Chinese in first place with red-white-red card

Of course, the 12,643 people with red-white-red cards are a significant increase compared to the numbers, for example, five years ago. In 2020, just 4,514 immigrants held a red-white-red card, which is intended to bring skilled workers to Austria based on criteria. If you go back another five years, there were 1,640.

A good 2,400 Chinese with red-white-red cards

The fact that Chinese play a relevant role in this residence permit is a recent development. In 2020, citizens of the People’s Republic were in ninth place behind those of the USA. Two years ago it was only tenth. Last year, the Chinese moved into second place with 1,710 cards. There are now 2,443.

Overall, the Red-White-Red Card continues to occupy a subordinate position among immigration titles aimed at citizens outside the EU and EEA – this is also the case compared to the Red-White-Red Card plus. This is aimed, for example, at family members of red-white-red card holders and provides temporary residency with unrestricted access to the labor market. With the red-white-red card you must currently be employed by a specific employer. This means that switching to the “Plus” card after two years is also an option for owners of this card.

More than 142,000 people with Red-White-Red Card plus

In any case, the red-white-red card plus is used significantly more. A good 142,000 people own it. Turks, Serbs and Bosnians are the nations that make particular use of this residence permit.

By far the majority of residence permits for third-country nationals are granted through “EU permanent residence”, namely more than 350,000. You can achieve it if you have actually been resident in Austria for the last five years and have fulfilled module two of the integration agreement.

In this group, Serbs are at the top, ahead of Turks and Bosnians. Russians come in fifth place behind North Macedonians.

Turks, Serbs and Bosnians are statistically ahead

If you now add up all the titles in the residence and settlement statistics (plus the EU Blue Card), there were 600,507. A slight majority (301,000) of the population belong to women. Almost 150,000 of the card holders are either under 14 or over 65. Almost 20 percent of the card holders are from Turkey, followed by Serbs (almost 19 percent) and Bosnians (almost 17 percent). The other top 10 places go to Russians, Kosovars, North Macedonians, Chinese, Ukrainians, Indians and Iranians. Dozens of nations are represented, including the Vatican, which, like Andorra and San Marino, has a card holder.