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Good practice Imported

Vienna Expat Center — Free business-immigration and integration support by Wirtschaftsagentur Wien

Austria · Vienna · See the Austria profile · See the Vienna profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 29% 76/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Free, confidential one-stop support for international professionals and their employers relocating to Vienna. Delivers ~2,000 consultations/year from 80+ countries; covers Red-White-Red Card, EU Blue Card, family reunification and daily-life guidance.

~2,000 consultations/year
Annual consultations (recent years)
1,300 consultations
Consultations in H1 2022 (H1 2022)
80+ countries
Countries of origin represented
225 businesses
New foreign business establishments in Vienna (2021)
Vienna Expat Center — Free business-immigration and integration support by Wirtschaftsagentur Wien

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Wirtschaftsagentur Wien (Vienna Business Agency) / City of Vienna
Period
2010–present
Region (NUTS)
AT13
Keywords
Business immigration, talent retention, economic development

Context

The Vienna Expat Center is a joint initiative of the Vienna Business Agency (Wirtschaftsagentur Wien) and the City of Vienna, offering free, confidential advisory services to international professionals relocating to Vienna and to the companies that employ them.

Objectives

The centre's Business Immigration Office aims to guide non-EU professionals and their employers through Austrian residence and work-permit procedures, including the Red-White-Red Card, EU Blue Card, researcher and artist settlement permits, ICT transferee permits and family reunification.

Activities

Consultations are delivered free of charge, in person at the centre's Vienna office or online, and the service also connects professionals to the Expat Club networking community to support social integration.

Results

The centre conducts approximately 2,000 consultations per year from more than 80 countries, including 1,300 sessions in the first half of 2022 alone. In 2021, 225 foreign businesses newly established operations in Vienna, providing context for the scale of demand the service addresses.

Conclusions

Operating since around 2010 under joint ownership by an economic development agency and the city government, the Vienna Expat Center combines immigration-law expertise with practical settlement support, though no data is published on outcomes for professionals after their consultation.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Publicly funded joint initiative of the Vienna Business Agency and City of Vienna; consultations are free of charge and no specific budget is disclosed in the source content.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Operating continuously since around 2010; individual consultations are available on demand, in person or online, without a waiting period.
Staffing & skills
Business Immigration Office team within the Vienna Business Agency (Wirtschaftsagentur Wien)

Conditions for success

  • Joint ownership by an economic development agency and the City of Vienna ensures continuity and legitimacy
  • Free-of-charge model lowers barriers for professionals and smaller employers
  • Both in-person and online consultation channels widen access
  • Expat Club networking community supports social integration alongside administrative guidance

Where it fits

Governance type
city economic development agency plus municipal government
Scale
city
Income level
high-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes ESF+ — European Social Fund Plus

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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