Marry an Austrian and There Is No Quota. Marry a Settled Foreigner and There May Be
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Grenada on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
127 exceptions recorded across 48 countries · none match Grenada to Austria · Residency through marriage
Austrian law splits family reunification by whose family you are joining. The spouse of an Austrian, an EEA national or a Swiss national who lives permanently in Austria and has not used free-movement rights gets an Aufenthaltstitel "Familienangehöriger" as of right, with no quota place needed. The spouse of a third-country national gets a Rot-Weiss-Rot Karte plus, and whether a quota place is needed depends on which title the sponsor holds: none for the holder of a Rot-Weiss-Rot Karte, one for the holder of a Daueraufenthalt - EU. Both spouses must have turned 21 at the date of the application, and only the core family counts.
At a glance
- Spouse of an Austrian
- Aufenthaltstitel "Familienangehöriger", granted as of right and outside the quota
NAG § 47 Abs. 2 read with § 47 Abs. 1; § 47 Abs. 2 is not among the quota-bound titles listed in § 12 Abs. 1.
- Spouse of a settled third-country national
- Rot-Weiss-Rot Karte plus, quota-bound where the sponsor holds a Daueraufenthalt - EU or an ordinary Karte plus
NAG § 46 Abs. 1 Z 2 lit. a and b.
- Minimum age
- 21, for both spouses, at the date of the application
NAG § 2 Abs. 1 Z 9, the definition of Familienangehöriger.
- Who counts as family
- Spouse or registered partner, and minor unmarried children including adopted and stepchildren
NAG § 2 Abs. 1 Z 9 calls this the Kernfamilie and admits nobody else.
- Parents and other relatives
- A separate and weaker permit: Niederlassungsbewilligung - Angehöriger, which carries no right to work
NAG § 47 Abs. 3, available to ascendants who are actually maintained, to long-term partners, and to other relatives on three narrow grounds.
- Where to apply
- Family members of Austrians, EEA nationals and Swiss nationals may apply inside Austria
NAG § 21 Abs. 2 Z 1, an exception to the rule that a first application is lodged abroad.
- Polygamous marriage
- Only the first spouse living with the sponsor qualifies
NAG § 2 Abs. 1 Z 9 states this in terms.
Requirements
- A marriage or registered partnership existing at the date of the application
- Both partners aged 21 or over at that date
- The general conditions of Part 1 of the NAG: accommodation, comprehensive insurance, means, no public-interest objection
- A quota place where the sponsor's title is one of those listed in § 46 Abs. 1 Z 2
Country-level policy
Austria rations settlement by number. Section 13 of the Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz obliges the federal government to make an ordinance for each calendar year setting how many of five kinds of residence title may be granted, broken down by Land and by category; section 12 then forbids granting one of those titles unless a place assigned from the year's register is free, and requires an application made once the places are gone to be rejected without further procedure. The five categories are family reunification with a third-country national, family of people under section 46a, change of purpose from a dependant's permit to a Rot-Weiss-Rot Karte plus, settlement without gainful activity, and holders of another Member State's long-term residence permit. The most recent such ordinance in the authentic Bundesgesetzblatt is the Niederlassungsverordnung 2025, promulgated on 18 December 2025, which sets the quota for the year 2025 and took effect at the end of the day it was published.
Section 21(1) of the Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz sets the default for every residence title in the Act: a first application is lodged at the Austrian representation with territorial competence, and the decision is awaited outside Austria. Section 21(2) then lists who may apply from inside instead. The list includes family members of Austrians, EEA nationals and Swiss nationals who live permanently in Austria; people within six months of losing Austrian, Swiss or EEA nationality; children within six months of birth; applicants for a researcher permit, a Blaue Karte EU or a student permit; and - the entry that touches most people in this corpus - anyone entitled to enter without a visa, who may apply during a lawful stay.
Part 1 of the Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz carries a set of conditions that nearly every title in the Act imports by reference. Section 11(2) requires that the stay does not conflict with the public interest, that the applicant has a legal claim to accommodation regarded as usual for a comparable family, that they hold health insurance covering all risks under a policy liable to pay in Austria, and that the stay could not lead to a financial burden on a public body. Section 11(5) then defines that last condition in money: fixed and regular income of one's own, enough to live without social assistance and at the level of the reference rates in section 293 of the ASVG - reduced by rent, loan repayments, attachments and maintenance paid to people outside the household. Some titles disapply parts of this. The Rot-Weiss-Rot Karte drops the accommodation and public-funds conditions; the student permit drops accommodation.
German is not one requirement in Austria but three, and they belong to different instruments. At the first renewal of a residence title the applicant must have completed Module 1 of the Integrationsvereinbarung in time, under section 11(2) Z 6 of the Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz. Permanent residence - the Daueraufenthalt - EU after five years - requires Module 2 under section 45(1) Z 2. Naturalisation requires the level set by section 7(2) Z 2 of the Integrationsgesetz under section 10a(1) of the Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz, together with basic knowledge of the democratic order, of Austrian history and of the history of the Land. German at B2 does something different again: under section 11a(6) Z 1 of the Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz it cuts the naturalisation period from ten years to six.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Grenada
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Zusammenführende im Sinne der Abs. 2 bis 4 sind Österreicher oder EWR-Bürger oder Schweizer Bürger, die in Österreich dauernd wohnhaft sind und nicht ihr unionsrechtliches oder das ihnen auf Grund des Freizügigkeitsabkommens EG-Schweiz zukommende Aufenthaltsrecht von mehr als drei Monaten in Anspruch genommen haben.»Who is a sponsor for this chapter. The catch is in the tail: an Austrian or EEA national who has used a free-movement right of more than three months is not one, and their family is dealt with under the free-movement sections instead.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Austria's consolidated federal law, served from ris.bka.gv.at at two stable address forms. A whole law is GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=<n>, and a single provision is NormDokument.wxe with the same Gesetzesnummer plus &Paragraf=<n>. The whole-law page prints its own date on its face as "Fassung vom <dd.mm.yyyy>", generated on request, so the consolidation date is whatever day you read it; the single-provision page says "tagesaktuelle Fassung" instead and adds the list of every earlier version of that provision with the amending BGBl number. Each law's front matter lists every amending act in order. There is a companion OGD search interface at data.bka.gv.at/ris/api/v2.6/Bundesrecht which returns the Gesetzesnummer for a title and is how an instrument is located rather than guessed at.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are unofficial: the authentic text is the one published in the Bundesgesetzblatt, and for that the BgblAuth collection is the source, not this one. Every provision is rendered twice on the same page - once with its abbreviations ("§ 53 Abs. 2 Z 5") and once with them spelled out ("Paragraph 53, Absatz 2, Ziffer 5,") - which is an accessibility rendering and not a drafting feature, so a quotation that spans the join will contain the same sentence twice and a quotation must be taken from one rendering. Numbered list items carry the same doubling ("- 1. Ziffer eins"), so a quotation crossing an item boundary carries that furniture with it. It may not be cited for Land law at all: the nine Laender publish separately, and naturalisation fees and much of what a resident actually meets are Land matters. It carries no case law; that is a different RIS application (Judikatur) not read here. A Verordnung is only here if it is in force today - a Gesetzesnummer whose ordinance has expired answers GeltendeFassung with a 404, which looks exactly like an address that never existed.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Drittstaatsangehörigen, die Familienangehörige von Zusammenführenden sind, ist ein Aufenthaltstitel „Familienangehöriger“ zu erteilen, wenn sie die Voraussetzungen des 1. Teiles erfüllen.»The grant to the spouse of an Austrian. "ist zu erteilen" leaves no discretion, and no quota place is mentioned.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Austria's consolidated federal law, served from ris.bka.gv.at at two stable address forms. A whole law is GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=<n>, and a single provision is NormDokument.wxe with the same Gesetzesnummer plus &Paragraf=<n>. The whole-law page prints its own date on its face as "Fassung vom <dd.mm.yyyy>", generated on request, so the consolidation date is whatever day you read it; the single-provision page says "tagesaktuelle Fassung" instead and adds the list of every earlier version of that provision with the amending BGBl number. Each law's front matter lists every amending act in order. There is a companion OGD search interface at data.bka.gv.at/ris/api/v2.6/Bundesrecht which returns the Gesetzesnummer for a title and is how an instrument is located rather than guessed at.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are unofficial: the authentic text is the one published in the Bundesgesetzblatt, and for that the BgblAuth collection is the source, not this one. Every provision is rendered twice on the same page - once with its abbreviations ("§ 53 Abs. 2 Z 5") and once with them spelled out ("Paragraph 53, Absatz 2, Ziffer 5,") - which is an accessibility rendering and not a drafting feature, so a quotation that spans the join will contain the same sentence twice and a quotation must be taken from one rendering. Numbered list items carry the same doubling ("- 1. Ziffer eins"), so a quotation crossing an item boundary carries that furniture with it. It may not be cited for Land law at all: the nine Laender publish separately, and naturalisation fees and much of what a resident actually meets are Land matters. It carries no case law; that is a different RIS application (Judikatur) not read here. A Verordnung is only here if it is in force today - a Gesetzesnummer whose ordinance has expired answers GeltendeFassung with a 404, which looks exactly like an address that never existed.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Angehörigen von Zusammenführenden kann auf Antrag eine „Niederlassungsbewilligung – Angehöriger“ erteilt werden, wenn sie die Voraussetzungen des 1. Teiles erfüllen und - 1. Ziffer eins Verwandte des Zusammenführenden, seines Ehegatten oder eingetragenen Partners in gerader aufsteigender Linie sind, sofern ihnen von diesen tatsächlich Unterhalt geleistet wird,»The weaker permit for relatives outside the core family. It is discretionary, it carries no right to work, and the sponsor must give a liability declaration whatever the applicant's own means.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Austria's consolidated federal law, served from ris.bka.gv.at at two stable address forms. A whole law is GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=<n>, and a single provision is NormDokument.wxe with the same Gesetzesnummer plus &Paragraf=<n>. The whole-law page prints its own date on its face as "Fassung vom <dd.mm.yyyy>", generated on request, so the consolidation date is whatever day you read it; the single-provision page says "tagesaktuelle Fassung" instead and adds the list of every earlier version of that provision with the amending BGBl number. Each law's front matter lists every amending act in order. There is a companion OGD search interface at data.bka.gv.at/ris/api/v2.6/Bundesrecht which returns the Gesetzesnummer for a title and is how an instrument is located rather than guessed at.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are unofficial: the authentic text is the one published in the Bundesgesetzblatt, and for that the BgblAuth collection is the source, not this one. Every provision is rendered twice on the same page - once with its abbreviations ("§ 53 Abs. 2 Z 5") and once with them spelled out ("Paragraph 53, Absatz 2, Ziffer 5,") - which is an accessibility rendering and not a drafting feature, so a quotation that spans the join will contain the same sentence twice and a quotation must be taken from one rendering. Numbered list items carry the same doubling ("- 1. Ziffer eins"), so a quotation crossing an item boundary carries that furniture with it. It may not be cited for Land law at all: the nine Laender publish separately, and naturalisation fees and much of what a resident actually meets are Land matters. It carries no case law; that is a different RIS application (Judikatur) not read here. A Verordnung is only here if it is in force today - a Gesetzesnummer whose ordinance has expired answers GeltendeFassung with a 404, which looks exactly like an address that never existed.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Familienangehöriger: wer Ehegatte oder zum Zeitpunkt seiner Antragstellung minderjähriges lediges Kind, einschließlich Adoptiv- oder Stiefkind, ist (Kernfamilie); dies gilt weiters auch für eingetragene Partner; Ehegatten und eingetragene Partner müssen das 21. Lebensjahr zum Zeitpunkt der Antragstellung bereits vollendet haben;»The definition that does the work: core family only, and twenty-one for both partners at the date of application.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Austria's consolidated federal law, served from ris.bka.gv.at at two stable address forms. A whole law is GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=<n>, and a single provision is NormDokument.wxe with the same Gesetzesnummer plus &Paragraf=<n>. The whole-law page prints its own date on its face as "Fassung vom <dd.mm.yyyy>", generated on request, so the consolidation date is whatever day you read it; the single-provision page says "tagesaktuelle Fassung" instead and adds the list of every earlier version of that provision with the amending BGBl number. Each law's front matter lists every amending act in order. There is a companion OGD search interface at data.bka.gv.at/ris/api/v2.6/Bundesrecht which returns the Gesetzesnummer for a title and is how an instrument is located rather than guessed at.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are unofficial: the authentic text is the one published in the Bundesgesetzblatt, and for that the BgblAuth collection is the source, not this one. Every provision is rendered twice on the same page - once with its abbreviations ("§ 53 Abs. 2 Z 5") and once with them spelled out ("Paragraph 53, Absatz 2, Ziffer 5,") - which is an accessibility rendering and not a drafting feature, so a quotation that spans the join will contain the same sentence twice and a quotation must be taken from one rendering. Numbered list items carry the same doubling ("- 1. Ziffer eins"), so a quotation crossing an item boundary carries that furniture with it. It may not be cited for Land law at all: the nine Laender publish separately, and naturalisation fees and much of what a resident actually meets are Land matters. It carries no case law; that is a different RIS application (Judikatur) not read here. A Verordnung is only here if it is in force today - a Gesetzesnummer whose ordinance has expired answers GeltendeFassung with a 404, which looks exactly like an address that never existed.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«ein Quotenplatz vorhanden ist und der Zusammenführende - a) Litera a einen Aufenthaltstitel „Daueraufenthalt – EU“ innehat,»The quota-bound branch. Which sponsor's title you are joining decides whether a place is needed.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Austria's consolidated federal law, served from ris.bka.gv.at at two stable address forms. A whole law is GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=<n>, and a single provision is NormDokument.wxe with the same Gesetzesnummer plus &Paragraf=<n>. The whole-law page prints its own date on its face as "Fassung vom <dd.mm.yyyy>", generated on request, so the consolidation date is whatever day you read it; the single-provision page says "tagesaktuelle Fassung" instead and adds the list of every earlier version of that provision with the amending BGBl number. Each law's front matter lists every amending act in order. There is a companion OGD search interface at data.bka.gv.at/ris/api/v2.6/Bundesrecht which returns the Gesetzesnummer for a title and is how an instrument is located rather than guessed at.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are unofficial: the authentic text is the one published in the Bundesgesetzblatt, and for that the BgblAuth collection is the source, not this one. Every provision is rendered twice on the same page - once with its abbreviations ("§ 53 Abs. 2 Z 5") and once with them spelled out ("Paragraph 53, Absatz 2, Ziffer 5,") - which is an accessibility rendering and not a drafting feature, so a quotation that spans the join will contain the same sentence twice and a quotation must be taken from one rendering. Numbered list items carry the same doubling ("- 1. Ziffer eins"), so a quotation crossing an item boundary carries that furniture with it. It may not be cited for Land law at all: the nine Laender publish separately, and naturalisation fees and much of what a resident actually meets are Land matters. It carries no case law; that is a different RIS application (Judikatur) not read here. A Verordnung is only here if it is in force today - a Gesetzesnummer whose ordinance has expired answers GeltendeFassung with a 404, which looks exactly like an address that never existed.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Fremde, die zur visumfreien Einreise berechtigt sind, nach rechtmäßiger Einreise und während ihres rechtmäßigen Aufenthalts;»One of the exceptions to applying from abroad, quoted here because it is the one that turns on nationality. The family-member exception is Z 1 of the same list, three entries above it on the same page.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Austria's consolidated federal law, served from ris.bka.gv.at at two stable address forms. A whole law is GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=<n>, and a single provision is NormDokument.wxe with the same Gesetzesnummer plus &Paragraf=<n>. The whole-law page prints its own date on its face as "Fassung vom <dd.mm.yyyy>", generated on request, so the consolidation date is whatever day you read it; the single-provision page says "tagesaktuelle Fassung" instead and adds the list of every earlier version of that provision with the amending BGBl number. Each law's front matter lists every amending act in order. There is a companion OGD search interface at data.bka.gv.at/ris/api/v2.6/Bundesrecht which returns the Gesetzesnummer for a title and is how an instrument is located rather than guessed at.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are unofficial: the authentic text is the one published in the Bundesgesetzblatt, and for that the BgblAuth collection is the source, not this one. Every provision is rendered twice on the same page - once with its abbreviations ("§ 53 Abs. 2 Z 5") and once with them spelled out ("Paragraph 53, Absatz 2, Ziffer 5,") - which is an accessibility rendering and not a drafting feature, so a quotation that spans the join will contain the same sentence twice and a quotation must be taken from one rendering. Numbered list items carry the same doubling ("- 1. Ziffer eins"), so a quotation crossing an item boundary carries that furniture with it. It may not be cited for Land law at all: the nine Laender publish separately, and naturalisation fees and much of what a resident actually meets are Land matters. It carries no case law; that is a different RIS application (Judikatur) not read here. A Verordnung is only here if it is in force today - a Gesetzesnummer whose ordinance has expired answers GeltendeFassung with a 404, which looks exactly like an address that never existed.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The quotation given for § 21 Abs. 2 is Z 5, the entry for people entitled to enter visa-free. The family-member exception is Z 1 of the same list and was read on the same page.
A marriage entered into for the residence it brings is an Aufenthaltsehe and bars the title outright under NAG § 11 Abs. 1 Z 4.
Austria measures the spouse's age, not the length of the marriage. Belgium's Act instead makes a spouse wait two years before following, which is a different kind of filter on the same situation.
- consolidatesNiederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, consolidated text as at 10 October 2026
Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes, Bundeskanzleramt · consolidated to 2026-10-10
Known to be out of date. A RIS consolidation is not authentic. The authentic text is the one published in the Bundesgesetzblatt, and RIS prints each provision twice on the same page - once with its abbreviations and once with them spelled out - so a quotation is taken from one of the two renderings.
About this source
Austria's consolidated federal law, served from ris.bka.gv.at at two stable address forms. A whole law is GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=<n>, and a single provision is NormDokument.wxe with the same Gesetzesnummer plus &Paragraf=<n>. The whole-law page prints its own date on its face as "Fassung vom <dd.mm.yyyy>", generated on request, so the consolidation date is whatever day you read it; the single-provision page says "tagesaktuelle Fassung" instead and adds the list of every earlier version of that provision with the amending BGBl number. Each law's front matter lists every amending act in order. There is a companion OGD search interface at data.bka.gv.at/ris/api/v2.6/Bundesrecht which returns the Gesetzesnummer for a title and is how an instrument is located rather than guessed at.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are unofficial: the authentic text is the one published in the Bundesgesetzblatt, and for that the BgblAuth collection is the source, not this one. Every provision is rendered twice on the same page - once with its abbreviations ("§ 53 Abs. 2 Z 5") and once with them spelled out ("Paragraph 53, Absatz 2, Ziffer 5,") - which is an accessibility rendering and not a drafting feature, so a quotation that spans the join will contain the same sentence twice and a quotation must be taken from one rendering. Numbered list items carry the same doubling ("- 1. Ziffer eins"), so a quotation crossing an item boundary carries that furniture with it. It may not be cited for Land law at all: the nine Laender publish separately, and naturalisation fees and much of what a resident actually meets are Land matters. It carries no case law; that is a different RIS application (Judikatur) not read here. A Verordnung is only here if it is in force today - a Gesetzesnummer whose ordinance has expired answers GeltendeFassung with a 404, which looks exactly like an address that never existed.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source