In general, all temporary residence permits share a number of common requirements (see "Temporary residence permits"): Applications must be submitted in person, applicants must provide a valid passport (which is valid for at least three months past the date of travel) and applicants must present proof of sufficient funds, adequate accommodations and health insurance.
The Austrian government has further simplified the access to the Red-White-Red Card (Rot-Weiß-Rot Karte, "RWR Card") and the requirements for obtaining the EU Blue Card to further enhance immigration of qualified workers. This primarily concerns procedures for faster processing of applications and the reduction of minimum salaries.
The Austrian government has opened the Austrian labor market for displaced persons from Ukraine who hold a displaced person's identity card.
The Austrian government has recently accelerated the approval process for the RWR Card for qualified nursing staff. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain the RWR Card before completing the nostrification process.
Regarding the posting of employees, the government has implemented changes regarding the applicability of Austrian employment law to posted employees. In the past, Austrian employment law's minimum standards (set forth by statutory laws and collective bargaining agreements) applied to posted employees from the outset of their employment in Austria. Now, Austrian employment law applies to posted employees in full after one year of the employee's actual posting, insofar as it is more favorable than the posting country's employment law. Subject to a written justification, the period may be extended to 18 months.
In the case of short-term postings of employees that do not last longer than 48 hours, the Austrian government has provided simplified regulations regarding the documents that must be kept available. During the short-term posting, only the employment contract or service note (Dienstzettel) and working time records must be kept available.
The Austrian government has also established exceptions for certain employees who are posted for training purposes.
Additionally, the monetary penalties for noncompliance were recently adjusted. The first change was that the penalties no longer depend on the number of employees. In the event of violating the notification obligations towards the ZKO, not keeping the necessary documents available, or not submitting them, the penalties are between EUR 0 and 20,000. In the event of not keeping and not submitting wage records, penalties between EUR 0 and 40,000 may arise. For underpayment of wages, a scaled penalty system was implemented with a maximum penalty of EUR 400,000.
Several provisions also apply to leasing employees.