Emergency assistance - Notification requirements

If you are looking for work, you have to report certain changes in your circumstances to the AMS.

Individuals receiving emergency assistance.

If you start a new job, you must report this to the AMS immediately. This also applies to marginal employment (USP) (geringfügige Beschäftigungen).

The possibility of earning a small amount of additional income while receiving unemployment benefits or emergency assistance will be restricted from January 1, 2026. In future, parallel marginal employment will only be possible in exceptional cases.

Further information can be found under Notstandshilfe – Allgemeines und Anspruch and Arbeitslos und geringfügig beschäftigt? Neues ab 01.01.2026 | AMS.

You must report any of the following changes to the AMS as soon as possible, and in any event within a week after the relevant event takes place:

• Your economic circumstances change
• You move house
• You leave Austria for any period of time
• You are signed off sick or admitted to hospital
• Your circumstances change in any other way that might affect your entitlement to emergency unemployment assistance

As a rule, emergency unemployment assistance is not paid to claimants during stays outside Austria (i.e. their payments are suspended). However, payments can be made to claimants abroad under certain circumstances. For full details of the rules regarding "suspension of emergency assistance payments," go to oesterreich.gv.at.

If you fail to report to the AMS as requested, you will lose your entitlement to emergency assistance until such time as you appear at the office in person. The requirement to report in person may be waived if you have a good reason not to attend and report it to the office.

You must report relevant information to the AMS without delay.

The competent authority will be the competent regional office of the AMS (AMS)^{German text}. This will usually be the office closest to where you live. 

People who are participating in retraining, reskilling, or reintegration measures on behalf of the Public Employment Service can also register and re-register after interruptions in benefit payments with the respective training provider.

As a rule, reports can be made electronically (e.g. via  MeinAMS^{German text}), over the phone, in writing or in person.

The documents/evidence you are required to provide will vary depending on your individual circumstances. For further information, please contact the competent regional office of the AMS.

The service is free of charge.

Further links

• Online de-registration (AMS)^{German text}
• MeinAMS (AMS)^{German text}
• Important information for people receiving assistance – resignation, reasonable employment, failure to report to the AMS (AMS)^{German text}
• Emergency assistance (AMS)^{German text}
• List of AMS offices (AMS)^{German text}

Arbeitslosenversicherungsgesetz (AlVG)

MeinAMS (AMS)^{German text}

In person: Report to the competent regional office of the AMS (AMS)^{German text}

Electronically: Report using MeinAMS (AMS)^{German text} (you can request login details on your MeinAMS (AMS)^{German text}, over the phone, by sending an e-mail to the regional AMS office, or via FinanzOnline (BMF)^{German text}).

If you appeal a decision by the AMS, you can object to it up to four weeks after the original decision is delivered to you. The regional office has ten weeks to reach a provisional decision on any complaint. If the regional office fails to reach a provisional decision, or if this decision is appealed to the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) within two weeks, the Federal Administrative Court will rule on the case.

The AMS provides ombudsman services in each of Austria's provinces