General information on applications for the renewal of residence permits for Austria

Applications for the renewal of residence permits must be submitted to the competent settlement authority in Austria.

The settlement authority is:

• the Governor or
• the local administrative authority authorised by the latter:
  • the district authority
  • in chartered urban districts: the municipal executive
    • in Vienna: Municipal Department 35

Both the general conditions for the issue of residence permits and the specific conditions for each residence permit must be met.

The application for renewal must be submitted in due time before the expiry of the residence permit, but no earlier than three months before expiry. Thereafter, applications will be considered to be first applications.

Applications submitted after the expiry of the residence permit will be considered to be applications for renewal only if:

• the foreign national can demonstrate that he/she was prevented from submitting the application for renewal in due time by an unavoidable or unforeseen event and that he/she is not at fault or that it was only a minor oversight and
• the application is made within two weeks of the removal of the obstacle.

An application for renewal may be accompanied, until a decision at first instance has been given, by an application for a change in the purpose of stay of a previously issued residence permit or for the amendment of the residence permit.

Please note that in the event of renewal, the Integration agreement must be fulfilled.

Legal basis

• Sections 24 to 26 of the Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz (NAG)
• Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz (NAG)
• Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz-Durchführungsverordnung (NAG-DV)