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LIVING IN AUSTRIA

EXPLAINED: How to maximise your annual leave in Austria in 2022

It's time to start planning your 2022 holiday year before your colleagues snap up all the most coveted days. Here are our tips for making the most of your annual leave in Austria.

Published: 21 December 2021 15:14 CET
Hammock by cabin
Plan your time off right this year using our tips. Photo: Carla Fuller/Unsplash

Austria can already boast some of the most generous annual leave worldwide, with 25 days’ minimum for full-time employees and an additional 13 public holidays. 

As in many European countries, but unlike the UK for example, most Austrian holidays are tied to specific dates rather than weekdays. If they happen to fall on a weekend, you do not got a day off in lieu.

That means that 2022 actually only offers ten weekday public holidays, while two of the three ‘de facto’ public holidays (which employers are not obliged to give as days off, but many do) also fall on weekends, so most employees will get 11 days off work in addition to their annual leave.

In 2021, just nine of the 13 public holidays fell on weekdays, but by contrast all three of the ‘de facto’ public holidays did, meaning that most people with employment in Austria got 12 days off this year.

Some savvy annual leave planning can help you maximise your days however, for example by taking advantage of five possible four-day weekends throughout the year, which only require one day of annual leave each.

It’s worthwhile thinking about this early in the year, because forward planning is almost a national sport in Austria, so you don’t want your colleagues to snag all of the best days off before you.

January

Saturday, January 1st (New Year’s Day)

The public holiday year of 2022 doesn’t get off to a great start, with the first holiday lost to the weekend. A large number of employers offer December 31st as a day off, though they’re not obliged to, so maybe you’ll enjoy a three-day weekend at least.

Thursday, January 6th (Epiphany)

Your first chance at a long weekend comes in the first week of the year, with a four-day weekend if you take Friday the 7th off work. Schools in Austria have this Friday off in 2022, extending the Christmas break until January 10th to make things easier with Covid-19 testing rules.

April

Monday, April 18th (Easter Monday)

Good Friday (Friday, April 15th in 2022) isn’t a public holiday in Austria, but many employers still give their workers the day off without needing to use annual leave. If that applies to you, you can book time off from April 11th to get ten days off in a row with four requested annual leave days.

May

Sunday, May 1st (Labour Day)

Another holiday is lost to the weekend…

Thursday, May 26th (Ascension Day)

…but later in the month you can take Friday, 27th off to get a four-day weekend.

June

Monday, June 6th (Pentecost)

Great news, it’s a three-day weekend. 

Thursday, June 16th (Corpus Christi Day)

Another Thursday public holiday gives the chance to take a ‘bridge day’ and get a second June long weekend.

If you take off May 27th and May 30th-June 3rd, you can get a 12-day holiday for the price of six annual leave days, or if you take off the time between the two June bank holidays (June 7th-10th and 13th-15th), plus Friday 17th, you can get a string of 16 days off for the price of eight days’ annual leave. For people who don’t have to plan around school holidays, this could be an excellent time to plan your main summer break.

More on working in Austria from The Local:

August

Monday, August 15th (Assumption Day)

Another three-day weekend here.

October

Wednesday, October 26th (National Day)

November

Tuesday, November 1st (All Saints Day)

Another chance for a bridge day on the Monday.

December

Thursday, December 8th (Feast of the Immaculate Conception)

Another bridge day opportunity.

Sunday, December 25th (Christmas)

Monday, December 26th (Boxing Day)

In 2022, December 26th gives you one day off, but the other public holidays (December 25th and January 1st, 2023) as well as December 24th and 31st which are not official public holidays but are given by many employers, all fall on the weekend. This means that if you want time off over the holiday, you need to save some of your annual leave to make up for this.

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LIVING IN AUSTRIA

Do foreigners in Austria have to carry ID?

The short answer is yes—as a foreigner in Austria—you need to both have ID and generally carry it with you. But the police are bound by certain rules as to when and in what circumstances they can ask you for it.

Published: 11 May 2023 12:58 CEST
Do foreigners in Austria have to carry ID?

Foreigners in Austria have one obligation that Austrian citizens are exempt from—the requirement to carry identification in Austria. This requirement is in place for any non-Austrian in Austria, so it binds other EU citizens and non-EU foreigners alike.

Depending on the circumstances, Austrian police can ask you to produce identification to verify your identity.

Although Austrian citizens don’t technically have to carry ID, many do anyway in the form of national ID cards. These cards are smaller than a passport, but as they identify the bearer’s nationality as Austrian—foreigners obviously can’t get these. There’s a few acceptable forms of ID you can carry as a foreigner though.

The first is perhaps the most obvious—and cumbersome. You can simply carry your passport with you. Of course, carrying such an important and expensive document with you that’s also larger than standard wallet-sized ID might not be preferable.

However, your residence card is also an acceptable form of ID to carry in Austria—and probably a little more convenient than your passport.

If you’re an EU citizen, you can also simply carry your national ID card with you—if your country has one.

One document that won’t count with Austrian police—should they decide to ask you for ID—is a driver’s licence. Unlike in some countries, where a driver’s licence is an acceptable alternative to a passport for ID, a driver’s licence does not carry the same legal weight in Austria.

All this basically means that if you don’t have a residence card in Austria—either because you’re a tourist or you just arrived and are waiting for your residence card—you may technically have to carry your passport with you.

READ ALSO: How Austria is making it easier for non-EU workers to get residence permits

When can the police ask me for ID in Austria?

The good news is that Austrian police have stricter conditions placed on them than countries like France for example, where police have a great deal of latitude to require people to produce ID.

An Austrian police officer can ask for your ID only in certain situations.

A generic image of an Austrian police car seen in Vienna. Photo: ALEX HALADA / AFP

Austrian Police face tougher limits as to when they can ask you for ID than police in many other countries do. Photo: ALEX HALADA / AFP

First, the officer can ask you for ID if they have reason to believe that you were involved in or witnessed a dangerous act that puts public safety at risk. They can also ask you for ID if something illegal has taken place at your place of residence. Unlike countries like France, simply being in an area where a lot of crimes happen or having the police suspect that you might be about to commit a crime isn’t sufficient grounds to ask for your ID in Austria—even if you’re committed a crime before.

The police may also ask for your ID if they are actively searching for a missing person or escaped prisoner—for example—and want to verify people’s identities as part of that search, or if a public emergency requires them to identify people.

One place where Austrian police can ask you for ID at pretty much any point is at an Austrian airport.

Other than that, police generally cannot arbitrarily ask you to produce ID in Austria. Obviously though, certain service providers can ask you for ID for administrative reasons—such as for picking up an parcel or voting in certain elections.

What happens if I don’t have my ID with me?

If you don’t have valid ID with you and the police have asked you to produce it for a valid reason, be prepared to lose a bit of your day. They may take you to a police station to establish your identity, or accompany you home to get your ID if you’re close by to where you live.

If you don’t possess a valid form of identification at all as a foreigner in Austria, you can face a fine of up to €5,000.

READ ALSO: Visas and residency permits: How to move to Austria and stay long-term

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