The Union Decides Whether You Need a Visa, and Austrian Law Never Says How Long You May Stay
This replaces the general rule for you
A Visa Is Required, and the Same List Keeps You Out of the Austrian Application Room
Your nationality is in Annex I, so a visa is required to cross the external border. The Regulation states the requirement as a list and gives no test an individual can satisfy to fall outside it: the criteria in article 1 are about countries, not about travellers. Austrian law adds nothing of its own - § 15(2) of the Fremdenpolizeigesetz requires the visa that Union law calls for and leaves the question there. The same list has a second consequence that has nothing to do with tourism. Because § 21(2) Z 5 of the Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz excepts only people entitled to enter visa-free, a first application for a residence title from an Annex I national falls under the rule in § 21(1): it is lodged at an Austrian representation abroad, and the decision is awaited abroad.
Whether a short visit needs a visa is decided by Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 and not by Austrian law: Annex I nationals need one, Annex II nationals do not. Austria's own Fremdenpolizeigesetz requires a valid travel document and, where Union law calls for it, a visa - and that is as far as it goes. The one place the Act mentions a visa-free stay, § 31(1) Z 1, makes your presence lawful so long as you have not overrun the limits of that stay, without ever saying what those limits are. The ninety days in any 180 are the Union's arithmetic, carried into Austria by the Schengen rules rather than written into the Austrian Act.
At a glance
- What decides whether you need a visa
- Your nationality, read against the Annexes to Regulation (EU) 2018/1806
FPG § 15 Abs. 2 defers to directly applicable acts of the European Union; Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 is the act.
- Length of a visa-free short stay
- 90 days in any 180-day period
Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806. The figure is the Union's: the FPG states no number for a visa-free stay.
- Where the Austrian Act states that length
- Nowhere. FPG § 31 Abs. 1 Z 1 refers to the limits of the visa-free stay without stating them
The phrase "visumfreien Aufenthaltes" occurs once in the consolidated Act read here, in § 31 Abs. 1 Z 1, and the sentence sets no period.
- Passport requirement
- A valid travel document for entry and for exit
FPG § 15 Abs. 1, the Passpflicht.
Requirements
- A travel document valid for the whole stay
- A visa, where your nationality appears in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2018/1806
- Entry through a border crossing point without evading the border check
- Departure within the period the Union rules allow for a visa-free or visa-based short stay
What applies to you
A Visa Is Required, and the Same List Keeps You Out of the Austrian Application Room
Your nationality is in Annex I, so a visa is required to cross the external border. The Regulation states the requirement as a list and gives no test an individual can satisfy to fall outside it: the criteria in article 1 are about countries, not about travellers. Austrian law adds nothing of its own - § 15(2) of the Fremdenpolizeigesetz requires the visa that Union law calls for and leaves the question there. The same list has a second consequence that has nothing to do with tourism. Because § 21(2) Z 5 of the Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz excepts only people entitled to enter visa-free, a first application for a residence title from an Annex I national falls under the rule in § 21(1): it is lodged at an Austrian representation abroad, and the decision is awaited abroad.
What the law says
«Fremde benötigen, soweit durch Bundesgesetz oder durch zwischenstaatliche Vereinbarung nicht anderes bestimmt ist oder nicht anderes internationalen Gepflogenheiten entspricht, zur rechtmäßigen Einreise in das Bundesgebiet und Ausreise aus diesem ein gültiges Reisedokument (Passpflicht).»The passport duty. It runs both ways: a travel document is needed to leave Austria lawfully as well as to enter.
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
«Passpflichtige Fremde brauchen, soweit dies nicht durch Bundesgesetz, durch zwischenstaatliche Vereinbarungen oder durch unmittelbar anwendbare Rechtsakte der Europäischen Union anders bestimmt ist, zur rechtmäßigen Einreise in das Bundesgebiet ein Visum (Visumpflicht).»The visa duty, and the sentence that hands the question to Union law. "unmittelbar anwendbare Rechtsakte der Europäischen Union" is Regulation (EU) 2018/1806.
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
«wenn sie rechtmäßig eingereist sind und während des Aufenthalts im Bundesgebiet die Befristungen oder Bedingungen des Einreisetitels oder des visumfreien Aufenthaltes oder die durch zwischenstaatliche Vereinbarungen, Bundesgesetz oder Verordnung bestimmte Aufenthaltsdauer nicht überschritten haben;»Lawful presence is defined by not overrunning the limits of the entry title or of the visa-free stay. The provision names the limits and does not set them, which is why the ninety days have to be read out of the Union rules.
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
«Nationals of third countries listed in Annex II shall be exempt from the requirement set out in Article 3(1) for stays of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period.»The exemption and its measure. Ninety days in any 180-day period is a rolling window, not an allowance that resets on a date.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Nationals of third countries listed in Annex I shall be required to be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States.»The visa requirement, stated as a list rather than as a test.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Exempt from a visa is not the same as admitted. The officer at the external border applies the Schengen Borders Code, which this record does not reach.
A short stay carries no right to work and does not become a residence by being repeated. Settlement is the subject of a different Act, the Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz.
Austria's own Act is thinner here than Belgium's. The Belgian Act of 15 December 1980 writes the ninety days and their 180-day window into article 6; the Austrian Fremdenpolizeigesetz leaves the number to Union law entirely.
- consolidatesFremdenpolizeigesetz 2005, 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
- consolidatesRegulation (EU) 2018/1806, consolidated version
EUR-Lex, Publications Office of the European Union · consolidated to 2025-12-30
Known to be out of date. A consolidated text is not authentic. Only the Official Journal version of each amending regulation has legal force, and an annex can be amended between consolidations.
About this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source