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Can I go on holiday while receiving unemployment benefits in Austria?

Everybody needs a holiday, but if you're receiving unemployment benefits in Austria, there are certain rules you need to follow to avoid being fined or having your benefits stopped.

Published: 19 July 2023 12:33 CEST
Updated: 15 January 2024 12:26 CET
A man waits at a boarding gate.
A man waits at a boarding gate. Photo: JESHOOTS.com/Unsplash

What is unemployment benefit in Austria?

In Austria, unemployment benefit – or Arbeitslosengeld (literally ‘unemployment money’) – is available for people who lose their job and who are willing to take up work for at least 20 hours per week. In order to claim unemployment benefits, you have to register with the Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS).

A secondary form of unemployment benefit – called Notstandshilfe (emergency help) – is also available once the claim for Arbeitslosengeld has expired. It can be drawn for an unlimited period of time but is granted for a maximum of 52 weeks at a time, after which recipients have to submit a new application.

READ ALSO: Unemployment benefits in Austria: Who is eligible and how much can you get?

In principle, the basic amount of emergency unemployment assistance is 92 per cent of the previously received unemployment benefit.

Can I go on holiday while receiving unemployment benefits?

If you are receiving either type of unemployment benefit, there are strict rules that apply to taking holidays.

If you decide to take a trip within Austria, you will continue to receive unemployment benefits, but you still have to attend any scheduled appointments with the AMS.

If you want to take a trip outside of Austria, however, you have to inform the AMS about the time period you will be away and your benefit payments will be temporarily suspended for the duration of the vacation, as the Unemployment Insurance Act states that you must be within the country to receive benefits.

READ ALSO: Five lesser-known tourist spots in Austria that you should visit

You can inform the AMS by telephone, email, letter or also through your online eAMS account. 

In an interview with ‘Heute’ AMS CEO Johannes Kopf confirmed the rules around holidaying while receiving unemployment benefits in Austria.

When asked if AMS customers can go to the seaside in the summer, the labour market expert said: “Yes, they can. However, they must inform AMS and unregister during the vacation period.”

“Since we don’t have a sea, they are allowed to go to Lake Neusiedl, for example, but not to the sea. They can, of course, inform about their vacation, but they won’t receive unemployment benefits during that time.”

After returning from an overseas vacation, it is crucial to personally inform the AMS that you are back in the country, otherwise, they cannot resume the benefit payments. 

How long can you be away from home?

If your trip abroad lasts more than 62 days, simply reporting back to the AMS is not enough to restart benefits payments. In that case, you will need to submit a new application.

If you are going to be away from home, but still in Austria for a longer period of time, you should also inform the AMS.  The employment agency can agree to a period of absence for up to 6 weeks at a time, but you will only receive unemployment benefits until the end of the 3rd week.

If you are away from home for longer than 6 weeks, you will not receive unemployment benefits from the first day of the trip.

What happens if I go on holiday abroad and don’t register?

It’s definitely not advisable as, if you’re caught, you can be made to pay back your benefits and hit with a hefty fine.

In 2021, Austrian media reported on a case of numerous unemployment benefits recipients being stopped by police at the Austrian border, who were then made to repay some of the benefits they had received.

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TRAVEL NEWS

How do the EU’s new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

As European travellers prepare for the introduction of enhanced passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System (EES), many readers have asked us what this means for the '90-day rule' for non-EU citizens.

Published: 1 May 2024 07:18 CEST
How do the EU's new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

From the start date to the situation for dual nationals and non-EU residents living in the EU, it’s fair to say that readers of The Local have a lot of questions about the EU’s new biometric passport check system known as EES.

You can find our full Q&A on how the new system will work HERE, or leave us your questions HERE.

And one of the most commonly-asked questions was what the new system changes with regards to the 90-day rule – the rule that allows citizens of certain non-EU countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without needing a visa.

And the short answer is – nothing. The key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any rules on immigration, visas etc.

Therefore the 90-day rule continues as it is – but what EES does change is the enforcement of the rule.

90 days 

The 90-day rule applies to citizens of a select group of non-EU countries;

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

Citizens of these countries can spend up to 90 days in every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone without needing a visa or residency permit.

People who are citizens of neither the EU/Schengen zone nor the above listed countries need a visa even for short trips into the EU – eg an Indian or Chinese tourist coming for a two-week holiday would require a visa. 

In total, beneficiaries of the 90-day rule can spend up to six months in the EU, but not all in one go. They must limit their visits so that in any 180-day (six month) period they have spent less than 90 days (three months) in the Bloc.

READ ALSO How does the 90-day rule work?

The 90 days are calculated according to a rolling calendar so that at any point in the year you must be able to count backwards to the last 180 days, and show that you have spent less than 90 of them in the EU/Schengen zone.

You can find full details on how to count your days HERE.

If you wish to spend more than 90 days at a time you will have to leave the EU and apply for a visa for a longer stay. Applications must be done from your home country, or via the consulate of your home country if you are living abroad.

Under EES 90-day rule beneficiaries will still be able to travel visa free (although ETIAS will introduce extra changes, more on that below).

EES does not change either the rule or how the days are calculated, but what it does change is the enforcement.

Enforcement

One of the stated aims of the new system is to tighten up enforcement of ‘over-stayers’ – that is people who have either overstayed the time allowed on their visa or over-stayed their visa-free 90 day period.

At present border officials keep track of your time within the Bloc via manually stamping passports with the date of each entry and exit to the Bloc. These stamps can then be examined and the days counted up to ensure that you have not over-stayed.

The system works up to a point – stamps are frequently not checked, sometimes border guards incorrectly stamp a passport or forget to stamp it as you leave the EU, and the stamps themselves are not always easy to read.

What EES does is computerise this, so that each time your passport is scanned as you enter or leave the EU/Schengen zone, the number of days you have spent in the Bloc is automatically tallied – and over-stayers will be flagged.

For people who stick to the limits the system should – if it works correctly – actually be better, as it will replace the sometimes haphazard manual stamping system.

But it will make it virtually impossible to over-stay your 90-day limit without being detected.

The penalties for overstaying remain as they are now – a fine, a warning or a ban on re-entering the EU for a specified period. The penalties are at the discretion of each EU member state and will vary depending on your personal circumstances (eg how long you over-stayed for and whether you were working or claiming benefits during that time).

ETIAS 

It’s worth mentioning ETIAS at this point, even though it is a completely separate system to EES, because it will have a bigger impact on travel for many people.

ETIAS is a different EU rule change, due to be introduced some time after EES has gone live (probably in 2025, but the timetable for ETIAS is still somewhat unclear).

It will have a big impact on beneficiaries of the 90-day rule, effectively ending the days of paperwork-free travel for them.

Under ETIAS, beneficiaries of the 90-rule will need to apply online for a visa waiver before they travel. Technically this is a visa waiver rather than a visa, but it still spells the end of an era when 90-day beneficiaries can travel without doing any kind of immigration paperwork.

If you have travelled to the US in recent years you will find the ETIAS system very similar to the ESTA visa waiver – you apply online in advance, fill in a form and answer some questions and are sent your visa waiver within a couple of days.

ETIAS will cost €7 (with an exemption for under 18s and over 70s) and will last for three years.

Find full details HERE. 

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