Certified Translation › Residence permit
For the Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte and Austrian residence permits, a court-sworn and certified translator renders your certificates, your police-clearance certificate and your records as a certified translation — with a certification note and a flag for where an assessment or Nostrification also applies. At a fixed price including shipping.
Court-sworn and certified translators · names transliterated to ISO 9 · Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte / points system · NAG · set price · a reply on working days within 60 minutes
In short
Anyone applying for a residence permit such as the Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte needs certified translations of their qualification documents (certificate, diploma, diploma supplement), a police-clearance certificate and their civil-status records. Important: the translation makes the qualification ready to submit, but it does not replace the assessment (Bewertung) or Nostrification.
The legal basis is the Settlement and Residence Act (Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, NAG) together with the Aliens Employment Act (Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz, AuslBG). The Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte is criteria-based: a points system assesses qualification, work experience, language skills and age; the portal migration.gv.at and the AMS maintain the current requirements. We translate exactly the set that is required.
Process & points system
The Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte under the NAG and AuslBG comes in several categories: Very Highly Qualified Workers, Skilled Workers in Shortage Occupations, Other Key Workers, graduates, self-employed key workers and start-up founders. A points system assesses qualification, work experience, language skills and age.
Skilled Workers in Shortage Occupations need at least 55 out of a maximum of 90 points; Very Highly Qualified Workers need at least 70 out of 100. The points calculator on migration.gv.at shows in advance whether it is enough.
A shortage occupation has fewer than 1.5 jobseekers per vacancy; the Shortage Occupations Regulation (Fachkräfteverordnung) lists around 64 occupations Austria-wide for 2026 plus regional lists per federal province. The labour-market assessment is handled by the AMS.
This is when certificates, the police-clearance certificate and civil-status records are needed — certified-translated and, depending on the country of origin, with an apostille or legalisation.
The application is filed with the Austrian representative authority (Vertretungsbehörde) abroad or — if you are lawfully resident — domestically with the settlement authority (Niederlassungsbehörde) (the office of the provincial government; in Vienna, MA 35).
The Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte is valid for up to 24 months and entitles you to employment with the applying employer. Complete, correctly translated documents prevent requests for further evidence.
Family members join with the Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte plus; after two years a switch to the Karte plus with free labour-market access is possible. The recognised documents remain decisive.
Which documents?
This checklist is the core of the application file. Each row links to the matching guidance — with details on recognition, apostilles and name transfer. The principle: foreign-language documents are certified-translated; recognition of the qualification runs separately, via an assessment or Nostrification.
| Document (guidance) | What it's for in the process | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate / diploma / diploma supplement | Qualification evidence for the points assessment of the Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte | Graded via assessment/Nostrification; a qualification that is "translated" is not the same as recognised |
| Professional recognition / regulated professions | Professional admission, e.g. for doctors, nursing, engineering | separate recognition procedure in addition to the translation |
| Police-clearance certificate | Evidence of a clean record for the application and residence permit | from the country of origin; often with an apostille/legalisation |
| Birth certificate | Proof of identity, accompanying family reunification | names checked against the passport spelling |
| Marriage certificate | Spouse joining in parallel with the employment-based move | with an apostille, depending on the country |
| Passport | Identity and the authoritative spelling of the name | reference for the transliteration of the name |
The certified translation is the foundation; recognition of the qualification is a separate process. We translate your certificates to a standard authorities accept, and flag where an assessment, a Nostrification or a professional recognition also applies — so you avoid unnecessary detours.
Apostille & certification
For public documents from the country of origin — birth certificate, police-clearance certificate, sometimes higher-education certificates — the representative or settlement authority may require an apostille or legalisation, depending on the country.
Important: the FÜD does not issue apostilles. For foreign documents, it is issued by the competent authority in the country of issue. For Austrian documents intended for use abroad, court documents are handled by the President of the Regional Court (Landesgericht), while civil-status and other administrative documents are handled by the office of the provincial government (Amt der Landesregierung); for states without the apostille, the BMEIA legalises the document. We then translate the document and the apostille together, as a certified translation.
A translated diploma is not yet a recognised diploma.
That's why we translate to a standard authorities accept, and show where an assessment, a Nostrification or a professional recognition also applies.
Case studies
Profession and country of origin determine the category, recognition and whether an apostille is needed.
Very Highly Qualified
Regulated profession
Shortage occupation
Expert insight
Employment-based immigration rarely fails on the running text — it fails on recognition being confused with translation, a missing apostille, or a name that doesn't match. The most common causes of rejection — and how a court-sworn and certified translator avoids them.
| Pitfall | Why it's critical | How the FÜD solves it |
|---|---|---|
| Translation confused with recognition | Translating alone does not recognise the qualification — the authority will request the assessment afterwards. | We translate to a standard authorities accept and flag where an assessment, a Nostrification or a professional recognition also applies. |
| Regulated profession underestimated | For medicine, nursing or law, translation alone is not enough — the professional recognition is still missing. | We flag regulated professions and point to the additional recognition procedure. |
| Apostille missing | Without proof of authenticity, the representative authority will not accept the document. | We check in advance whether the country of origin requires an apostille, and translate the document and the apostille together. |
| Name on the certificate ≠ passport | If the transliteration differs from the passport, doubts arise about the applicant's identity. | Transliteration to ISO standard, checked against the passport, with any deviations explained in the certification note. |
| Grades/titles carried over 1:1 | Foreign grades and degree titles are misleading without context. | Foreign grades and degree titles are left in the original with an explanatory equivalent; the assessment is left to the competent authority. |
How it works
You upload clearly legible scans of your certificates, police-clearance certificate and records, and tell us the passport spelling of the names. We review the set, check names and qualification titles, and quote a binding fixed price. Once you approve it, a court-sworn and certified translator translates true to form and layout.
You receive the translations in advance as a PDF, followed by the certified originals by post. On request, we flag in advance where an assessment, a Nostrification, a professional recognition or an apostille also applies.
Quote & price
A residence permit usually requires several documents together. We charge standard documents as a flat fee per document, and longer certificates and transcripts per standard line — calculated as a set with a volume discount.
| Certified translation by a court-sworn and certified translator | ✓included |
| Certification note, stamp & signature | ✓included |
| Advance PDF for review | ✓included |
| Postal delivery of the certified originals | ✓included |
| Set discount for multiple documents | ✓possible |
Standard documents at a flat fixed price, longer documents from €0.89 / standard line; we confirm the exact amount after a brief review — How the price is calculated →
FAQ
Sources
All legal statements on this page are backed by Austrian primary sources. The shortage-occupations list is adjusted annually; the individual case is decided by the representative and settlement authorities, and the labour-market aspects by the AMS.
The diploma and diploma supplement were certified-translated, and the note about the assessment saved me a detour. The Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte came through without a single query about my qualification.
R. Sharma · Rot-Weiß-Rot – Karte, Vienna
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