Proof of funds: the 2026 income thresholds and how MA35 calculates them

Austria wants proof you can support yourself before MA35, Vienna's immigration office, will grant or renew a residence permit. It's the single most-searched part of the whole process, and most of the worry comes from not knowing the exact number or how the office arrives at it. Here are the 2026 figures, what sits behind them, and the few mechanics the bare number hides.

Proof of funds, 2026 (monthly rates):

Single applicant: €1,308.39¹
Single applicant under 24, for study or another education purpose: €722.58¹
Couple, shared household: €2,064.12¹
Each child: +€201.88¹
Freie Station, the housing value built into the figure: €386.43¹

The 2026 figures

For 2026, a single applicant needs to show €1,308.39 a month, and a couple in a shared household €2,064.12 a month. Each child adds €201.88. These are monthly rates, and that distinction matters for how much you actually need, which comes just below.

For couples, the money is assessed together. Your incomes and resources count as one pool against the couple figure, so each of you isn't tested alone. In practice one solid account can cover both of you, and if you can gather the funds into a single account it's worth doing, though it's a convenience and not something to lose sleep over. A caseworker who opens the file and finds the full amount in one place has little to question, which keeps things moving.

There's a reduced rate for younger students. An applicant under 24 who is in Austria to study, or for another education purpose such as a pupil exchange or social-service year, needs to show €722.58 a month rather than the full €1,308.39. The reduction is specific to that education-purpose, under-24 case. A single applicant who isn't in that category works from the standard figure, whatever their age.

How MA35 calculates it

The published figure is a monthly minimum, and you show it for twelve months in advance. For the two-year residence permit tied to certain mobility programmes, it's twenty-four months.² So the sum you actually demonstrate is the monthly rate carried across a full year, or across two.

The figure is also a floor that your own fixed costs can raise. Built into it is a housing allowance the rules call the freie Station (a standard value for board and lodging), set at €386.43 for 2026. If your rent runs higher than that, the excess is counted against you and you need to show correspondingly more. Regular loan repayments are treated the same way, deducted from the income you can count. The adjustment only ever runs upward. High fixed costs raise what you must show; nothing lowers the published floor.

What counts toward the figure is broad. It can be income, savings, or a mix of the two.² A salary, money already in the bank, or both together all satisfy it, as long as the total clears the twelve-month requirement.

Where the money has to sit

Two conditions on the funds themselves are easy to overlook and worth getting right. The money has to be in an account in the applicant's own name,² accessible from Austria. It can sit in a foreign account, but then you have to be able to show you can reach it from Austria at any time.¹ And the origin of the funds should be traceable on request: the office can ask where the money came from, so a recent unexplained lump sum is worth being able to account for, and savings in particular come with a "where did this come from" question.¹ For a couple pooling resources, the same applies to the combined picture.

If your own funds fall short of the figure, Austrian law has a formal route for a third party to act as a financial guarantor, the Haftungserklärung (declaration of liability). It works for some permit types and not for others, and those details decide whether it's any use to you, which is covered on its own page.

Why the number changes every year

The funds figure isn't set by MA35 and isn't arbitrary. It's pegged by law to a social-insurance reference rate that's adjusted each year, which is why it creeps up most years.³ An old figure copied from a stale page will simply be wrong, and the office works from the current one, so always confirm the rate for the year you're applying in. The amounts are one of the few things in this process the office will not flex on for any reason, so there's no value in showing up short and hoping the difference goes unnoticed.

Figures verified June 2026.

Official sources

City of Vienna — "Secured livelihood: income thresholds" (wien.gv.at) ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
OeAD — "Student residence permit: proof of sufficient funds (twelve months, or twenty-four for mobility programmes; own-name account; income or savings)" (oead.at) ↩ ↩ ↩

The law behind this

NAG §11 Abs 5 — ties the required funds to the §293 ASVG reference rate, which is adjusted annually; this is why the figure changes from year to year (ris.bka.gv.at) ↩