Money for your residence permit

For a student residence permit, you need to show that your money will cover your living costs for the whole term of the permit, usually twelve months. In 2026 the base amount is €722.58 a month if you're under 24, and €1,308.39 from age 24. Part of your rent and your health insurance are added on top, and any income you can prove lowers the amount you need to show in the account.^1–3

Residence permit funds calculator

The amounts in the calculator apply in 2026. They're recalculated every year on 1 January, so check them against the authority's page before you apply. They're the same for Vienna and Graz: a federal law sets them, not the city.^3·4

How the monthly amount is calculated

The base amount depends on your age, assessed over the whole term of the permit. If you turn 24 while the permit is running, the month you turn 24 still counts at the under-24 rate, and the higher rate applies from the following month.²

Your regular outgoings are added together: rent with operating costs and energy, loan repayments, maintenance payments. The base amount already includes €386.43 a month for housing, so that gets subtracted from your outgoings, and only what's left is added to the base amount: at €500 in outgoings, that's €113.57 a month. If your outgoings come to less than €386.43, there's nothing to add, but the base amount doesn't go down either.^4–7

Health insurance valid in Austria is required either way; it's a separate condition. Its full cost is added to the total, without the €386.43 deduction. Student self-insurance (Selbstversicherung) with ÖGK, the state health insurance fund, costs €78.84 a month, and the calculator includes it by default. When to take it out, and what to use for cover while you're entering the country, is covered in the article on your first weeks in Vienna.^4·8·9

How many months the money has to cover

A student permit is issued for twelve months at most, and you need to prove the money for the whole term. If your passport expires sooner, the permit only runs until the passport does. To get the full year, renew your passport and take out insurance for the whole term before the authority makes its decision. In Vienna, that's MA 35, the immigration authority.¹

What counts instead of money in the account

The money has to sit in a bank account or savings book in your name. Instead of it, or alongside it, these count too:⁸

• A scholarship. While it's being paid, it counts as regular income.⁷
• A Haftungserklärung. This is a declaration of liability: another person living in the EU commits to covering your costs, backed by proof of their own income.^1·8
• A salary in Austria. It counts on a first application and on a renewal alike, if you can prove it, for example with a contract or payslips. What counts is your net income. If you're paid a 13th and 14th salary, they're spread across the year: your monthly income is multiplied by 14 and divided by 12.^1·10

Transfers from relatives don't count as income. If the money in your account came from your parents, the authority may ask where it came from. You can prove this with, for example, their own declaration, their account statements for the last six months, and a certificate from their employer.^8·10

If you're already in Austria and renewing

Apply for the renewal in good time: no earlier than three months before your current permit expires, and no later than its last day. You prove the money again from scratch. You'll also have to explain what happened to the money you showed last time.^1·7

Alongside the money, you need proof of academic progress: on a regular programme, that's for example 16 ECTS from the previous academic year. The preparatory course has its own condition: within two years at the latest, you need to show admission to a regular programme. How resits fit into that timeline, and what to do if you've passed every exam but the university entrance exam is only offered next semester, is covered in the article on failed exams. Deadlines, documents, and what counts as progress for a VWU student are covered in the article on renewal.^1·11

Can you work while you study

As a student, you can work up to 20 hours a week without a labour market test. You still need a work permit, even for a mini-job, and your employer applies for it at the AMS, the employment service, before your first working day. What you earn lowers the amount you need to keep in the account. A mini-job doesn't give you health insurance: if you earn up to €551.10 gross a month, you're only insured against accidents. The page doesn't mention any separate rule for the summer break, so you need the same permit then too. Working more than 20 hours a week is only allowed if no worker from the Austrian labour market was found for the position.^8·12–14

What to check before you apply

• How old you'll be over the whole term of the permit.
• What your rent costs including operating costs, and whether you have other regular payments.
• Whether your insurance is valid in Austria for the whole term.
• Whether the money sits in an account in your name, and whether you can explain where it came from.¹
• For a renewal: proof of academic progress, and an application date no earlier than three months before expiry.
• Whether the amounts have changed since 1 January.
• Whether you're ready for the €218 permit fee, paid when you apply.¹

All the other costs of the preparatory year are collected in the cost breakdown, and the order of steps after you arrive is set out in the article on your first weeks in Vienna.

Sources

· 14 checked 25.09.2026

1. 1Aufenthaltsbewilligung Student — Stadt Wien, MA 35 · checked 23.09.2026
2. 2VwGH, Erkenntnis Ra 2017/22/0177 · dated 22.03.2018, checked 23.09.2026
3. 3ASVG, § 293 — Richtsätze · checked 23.09.2026
4. 4Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, § 11 · checked 23.09.2026
5. 5ASVG, § 292 — Wert der vollen freien Station · checked 23.09.2026
6. 6Verwaltungsgericht Wien, VGW-151/044/2036/2024 · dated 10.04.2024, checked 23.09.2026
7. 7Informationsbroschüre über die Unterhaltsberechnung im NAG, 2026 — Bundesministerium für Inneres · dated 01.01.2026, checked 23.09.2026
8. 8Aufenthaltsbewilligung Student (kein Mobilitätsprogramm) — OeAD · checked 20.09.2026
9. 9Selbstversicherung für Studierende — Österreichische Gesundheitskasse · checked 23.09.2026
10. 10Berechnung und Nachweis des gesicherten Lebensunterhalts — Stadt Wien, MA 35 · checked 23.09.2026
11. 11Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz, § 64 — Studierende · checked 23.09.2026
12. 12Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz, § 4 · checked 23.09.2026
13. 13Geringfügige Beschäftigung — Österreichische Gesundheitskasse · checked 23.09.2026
14. 14Beschäftigungsbewilligung für Schüler/Studierende/Studienabsolventen — Unternehmensserviceportal (USP) · checked 25.09.2026