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RESIDENCY PERMITS

Will my Austrian residence permit be valid after I retire?

If you have a residence permit for Austria to work, there’s a good chance you’ll have to apply for another type of visa if you want to stay here to retire.

Published: 2 November 2023 12:07 CET
Updated: 22 February 2024 12:48 CET
Will my Austrian residence permit be valid after I retire?
You'll need a different kind of residence solution other than your work permit if you want to retire in Austria. Image by Coombesy from Pixabay

If you’re approaching retirement age in Austria and think you might want to stay, you might have a tough bureaucratic decision to make If you’re a non-EU national.

That’s because most residence permits issued in Austria are given out for very specific purposes, and limit what you’re able to do on them.

In a work permit’s case, once the job that’s linked to your residence permit ends, you typically have to quickly find another one that both satisfies a minimum salary threshold and is linked to the field that you have work experience and training in. Otherwise, you’ll usually have to leave Austria.

Likewise, if you’re in Austria on a temporary residence permit and you retire, you’re not doing the job you received a residence permit for and will thus have to leave Austria – unless you apply for a different permit or status that will allow you to stay. Your eligibility to stay in Austria won’t simply carry over from your work – or other type of permit – into retirement.

The good news is there’s ways you can stay. Although there may be some other ways of staying – for example if you’re married to an Austrian or other EU national – in the vast majority of cases, you can solve this issue in one of three main ways.

READ ALSO: Five reasons to retire in Austria

Solution one – a retirement visa

You can apply to settle in Austria for your retirement on a special residence permit typically called a “settlement permit – gainful employment excluded”.

As the name suggests, you won’t be able to work anymore on this visa. It is, however, the most popular residence permit in Austria for non-EU retirees.

To get it, you’ll have to prove that you can support yourself in Austria during your retirement. An easy way to do this is to prove your entitlement to receive pension payments – which you may already be eligible for depending on how long you’ve worked in Austria and whether countries you’ve previously worked in have social security agreements with Austria. Passive income from investments or letting out a property you own – to use two examples – would also qualify you.

The beautiful Tirolean countryside, with the lights of a village shining bright. Photo by Matthias Betz on Unsplash

Austria has plenty to offer a prospective retiree. Photo by Matthias Betz on Unsplash

You’ll also need to prove that you have health insurance and a residence large enough for you and your family, as well as typically A1 German – the most basic level. However, if you’re living in Austria already, these shouldn’t be big problems.

Although not being able to work on this permit is a given, there are still two major drawbacks to this visa. For one, it’s only valid for a year at a time – leaving you having to reapply. The other downside is that a limited number of these permits are given out in Austria each year, leaving open the possibility that you won’t be granted one simply because there’s too many requests for one.

That’s why if you live in Austria already, you may want to think about one of the other solutions.

COMPARED: How to get a visa to settle in either Germany or Austria for retirement

Solution two – permanent residence

An elegant solution to avoiding the uncertainly of the retirement visa is to apply for permanent residence in Austria.

If you already hold permanent residence in Austria before you retire, it will remain valid after you retire.

It also gives you unrestricted access to the Austrian labour market, such that you can apply for jobs that aren’t necessarily associated with your previous training or work experience. You won’t need to satisfy a minimum salary threshold and you won’t need to pass a labour market test to apply for work anymore.

If you’re eligible for permanent residence – or you’re close – it may be better to simply apply before you retire, to guarantee your right to stay in Austria afterward. You can also apply for permanent residence if you’re on a retirement permit – provided you’ve been in Austria for the requisite five years.

Permanent residence gives you a lot more rights than a retirement visa and avoids a lot of bureaucracy and uncertainty in the future – so it’s probably your best bet if you’re eligible or become eligible. You can even leave Austria for up to five years and not lose your rights.

It does, however, require you to demonstrate that you have German skills of at least a B1 level.

EXPLAINED: Do you pension contributions abroad count in Austria?

Solution three – citizenship

Although permanent residence should take care of most of your worries about your right to settle in Austria during retirement, you can always also go for citizenship – if you’re eligible.

Similar to permanent residence, you’ll need B1 German. However, you also typically need to be resident in Austria for 10 years and be willing to give up your other citizenship – unless you’ve discovered a route through descent or restoration of citizenship by being descended from victims of the Nazis.

If you go for citizenship, you can vote in elections and can leave Austria for an unlimited period of time and always maintain the right to return.

READ ALSO: What’s the difference between permanent residency and citizenship in Austria?

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EU

How would a ‘youth mobility scheme’ between the UK and EU really work?

The EU and the UK could enter into a 'youth mobility' scheme allowing young people to move countries to work, study and live. Here's what we know about the proposal.

Published: 18 April 2024 17:09 CEST
How would a 'youth mobility scheme' between the UK and EU really work?

Across the 27 countries of the EU, people of all ages can move countries to work, study, spend a long visit or chase the possibility of love – and all this is possible thanks to EU freedom of movement.

That freedom no longer extends to the UK. As a result of Brexit, a UK national who wants to move to an EU country, or an EU citizen who wants to move to the UK, will need a visa in order to do so.

However, a new ‘mobility scheme’ could re-create some elements of freedom of movement – if the EU and UK can come to an agreement. The signs of that are not good, with the current UK government rejecting the proposal before it had even been formally offered, but here’s what we know about the proposal.

Who would benefit?

First things first, it’s only for the youngsters, older people will have to continue with the time-consuming and often expensive process of getting a visa for study, work or visiting.

The Commission’s proposal is for a scheme that covers people aged 18 to 30. 

Their reasoning is: “The withdrawal of the UK from the EU has resulted in decreased mobility between the EU and the UK. This situation has particularly affected the opportunities for young people to experience life on the other side of the Channel and to benefit from youth, cultural, educational, research and training exchanges.

“The proposal seeks to address in an innovative way the main barriers to mobility for young people experienced today and create a right for young people to travel from the EU to the UK and vice-versa more easily and for a longer period of time.”

How would it work?

The proposal is to allow extended stays – for young people to be able to spend up to four years in the EU or UK – under a special type of visa or residency permit. It does not, therefore, replicate the paperwork-free travel of the pre-Brexit era.

The Commission states that travel should not be ‘purpose bound’ to allow young people to undertake a variety of activities while they are abroad.

Under the visa system, people must travel to a country for a specific purpose which has been arranged before they leave – ie in order to study they need a student visa which requires proof of enrolment on a course, or if they intend to work they need a working visa which often requires sponsorship from an employer.

The proposal would allow young people to spend their time in a variety of ways – perhaps some time working, a period of study and then some time travelling or just relaxing.

It would also not be subject to national or Bloc-wide quotas.

It seems that some kind of visa or residency permit would still be required – but it would be issued for up to four years and could be used for a variety of activities.

Fees for this should not be “excessive” – and the UK’s health surcharge would not apply to people travelling under this scheme.

Are there conditions?

Other than the age qualification, the proposal is that young people would have to meet other criteria, including having comprehensive health insurance, plus financial criteria to ensure that they will be able to support themselves while abroad.

The visa/residency permit could be rejected on the ground of threats to public policy, public security or public health.

Will this happen soon?

Slow down – all that has happened so far is that the European Commission has made a recommendation to open negotiations.

This now needs to be discussed in the Council of Europe.

If the Council agrees then, and only then, will the EU open negotiations with the UK on the subject.

The scheme could then only become a reality if the EU and UK come to an agreement on the terms of the scheme, and then refine the fine details – reacting the news reports of the proposal, the UK government appears to have already dismissed the idea out of hand, so agreement at present seems unlikely. However, governments can change and so can the political climate.

But basically we’re talking years if it happens at all – and that would require not only a new government in the UK (which seems likely) but a major change in the whole British political atmosphere.

Don’t start packing just yet.

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