Moving to Austria: the insurance and registration checklist for your first 90 days (2026)

By Rudolf Adlmanninger, insurance broker (Versicherungsmakler) · Last updated 9 September 2026

In short: This is a checklist for the insurance and the official registrations — not a general moving guide, and not immigration or tax advice. Health cover comes first and it belongs before you travel, not in your first month: for a residence permit the certificate goes into the application file, and even with a job waiting, statutory cover starts on the day your insured employment begins, so the days before that are yours to cover. Once you are here, the tightest deadline is your address: three days from moving in, with a fine of up to €726 for missing it. A car on foreign plates gives you one month, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens have four months for the registration certificate, and a non-EEA driving licence has six. Care Austria, the private policy we most often arrange for newcomers, can be taken out before you move (partner link below). We are an independent insurance broker in Austria, we advise in English by video call and telephone across time zones, and the insurance parts can be settled before you land.

How does POINTNER finanz help — in English, before you arrive?

1. A 15-minute callTell us your nationality, your arrival date, whether a job is waiting and what you are bringing. We tell you which deadlines apply to you and in which order — and if you need nothing from us, we say that too.
2. We sort out your caseWe check what your permit or registration asks you to prove, what your existing policies do after the move, and where the gaps sit. On request we go through the terms with you on a shared screen.
3. Quote and applicationYou receive a written quote and, where the product allows it, the application runs online — health cover, car liability and home contents can all be arranged before you enter Austria.

We are based in Austria and use Central European Time, switching to summer time in summer — roughly one hour ahead of the UK and six ahead of New York. Evening slots exist for exactly that reason; please check the time zone shown when booking.

What do I need to arrange before I travel?

Split the answer by where you are coming from, because the two situations look nothing alike. One sentence applies to both, though: arrange continuous health cover before you travel. Everything else on this page can be caught up with; do not assume a gap in health cover can be. A private policy is never backdated, and the statutory routes have conditions of their own — the ÖGK self-insurance, for example, can follow on from earlier cover only if you apply within six weeks of that cover ending.

If you are a third-country national — American, Indian, British, Canadian, Pakistani and so on — the residence title normally comes first, and health insurance is part of that application rather than a follow-up task. Austrian law requires cover that “covers all risks” and “also pays out in Austria” (§ 11 para. 2 no. 3 of the Settlement and Residence Act), and the migration portal is explicit about the timing: “already at the time of application, you have to furnish proof of health insurance coverage that provides benefits in Austria and covers all risks”. First applications are as a rule filed at the Austrian embassy or consulate responsible for your place of residence, so the policy normally has to exist before you travel.

There are exceptions, and they are category-specific rather than general. Some applications may be filed inside Austria — employers can file Red-White-Red Card and EU Blue Card applications here, and students have their own route. But filing in Austria is not the same as being allowed to wait here: § 21 para. 6 of the Settlement and Residence Act states that an application filed in Austria under several of those categories “creates no right to remain beyond the permitted visa-free or visa-required stay”. Which category you fall into, and what that means for your travel dates, is a question for the Austrian representation responsible for you or for an immigration lawyer. We advise on insurance, not on immigration law.

Before you buy anything, check what you already have. Cover through a spouse’s policy, an international policy from an employer or a scheme you are still entitled to at home can sometimes satisfy the requirement — the question is always whether it covers all risks and pays out in Austria, not what it is called. Our page on health insurance for the Red-White-Red Card and other residence permits sets out which policies the authority accepts and what they cost.

If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, you generally do not need an entry visa, and the first three months come with no conditions attached: under § 15a of the Aliens Police Act, EEA and Swiss citizens “enjoy visa exemption and have the right of residence for a period of three months”. It is the stay beyond three months that is conditional. You may reside in Austria for longer if you are employed or self-employed here, or if you have “sufficient means of subsistence and comprehensive health insurance coverage” for yourself and your dependants, or if you are here to study and can show both — and the registration certificate, applied for within four months of arrival, is where those conditions are documented and checked. So the four-month mark is a paperwork deadline rather than the moment the rules change: if you are moving without a job to start, plan the insurance as part of the case you will make there, not as a form you fill in afterwards.

One warning for EU movers in particular: an EHIC is not that insurance. The card covers “medically necessary, state-provided healthcare while you are temporarily staying” in another member state, and the European Commission is explicit that if you move and make a country your habitual place of residence, “you should register using the S1 form instead of relying on the EHIC for medical care”. A move is not a temporary stay, and the four-month file is not the place to find that out.

Whatever the passport, get the documents themselves ready before you leave. Birth and marriage certificates, qualifications, proof of income: Austrian authorities often want originals plus certified translations, and documents from some countries also need an apostille or legalisation. Which documents that applies to, and in what form, depends on the office and on what you are applying for, so ask for the list instead of having everything you own translated. That is slow to organise from Austria and quick to organise at home. Bring your travel document and a note of your future Austrian address, because several deadlines below start on the day you move in.

Sources: RIS: § 11 Abs. 2 Z 3 NAG (German), RIS: § 21 NAG (German), migration.gv.at: Frequently asked questions, RIS: § 15a FPG (German), European Commission: European Health Insurance Card and oesterreich.gv.at: Registration certificate — https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/en/themen/menschen_aus_anderen_staaten/aufenthalt/4/2/Seite.120810 (all accessed September 2026)

Meldezettel, residence title, registration certificate: which is which?

Three different documents, issued by different offices, constantly confused — including in expat forums.

• The Meldezettel is the registration form for your address, and the Meldebestätigung is the confirmation you get back. Everybody who lives in Austria has one, whatever the passport. It says where you live. It says nothing about whether you are allowed to be here.
• A residence title (Aufenthaltstitel) — Red-White-Red Card, EU Blue Card, settlement permit, family permit — is what a third-country national needs in order to live in Austria. It is issued by the immigration authority and it is the document that requires the health insurance proof.
• The registration certificate (Anmeldebescheinigung) is for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens. It is not a permit: it documents a right of residence that already exists under Union law. It costs €44 and has a four-month deadline.
• The residence card (Aufenthaltskarte) is the one that gets missed. A third-country national who is the family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen exercising a Union right of residence does not apply for an ordinary national residence title but for this card, also within four months of entry, at €91 (€39 for under-16s).

A residence title does not replace the address registration, and the address registration does not create a right of residence. You will usually need all the ones that apply to you.

Source: oesterreich.gv.at: Aufenthaltskarte für Angehörige von EWR-Bürgerinnen/EWR-Bürgern (German) — https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/de/themen/menschen_aus_anderen_staaten/aufenthalt/1/Seite.120830 (accessed September 2026)

When does health insurance actually start?

This is the question the timing hangs on, and the common answer — “my employer sorts it out” — is only half right.

If you are starting a job, compulsory insurance begins on the day your insured employment begins. That is a statutory rule, not an administrative one: under § 10 para. 1 of the General Social Insurance Act, cover starts “irrespective of whether a registration has been filed, on the day the employment begins”. Your employer registers you with the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) before your first working day and hands you a copy — check the start date on it — but that registration is a notification, not the thing that insures you. It does not cover the days before your employment begins. If you arrive three weeks before you start, those three weeks are yours to arrange.

A marginal job does not do it. Employment whose monthly earnings do not exceed the marginal earnings threshold does not bring statutory health insurance with it. The ÖGK puts the 2026 figure as “not more than EUR 551.10” a month, so an income exactly on the line is still marginal — and earnings from several jobs count together, which means two small jobs can push you over the line and into full compulsory insurance after all. Marginally employed people with a residence in Austria can opt into self-insurance for health and pension under § 19a of the General Social Insurance Act, which costs €83.49 a month in 2026, but it has to be applied for. Assuming that a small job automatically insures you is one of the more expensive mistakes on this list.

If you are setting up in business, your fund is the SVS rather than the ÖGK. Compulsory insurance under the trade scheme begins on the day the requirements are met — the day you may exercise your trade licence, or the day the partnership or managing-director entry is made in the commercial register — and the trade authority normally notifies the SVS itself, so the insurance is often established retroactively and the first contribution notice arrives long after the cover did. Good news for the cover, no help at all for the days before that date: those are still yours to arrange.

If you are not working here, you have a decision rather than a form. Voluntary statutory health insurance with the ÖGK (Selbstversicherung) costs €565.25 a month in 2026 — that is the standard contribution, and the ÖGK notes that it “can be reduced taking your economic circumstances into account”, which is decided case by case on application. Benefits normally begin only after a six-month waiting period, waived if you were covered by statutory insurance, or entitled as a dependant, for at least six uninterrupted weeks immediately beforehand or 26 weeks in the previous twelve months. Third-country nationals need a valid residence title for it.

It is not a straight choice between that and a private policy, either. Depending on your situation, being co-insured with a working spouse, a student self-insurance at €78.84 a month, an S1 from a former country of insurance, or cover that continues under EU coordination rules can all be worth checking. That is fifteen minutes of conversation, and it is worth having before you commit to anything.

A private policy accepted by the immigration authority is the alternative, and for third-country nationals often the only one available before the permit exists. It is also the route with the most fine print — age limits, terms, what happens to pre-existing conditions. The section further down sets out what Care Austria, the policy we most often arrange for newcomers, actually covers and does not.

Sources: RIS: § 10 Abs. 1 ASVG (German), ÖGK: Geringfügige Beschäftigung — Selbstversicherung nach § 19a ASVG (German), ÖGK: Selbstversicherung in der Krankenversicherung (German), SVS: Gewerbetreibende — Beginn & Ende (German) and ÖGK: Wer meldet bei der Sozialversicherung an? (German) — https://www.oegk.at/cdscontent/?contentid=10007.870459&portal=oegkportal (all accessed September 2026)

What has to happen in the first three days?

One thing, and it is not negotiable: register your address. The deadline is “within three days of moving into accommodation”, at the registration office for your new address — the municipal office, the municipal administration, or in Vienna the municipal district office.

Four points that trip people up:

• You cannot do it alone. The accommodation provider — your landlord, or whoever actually provides the accommodation — must sign the registration form (Meldezettel). Ask for the signature when you collect the keys.
• It does not have to be a counter visit. According to oesterreich.gv.at you can register “in person or by post or online with ID Austria (id-austria.gv.at) or EU Login”, and “it is also possible for registration documents to be delivered by a messenger”. The online route has its own eligibility requirements, so it is not the default for a newcomer.
• A separate form per person, each one signed. Foreign nationals show their travel document; if you are not registering in person, originals or notarised copies travel with the form.
• It is free, and the penalty is not. There are no fees for registering. Failing to register is an administrative offence “punishable by a fine of up to 726 Euro” — up to €2,180 for a repeat offence.

One thing you cannot bring forward: registration “may only be made after actual accommodation has been taken”. You can prepare the form, the signature and the documents before you travel; you cannot file it from abroad in advance.

You receive a written confirmation of registration, and you will be asked for it constantly: by the bank, by the immigration authority, by the vehicle registration office (Zulassungsstelle) when you register a car. Make several copies on day one.

Source: oesterreich.gv.at: Registration and de-registration of a place of residence (accessed September 2026)

What belongs in the first month?

Three things — and only the first has a legal deadline attached to it.

Your car, if you brought one

The clock is short and it starts at the border. A person whose main residence is in Austria may use a vehicle with foreign number plates “for one month”, counted from when the vehicle is first brought into the country — and taking the car out of Austria for a weekend does not pause it. If your main residence stays abroad, a different rule applies and you have up to a year; the moment your main residence is here, the month is running — and registering your address is what an authority will read as the date it moved. The period “may be extended by a further month” only if convincing reasons are given for why registration was not possible in time, and it is not granted automatically. There is no third month. After that you hand the foreign registration documents and plates to the police headquarters or district authority.

To register the car in Austria you need valid third-party liability insurance from an insurer authorised in Austria. That is the piece we handle, and it is worth arranging before the car arrives. But a liability confirmation alone does not make a car registrable: the vehicle also has to be in the national type-approval database, NoVA has to be cleared, and a vehicle that was never type-approved for the EU market may need an individual approval. Any one of those can eat the month on its own, which is the real argument for starting early.

Your e-card and your first doctor

The e-card follows by post once you are insured — and your entitlement to treatment follows the insurance itself, not the card. It exists from the day your cover begins — for an employee that is the first day of insured employment, whether or not the employer has filed the registration; for a self-insurance it is the start of that insurance and the end of any waiting period. If you need a doctor before the card arrives, say so at the practice; the entitlement can be checked without it.

Most e-cards issued now carry a photo. Photographs are taken from existing official registers where possible — passport and ID photographs, and photographs from the foreigners register — so many newcomers do not need to do anything. Where no register photo exists, you register one at a registration office. There are exceptions: people who turn 70 or older in the year the card is issued and people receiving long-term care allowance at level 4 to 7 do not need a photograph.

While you are at it, look for a general practitioner with a contract with your fund (Kassenarzt). Doctors without such a contract are a Wahlarzt: you pay the bill yourself and the ÖGK reimburses 80 per cent of what it would have paid a contracted doctor — not 80 per cent of your bill, which is a different and usually smaller number.

Home contents insurance, from the day you hold the keys

In Austria, home contents insurance (“Haushaltsversicherung”) normally includes personal liability cover for the household — two covers that are often bought separately elsewhere come as one policy here. Personal liability matters most and gets thought about least: it is what pays when you damage someone else’s property or injure someone. There is no health assessment, and cover starts on the date you agree, which can be the day the lease starts. Waiting periods are not the rule here, but an individual add-on can carry one, so check the module you are actually buying.

Two qualifications, because “normally” is doing real work in that sentence. Not every person living at the address is automatically an insured person — flatmates who are not family typically are not — and not every kind of damage is covered, with damage to property you have hired or borrowed a common exclusion. To arrange a policy we need a little more than a date: floor area, how the home is used, roughly what the contents are worth, the sums insured you want and who is to be insured. That is a ten-minute conversation, not a form.

Sources: oesterreich.gv.at: Vehicles with foreign number plates, chipkarte.at: e-card mit Foto (German) and ÖGK: Wahlärztin/Wahlarzt (German) — https://www.oegk.at/cdscontent/?contentid=10007.870516&portal=oegkportal (all accessed September 2026)

What has a four-month or six-month deadline?

Two things fall just outside the first 90 days, which is exactly why they get forgotten. Plan ahead for both.

The registration certificate (Anmeldebescheinigung), for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens. “The stay must be registered with the competent settlement authority within four months of arrival in Austria.” It documents your right of residence under Union law and costs €44, payable when the application is submitted. What you show depends on why you are here: an employment contract, tax number or business register extract if you work; if not, “evidence of sufficient means of subsistence (e.g. bank balance, pension benefits) and comprehensive health insurance coverage”; if you are studying, evidence of the institution plus both of the above. Four months is the outer limit, not the plan — and because a non-working newcomer’s insurance is inspected here, it needs to be a real policy chosen in month one. A private policy such as Care Austria can serve as that proof of comprehensive cover for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens as well; it is not a non-EU product — as long as the stay remains a temporary one under the policy terms, because the cover ends once you move your permanent residence to Austria or are granted an open-ended residence title.

Your driving licence, if it was issued outside the EEA. Licences from another EEA country are “deemed equivalent to national driving licences” and you do “not need to convert” them — with one exception worth knowing if you drive for a living: EEA licences for the lorry and bus categories C, C1, D and D1 remain valid for a maximum of five years after you move your residence to Austria. A licence from outside the EEA “must be converted within six months of the holder first registering Austria as their place of residence”, and you may generally keep driving on it during those six months. A practical driving test is normally part of the conversion, but there is a published exception list — see the two country sections below. The exchange costs €90, plus a medical certificate and the test where one is required. And do not treat the translation as optional: according to oesterreich.gv.at a foreign licence that is not in German “is only valid in conjunction with an international driving licence or a translation”. Neither of those replaces the exchange.

Sources: oesterreich.gv.at: Registration certificate, oesterreich.gv.at: Foreign driving licences — conversion and oesterreich.gv.at: Driving licences in the EU — https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/en/themen/mobilitaet/kfz/9/Seite.063502 (all accessed September 2026)

What does the whole timeline look like?

What	Who it applies to	The clock starts	Deadline or figure
Residence title, with proof of all-risk health insurance that pays out in Austria	Third-country nationals	Before you travel	Application as a rule at the Austrian embassy or consulate abroad
Health cover for the days before your Austrian insurance begins	Everyone without cover on arrival	Before you travel	No official deadline — but statutory cover starts only with your insured employment
Car liability cover; home contents insurance	Anyone bringing a car or taking a home	Before you travel	No deadline — but registration will not happen without the liability cover
Register your address (Meldezettel), signed by the accommodation provider	Everyone	The day you actually move in	3 days; free; fine up to €726, €2,180 on repeat
Register a vehicle on foreign number plates in Austria	Anyone with a main residence in Austria	The day the vehicle is first brought into Austria	1 month, extendable by 1 month on convincing grounds only
Statutory or private health insurance in place	Everyone	Arrival	ÖGK self-insurance €565.25 a month (2026), six-month waiting period unless waived
Registration certificate (Anmeldebescheinigung)	EU, EEA and Swiss citizens staying over 3 months	The day you enter Austria	4 months; €44; means and comprehensive cover if you are not working
Convert a non-EEA driving licence	Holders of non-EEA licences	The day you first register a residence in Austria	6 months; €90 exchange fee
Replace an EEA licence for categories C, C1, D, D1	Lorry and bus drivers from the EEA	The day you move your residence	Valid for a maximum of 5 years

Moving from the UK: what is different after Brexit

Three things change, and one of them surprises people.

Health cover. The S1 form still exists, but it is narrower than most people assume, and it does not follow from your passport — the competent institution decides whether you are entitled. According to the NHS Business Services Authority you may be entitled to an S1 if you “get paid a UK State Pension” and are “living in or moving to an EU country, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein”, and separately if you are a worker posted temporarily by a UK company or receive certain other exportable benefits. If you are moving to Austria to work or start a business, an S1 is normally not the route: your cover comes from Austrian statutory insurance once your employment begins, and from your own policy until then. Pensioners who qualify can apply online “up to 90 days before you move to live in an EU country” — and note that “an S1 does not cover private healthcare”, that “you’ll need to register your S1 with the relevant authority in the country you’re living in”, and that an S1 is a healthcare document, not a residence title.

One distinction matters throughout: British citizens who were already lawfully resident in Austria before the end of the transition period hold protected rights under the Withdrawal Agreement. British citizens moving now do not — for immigration purposes they are third-country nationals like any other, which is why the residence title and its insurance proof come first.

Your driving licence. A UK licence is now a non-EEA licence, so the six-month conversion deadline applies. The good news: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is on the list of countries where no practical driving test is required, and that exemption covers all categories.

Your car and your belongings. Bringing goods from the UK is now an import from outside the EU customs territory. Relief for relocation goods requires, according to the Ministry of Finance, that you “had your normal place of residence outside the customs territory of the European Community for a continuous period of at least 12 months”, that you “have used the personal property at your former normal place of residence for a minimum of six months” before giving up that residence, and that the goods are entered for free circulation “within 12 months” of establishing residence in Austria. Duty-free goods may not be lent, given as security, hired or transferred for twelve months without telling the customs office first.

Whether your car qualifies as relocation goods is for the customs office to decide — ask before you ship. And keep the two taxes apart: relief for qualifying relocation goods can remove customs duty and import VAT, but it is not in itself an exemption from NoVA, the Austrian standard consumption levy due on registration. Separate NoVA exemptions exist and are unrelated to your move — vehicles that have “a CO2 emission value of 0 g/km because of their drive system (in particular electric or hydrogen)” are exempt; hybrids are not.

Sources: NHS Business Services Authority: Applying for healthcare cover for living abroad, oesterreich.gv.at: Foreign driving licences — conversion, Federal Ministry of Finance: Transferring your normal place of residence from a non-EU country and BMF: NoVA-Befreiungen (German) — https://www.bmf.gv.at/themen/steuern/kraftfahrzeuge/normverbrauchsabgabe-uebersicht/nova-befreiung.html (all accessed September 2026)

Moving from the US: what is different

Your residence title comes first, and it carries the insurance question with it. There is no social security agreement covering healthcare between Austria and the United States, so the cover you show the authority is cover you arrange yourself — unless something you already hold qualifies. Which title applies — a Red-White-Red Card, an EU Blue Card, a settlement permit with gainful employment excepted for retirement, a family permit — decides the rest of the file; the insurance requirement is identical across all of them. If you may enter Austria under a visa-free regime, migration.gv.at notes that “after entering the country legally and while residing here legally, the application may be submitted in person to the competent immigration office within Austria” — but whether that route is open in your category, and whether you may remain here while the application runs, is a question for the Austrian representation responsible for you. We advise on insurance, not on immigration law.

Your driving licence: six months, and — for ordinary cars — no driving test. A US licence must be converted within six months of registering your residence. The USA appears on the published exemption list for category B, the ordinary car licence, so no practical test is required for that category; other categories are not on that list and a test can be required. A medical certificate and the €90 exchange fee apply either way.

Your household goods and your car. The same relocation-goods rules apply as for the UK: twelve months’ residence outside the EU customs territory, six months’ use of the goods, import within twelve months of settling, no transfer for a further twelve months without notifying customs. Relief for qualifying goods can remove customs duty and import VAT; NoVA is a separate levy, due on registration unless a separate exemption applies. Shipping a US-specification car is frequently dearer than selling it and buying here, and it can also need an individual approval before it can be registered — worth a calculation before the container is booked.

Time zones. Austria runs on Central European Time (CET/CEST), which is normally six hours ahead of New York and nine ahead of California — normally, because the changeover dates for summer time differ, so check the actual gap in March and late October. Our evening appointments, Austria time, are the ones that land in your working day.

Sources: migration.gv.at: Frequently asked questions, oesterreich.gv.at: Foreign driving licences — conversion and Federal Ministry of Finance: Transferring your normal place of residence from a non-EU country — https://www.bmf.gv.at/en/topics/customs/tax-and-duty-free-import-of-relocation-goods/transferring-place-of-residence-from-a-non-eu-country.html (all accessed September 2026)

What can I actually arrange before I land?

More than most people expect — and the parts that can be done in advance are the parts with the tightest deadlines afterwards.

Health insurance. For a residence permit application it has to be done in advance, because the certificate goes into the file. Care Austria (partner link) is private health insurance for people moving to Austria and one of the policies on the list published by Vienna’s MA 35 — that list is the published reference, and in our experience the district authorities elsewhere in Austria accept Care Austria as well. The application is an online form — you take it out through us, online through our link — and it can be done before you move. What the price depends on: premiums according to Care Concept, as at September 2026, start at €51.00 a month, and that entry price is the Education rate for ages 12 to 35 with a term of up to 364 days (€56.00 open-ended); the standard rate for ages up to 64 is €95.00 for 364 days, and an open-ended policy at ages 65 to 74 runs to €510.00 a month. Those open-ended premiums are adjusted in steps set out in the terms, the next on 1 January 2028, when the three open-ended age bands show €187.00 (ages 0–49), €268.00 (50–64) and €617.00 (65–74) a month; statutory ÖGK contributions are adjusted every year as well, and each step carries a special right of cancellation.

Five things worth knowing before you click:

• We normally work with Care Austria 364, where you choose a term from one month up to a maximum of 364 days and the policy ends when it expires. According to the MA 35 list, “Care Austria” and “Care Austria Education” are accepted without an additional declaration, while “Care Austria 364” and “364 Education” require an additional declaration from the insurer. In practice that is not an obstacle: Care Concept issues the declaration automatically with the policy documents, whether or not the authority asks for it in your case. Switching later from the 364 policy to the open-ended one is not possible without a fresh health assessment — the open-ended contract is a new application with new health questions. And a 364-day contract does not renew by itself: the follow-on contract has to be applied for on the insurer’s form before the current one expires and needs the insurer’s express consent, and it only covers events that arise after that application — anything from the first term counts as pre-existing, with a fresh €5,000 excess, and the eight-month waiting period for childbirth and dentures starts again — all of it subject to the same Austrian declaration, which § 2 no. 7 repeats for follow-on contracts. For a stay that will last years, the open-ended contract is usually the better fit; we look at that with you.
• Pre-existing conditions matter — and so does the Austrian clause beside them. The application asks health questions, the insurer decides on acceptance, and a refusal is possible. Where a pre-existing condition is accepted, you carry an excess of €5,000 per insured person and insurance year for anything arising from it, and the insurer’s payments for those conditions are capped at €30,000 over the whole contract term; on the 364 terms an insurance year means the 364 days from the start of the first contract, including any follow-on contracts. Read those figures together with the declaration for Austria that both sets of terms contain — § 15 of the open-ended terms, § 9 no. 4 of the 364 terms. While the insured person is in Austria, every health risk the ÖGK would cover as a compulsory benefit counts as covered by the insurer; the exclusions, restrictions and waiting periods that cannot be reconciled with that are waived; and cost caps and excesses apply only at the level at which the ÖGK itself would apply them. The €5,000 is therefore not a figure you would meet for every treatment in Austria: it bites where treatment goes beyond what the ÖGK covers as a compulsory benefit, and on cover outside Austria. Which of your conditions falls where is a case-by-case question, and health questions and the acceptance decision remain separate from it. That is exactly the case to discuss with us before you apply, not after.
• Billing depends on the practice. Care Concept settles directly with doctors and hospitals that accept it; where a practice does not, you pay and send the invoice in for reimbursement (the terms provide for reimbursement against original invoices). Budget for that; it is a different rhythm from a statutory card.
• Spouses and children can be co-insured according to Care Concept; the premiums for that are quoted on request.
• Trips home are limited. On the 364 terms the cover applies in Austria: holiday trips to your home country are covered for up to 14 days on contracts of four months or less and up to 28 days on longer contracts, and trips to other EU or Schengen countries for up to 30 days. Every trip has to be notified to the insurer in writing before you travel, otherwise only half of the reimbursable costs are paid. The open-ended contract covers the whole EU instead.

Sources: Care Concept AG: Care Austria (partner link) (premiums as at September 2026 according to Care Concept), Advigon Versicherung AG: Care Austria policy terms VB-KV 2023_10, §§ 9 and 15 (German, PDF) and Advigon Versicherung AG / Care Concept AG: Care Austria 364 policy terms VB-KV 2020_07 (CAU 364_2020_07), §§ 2, 6, 7 and 9 (German, PDF) — https://www.care-concept.de/krankenversicherung/care_austria/krankenversicherung_oesterreich_avb_adv_2020_364_komplett.pdf?vmnr=0020290000&vmmx=003157&mail=ra%40pointnerfinanz.at (all accessed September 2026)

We do not run a quote form for private cover for people outside the statutory system — the questions are too individual for a form. Use the enquiry form or a short call.

Car liability insurance, so the registration appointment happens in the first weeks of the month rather than the last days.

Home contents and personal liability, which we can arrange once the address, start date and cover details are agreed.

The conversation itself — a 15-minute call by phone or a 30-minute video consultation, in English, from wherever you are.

What cannot be done from abroad: registering your address, requesting the registration certificate and converting a driving licence require you to be here — though the address registration itself can be filed by post or through a messenger once you have actually moved in, and the e-card arrives by post rather than being collected. Registering the car is the exception on that list: “A vehicle can also be registered by a third party holding a written proxy”, and oesterreich.gv.at gives an insurance broker as its example. The proxy saves you the counter visit, not the conditions — the Austrian main residence and the rest of the registration file still have to be there.

Source: oesterreich.gv.at: Registering a vehicle — https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/en/themen/mobilitaet/kfz/2/Seite.060118 (accessed September 2026)

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Related guides: Health insurance in Austria · Red-White-Red Card and residence permits · Car insurance in Austria · Home contents and liability insurance