Establishing a company in Austria (Business and Private)
What to do when 3rd country nationals want to establish a company in Austria? Your ERVICo-Team will help you!
First, as in all aspects of business, you need to have a good idea and plan. A plan, which will ensure that your company can survive, so ultimately you can support yourself and your family from the profits of your company, from the very beginning (minimum requirement)! Your top priority should be to create a Business Plan.
You will eventually need it to convince the Austrian authorities that your company is able to provide a macroeconomic benefit beyond its operational benefit. This is already the main requirement to acquire the respective residence and work permits (Self-employed Key Persons) for you and your family.
An alternative is the foundation of a GmbH, where you should first think about who the shareholders of the GmbH are and who the managing director(s) are. We support you with this idea.
Since the capital requirements have been significantly reduced since January 1, 2024 (from EUR 35,000.00 to 10,000.00), access to this form of start-up has also been made significantly easier for less capital-rich founders.
Most important, therefore, is to convince the commission reviewing your business idea of the success and marketability of your idea. Your idea does not necessarily have to be extraordinary, but it needs to work within the specific marketplace, Austria, and the commission needs to be convinced of this.
In case your idea contains a very high level of innovation (products, services, processing methods, technologies, etc.) you may alternatively strive for a residence and work permit for start-up founders. This allows the access to specific organizations supporting the implementation of your organization, including risk capital bonus for investors, co-investments, support in structural development, and many more. Therefore, the innovative character of your idea and plan is a MUST, because it will be carefully reviewed.
Irrespective of the selected form, this way of migration is very interesting, but at the same time quite challenging. The local support by a partner is therefore crucial for this way of migration to Austria.
ERVICo is the organization which can help navigate you in finding the correct approach through the maze of different public or private organizations which support such processes. Most of the support is provided by ERVICo, but other organizations are brought in by ERVICo if needed, to offer even more support. Whether public, or private ones, these company advisors are very experienced, e.g. in checking Business Plans.