicated for immigrants who move there. What makes Austria complex for new arrivals and how does it compare to its neighbours?

Published: 21 March 2023 15:01 CET
What makes Austria a difficult country for foreign residents to get started?
Vienna's Stephansdom, a symbol of the Austrian capital. (Photo by Matthew Yong on Unsplash)

Austria is considered one of the best countries in the world to live and work in. It is always placed high on quality of living rankings, has excellent public services and is generally a safe country. 

However, Austria is a challenging place to move to, as a new InterNations survey showed.

Austria ranked 32nd in the Expats Essentials List title “Where do Expats Struggle Most to Get Started”, just behind Brazil, Hungary and Denmark, and ahead of the Philippines, Cyprus and Hong Kong.

The top destinations for dealing with administrations, digital life, housing and language were Bahrain, UAE, Singapore, Estonia, Oman, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kenya and Canada.

The bottom ten were Malta, France, Czechia, Vietnam, Greece, Italy, Kuwait, China, Japan and Austria’s neighbour Germany.

READ ALSO: Reader question: Will Austria follow Spain in introducing a digital nomad visa?

The ranking took into consideration four main criteria. The first was digital life, which includes the availability of administrative services online, ease of obtaining high-speed internet access at home, ease of paying without cash, and unrestricted access to online services such as social media.

It also looked into housing, both affordability of housing and ease of finding a home for expats; administration topics, including ease of dealing with local bureaucracy, ease of opening a local bank account and ease of obtaining a visa. 

READ ALSO: Renting in Austria: How to find a furnished apartment

The fourth factor was language, considering ease of living without speaking the local language and the ease of learning the local language.

Language remains an obstacle

The immigrants interviewed for the InterNations survey found that getting started in the Alpine republic wasn’t easy. Besides its overall ranking of 32nd, it was in the bottom ten in two criteria: cashless payments (45th) and applying for a visa to move (43rd). 

READ ALSO: Why is cash so important to Austrians?

The lack of cashless payment options is particularly disturbing to foreigners, with 14 percent saying they are dissatisfied with it, almost twice as many as worldwide (8 percent). “You can rarely pay by card, and ATMs are hard to find,” said an Irish resident. 

They also struggle with the national language. Austria is a German-speaking country, but the many dialects can make it even more challenging to get around – even if you took German classes.

“The locals speak a dialect that I, as a foreigner, don’t quite understand. This makes me feel excluded sometimes”, said a survey participant from the UK. “I have taken German courses, but people here don’t speak as they do in the courses’, they added.

READ ALSO: ‘Brutal’: What it’s really like to learn German in Austria

Survey participants found it difficult to find their way around Austria without knowing the national language (39 percent), and 52 percent found it difficult to learn (compared to 38 percent worldwide).

On the other hand, the housing search wasn’t an obstacle for immigrants, according to the survey. The majority of respondents (56 percent) found it easy to find a place to live, which is slightly above the global average of 54 percent. They also consider housing affordable (47 percent are satisfied with prices, compared to 39 percent worldwide).

Austria’s administration receives mixed ratings: While opening a bank account is easy (14th), Austria ranks in the bottom ten for visa issuance (43rd): 31 percent of immigrants had difficulties obtaining a visa (vs 24 percent worldwide).

How does Austria compare?

When looking at the DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) region, Austria was right at the middle of the ranking, 32nd, while Switzerland ranked higher (20th), and Germany was the worst country to settle as an immigrant (52nd).

READ ALSO: 11 Austrian life hacks that will make you feel like a local

Switzerland was among the top ten (7th) regarding digital infrastructure and administrative issues, but Austria ranked 29th in the first and 27th in the latter (Germany was 48th and 36th).

Austria took the lead compared to its neighbours when it comes to housing, ranking 25th, ahead of Switzerland (44th) and Germany (47th).

Regarding languages, how well you can live without speaking the national language, or how easy it is to learn it, Switzerland ranked 30th, followed by Austria at 38th, and then Germany in the 49th spot.

READ ALSO: 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

RENTING

Can I get out of a rental contract in Austria?

Have you viewed an apartment in Vienna o elsewhere in Austria and hastily signed a contract? Don't you like the apartment after all? These are your withdrawal rights in Austria.

Published: 23 April 2024 17:24 CEST
Can I get out of a rental contract in Austria?

In Austria, the rental market is highly competitive, with apartments often staying on rental platforms for short periods due to high demand and limited supply. This, coupled with brief apartment visits (sometimes with other prospective tenants) and the pressure to secure a place, can lead to hasty contract signings. 

Understanding your withdrawal rights is essential in such a market.

READ ALSO: Renting in Austria – The key things foreign residents need to know

If you signed a rental contract and then realised you don’t want the place, you might feel stuck in your contract. Austria does have really strict rules on contracts, so that “anyone who signs a rental offer makes a binding declaration that they wish to rent the apartment at a certain rate”, Austria’s Tenants Association says.

The real estate agent will also remind you that you cannot leave your contract, as you signed a contractual agreement (“verbindliches Angebot“, which means a binding offer). But what exactly are your rights then?

It’s all about timing

Basically it’s very tricky and almost impossible to back out after signing a rental contact in Austria.

According to Austria’s Chamber of Labour (AK), Austrian law is on your side – but only in a particular case. 

Under a consumer law that applies to all types of contracts, including rental agreements, you are protected against potential pressure from real estate agents and property owners. If you view an apartment and sign an agreement on the same day, you have the right to withdraw from the contract within the week. Furthermore, if the estate agent fails to inform you of your right to cancel, you can withdraw from the contract within one month.

READ ALSO: Shopping in Austria – What are your consumer rights when purchasing goods?

The Tenants Association is more critical and explains that withdrawal is only possible within the “narrow” limits of the Consumer Protection Act. “If you as a consumer submit your contractual declaration on the same day that you viewed the apartment for the first time, you can withdraw from your contractual declaration in writing within one week.”

If the offer was not signed on the day of the very first viewing, though, there is no right of withdrawal in Austria.

READ ALSO: Tenant or landlord – Who pays which costs in Austria?

If you have the right to do so, the most effective way to withdraw from a rental contract is to do it in writing, preferably by a registered letter, as explained by the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK). This not only provides a clear record of your intent but also empowers you to navigate the legal aspects of the process with confidence. 

If you signed the offer after the viewing, you don’t have the right to withdraw from the contract you signed. In that case, you could ask for a mutual agreement termination, seeking an amicable termination option with the landlord. Otherwise, you’d be bound by the contract, which in Austria usually means you’d have to stay for one year in the apartment and give three months’ notice before leaving.

SHOW COMMENTS