The Act governing the Employment of Foreign Nationals (AuslBG) is amended as of 01 October 2022. The amendment is intended to facilitate the recruitment and labour market access of qualified workers from third countries. To this end, the admission procedures before the residence permit authorities and the Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS) is being streamlined. Moreover, there are plans for the Austrian Business AgencyÖsterreichische Industrieansiedlungs- und WirtschaftswerbungsgmbH (ABA) to support applicants by providing information and advancing digitalisation.
Below, please find an overview of the most important new provisions:
- In practice, the maximum duration of 4 weeks for permit-free employment in an art production was too short. By doubling the permit-free employment period for musical, opera or guest orchestra productions, the presence of artistic staff in Austria is now ensured for a period of 8 weeks.
- For particularly qualified workers from third countries who are temporarily employed in addition to permanent staff and hired for the implementation of temporary projects (especially in the IT sector), it is now possible to obtain the required employment permits for a maximum of 6 months.
- For the admission of "other key personnel" and "university graduates", the distribution of points which are decisive for the approval of the permit application has changed. Previously, applicants received 1 point per year of professional experience. With the amendment in place, points will be awarded per half year of professional experience. Furthermore, proficiency in English will be put on an equal footing with German language skills, provided that the predominant company language is English.
- Holders of EU Blue Cards may provisionally take up highly qualified employment with a new employer after a waiting period of 30 days from the date of application. They can do this regardless of whether the application has been decided on or not.
- In the future, employers will be entitled to file applications for Red-White-Red cards to be issued to foreign nationals’ family members if the applications are filed simultaneously. In order to streamline procedures, the government programme also stipulates that the required substitute worker review is to be accelerated and carried out within 10 days if possible. This way, the Public Employment Service will be encouraged to do the labour market review, which is obligatory in Austria, without delay.
Your KWR Employment Law Team will be happy to support you in matters relating to the deployment of non-Austrian staff.