NATIONAL LABOUR MARKET POLICIES
Basic Information Reports
2.4.1.3.Upper limits at federal and Land level
The purpose of the upper limit at federal level is to ensure controlled entry of foreign workers; it has binding force and limits the foreign labour share of the labour force. This upper limit covers all legally employed and unemployed foreigners. According to the stipulations contained in the AuslBG, their share may not exceed 8% of the total Austrian labour force.
By virtue of the Ordinance on Exceeding the Upper Limit at Federal Level (Bundeshöchstzahlenüberziehungsverordnung - BHZÜV), certain persons whose employment is in the public or the national economic interest may be granted individual and general clearance certificates, even if the upper limit is then exceeded up to a maximum of 9% of the total labour force.
The following groups are covered by the BHZÜV:
- integrated young foreigners;
- Bosnian war refugees;
- managers and highly qualified key personnel whose employment is in the national economic interest and is related to efforts to secure foreign investment in Austria;
- foreigners for whom easier access to the labour market is prescribed in international treaties;
- border workers with at least six months' legal employment within the previous year;
- persons who are employed temporarily (seasonally) in agriculture, forestry or tourism on the basis of a particular ordinance;
- foreigners sent to Austria by their companies;
- foreigners who have resided in Austria legally for eight years;
- foreigners who have been victims of violence in the family; and
- asylum-seekers whose application for asylum was turned down res judicata and who face persecution in their own countries.
In addition, if a foreigner has accumulated entitlements to benefits from unemployment insurance, his/her application for a work permit (employment licence) may not be turned down even though the upper limit at federal level has been exceeded.
The upper limit at federal level is legally defined as 8% of the total labour force and amounts to 262,885 persons in 1998. Consequently, the 9% exceptional limit under the BHZÜV amounts to 295,745 persons in the same year.
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