Austria Publishes 66 Jobs Facing Labour Shortages That Foreigners Can Apply For

• The Austrian government published a list of 66 shortage occupations available to foreign workers across specific federal provinces in 2026
• Roles span sectors including construction, healthcare, education, finance, and food production, each tied to particular provinces
• Workers must secure a job offer in a designated province before they can qualify under Austria's regional shortage occupation scheme

Austria has published a list of 66 shortage occupations that foreign nationals can apply for in 2026, with each role restricted to the federal provinces where demand is most acute.

The list was released through Austria's official government migration portal, which stipulates that applicants must first obtain a job offer from an employer operating within one of the designated provinces before they can qualify under the regional shortage occupation scheme.

Austria's 66 regional shortage occupations

The occupations cover a broad range of industries. Construction trades represented on the list include floor and wall tilers, bricklayers, painters, glaziers, stucco plasterers, and construction joiners. Healthcare and wellness roles include dentists, veterinarians, orthopaedic technicians, masseurs, dietitians, and welfare and social workers.

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Education is also featured, with university lecturers, elementary school teachers, and other teaching professionals included among the listed occupations. Finance and business roles such as accountants, insurance agents, procurement managers, and graduates in business administration appear alongside legal consultants and lawyers.

The food and hospitality sector features bakers, butchers, confectioners, cheese-makers, waiters and waitresses, and travel and tourism professionals. Technology and engineering roles, including specialist technicians for data processing, surveying, low voltage and communication engineering, and graduate civil engineers, are also on the list.

Province-by-province eligibility

Each occupation on the list is linked to one or more of Austria's federal provinces, and eligibility is strictly tied to those designations.

Oberösterreich carries the largest share of listed roles, appearing alongside occupations ranging from plastics processors and metal surface refiners to dentists and veterinarians. Salzburg, Tirol, and Vorarlberg also feature prominently across multiple categories.

Some occupations are restricted to a single province. Weavers and weaving loom installers, for instance, are listed exclusively for Vorarlberg, as are elementary school teachers, food retailers, automat and machine operators, and scientists.

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Dietitians are limited to Steiermark, while cheese-makers and dairies professionals are confined to Salzburg, and insurance agents in Burgenland are listed separately from those eligible in other provinces.

The scheme is designed to address specific labour shortfalls at a provincial level rather than applying a uniform national standard, meaning the availability of a given occupation in one region does not guarantee eligibility across the country.

Foreign workers interested in applying under the scheme are required to review which provinces have listed their occupation and confirm that a prospective employer in that area is willing to offer them a position before proceeding with an application.

Croatia eases foreign worker rules, outlines five conditions.

Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that Croatia had announced a pathway allowing foreign workers to change employers.

The Ministry of the Interior has outlined five conditions that must be met for the process to apply.

Foreign nationals holding valid residence and work permits may switch employers without going through the standard work permit application procedure.

Source: YEN.com.gh