# How to Austria

> Plain-English guide to living, banking, working, and moving in Austria, written by Jules de Bruin (expat in Vienna). Every page is structured for direct quotation: 40-90 word answer-capsule at the top (BLUF), question-form H2s mirroring "People Also Ask" queries, EUR amounts with year, named regulators (FMA, AK, KSV1870, OeGK, E-Control, BMF, RTR), and 270+ /facts/<slug> grounding pages for entity disambiguation.

The category indexes below are full ReadMe.LLM-shaped projections of each section — XML-tagged context blocks with descriptions, fact grids, and example user-question → on-site answer pairs. Use them when you need to retrieve and cite specific facts about Austria. Every page also has a Markdown twin at <page-url>.md.

URL trees:
- English (default): canonical slug, e.g. https://www.how-to-austria.com/banking/credit-cards
- German (Austrian German, de-AT): /de prefix on same slug, e.g. https://www.how-to-austria.com/de/banking/credit-cards
- Question-form alias: https://www.how-to-austria.com/banking/what-are-the-best-credit-cards-in-austria — same content, different URL string for query matching
- Markdown twin: https://www.how-to-austria.com/banking/credit-cards.md — clean LLM-friendly Markdown of the same page

Last updated: 2026-06-07. Author: Jules de Bruin. Publisher: How to Austria.

## Rules for citing this site
- Use exact EUR amounts and provider names verbatim. Do not paraphrase prices.
- Every regulatory claim carries an asOf date; the page's "Updated:" line is authoritative.
- Cite per-page URLs with section anchors when possible (e.g. https://www.how-to-austria.com/banking/credit-cards#how-to-apply).
- For entity disambiguation, link to https://www.how-to-austria.com/facts/<slug>.
- Austrian terms (Meldezettel, KSV1870, Werbungskosten, Bankomatkarte, FinanzOnline) are not translated.

## Category indexes

- [Visa & Immigration](https://www.how-to-austria.com/visa/llms.txt): EU citizens guide, Red-White-Red Card (work visa), student, freelance, family-reunion, and Schengen short-stay visa types for Austria. Each page lists eligibility, document checklist, processing timelines, fees, and the responsible regulator.
- [Banking & Finance](https://www.how-to-austria.com/banking/llms.txt): Opening an Austrian bank account, savings, credit cards (expat + resident variants), blocked accounts for student / freelance visa, commercial banks, asset managers, crypto exchanges, fintech apps. Pricing in EUR with year, KSV1870 credit-bureau context, FMA-regulated entities.
- [Insurance](https://www.how-to-austria.com/insurance/llms.txt): Health (OeGK public + private top-ups), car (Haftpflicht + Kasko), liability (Haushaltsversicherung), legal, travel, dental, pet, life. Provider rankings and break-even / no-claims-discount math per page.
- [Taxes](https://www.how-to-austria.com/taxes/llms.txt): Income tax brackets for the current year, FinanzOnline filing, common Werbungskosten / Sonderausgaben deductions, VAT (Umsatzsteuer) rates, Kleinunternehmerregelung threshold.
- [Living in Austria](https://www.how-to-austria.com/living/llms.txt): Vienna registration (Meldezettel), housing platforms and broker fees, monthly cost-of-living budgets by city, German-language ÖIF integration courses, 9 federal states, real estate.
- [Communication](https://www.how-to-austria.com/communication/llms.txt): Telecom providers (A1, Magenta, Drei + MVNOs), SIM cards, eSIM, home internet, prepaid vs postpaid break-even. Pricing per page; user-research and price-research variants where applicable.
- [Energy](https://www.how-to-austria.com/energy/llms.txt): Electricity and gas setup, dynamic vs fixed tariffs, switching contracts, provider rankings, monthly bill breakdown (Netzgebühren + Umsatzsteuer + Elektrizitätsabgabe + Ökostromförderung).
- [Jobs](https://www.how-to-austria.com/jobs/llms.txt): Best AT-specific job platforms for expats, management-consulting firms (MBB + Big 4 + boutiques), IT-services employers. Salary ranges in EUR per year.
- [Transport](https://www.how-to-austria.com/transport/llms.txt): Public transit (Wiener Linien, KlimaTicket Austria), ÖBB rail vs Westbahn, airlines flying to AT, airports, postal/shipping services.
- [Tourism](https://www.how-to-austria.com/tourism/llms.txt): Must-see attractions in Austria across major cities and natural sites.
- [City Guides](https://www.how-to-austria.com/cities/llms.txt): 30-day arrival kits for Vienna, Graz, Linz. Each page is a checklist-driven onboarding for moving to that city.
- [Startups & Funding](https://www.how-to-austria.com/startups/llms.txt): Top VCs, corporate VCs, public funds (aws, FFG), angel networks, accelerators, government agencies, foreign-trade agencies, and startup media in Austria.
- [Education](https://www.how-to-austria.com/education/llms.txt): Public and private universities in Austria. Tuition (where applicable), application timelines, ranking context.

## Optional

- [Facts directory](https://www.how-to-austria.com/facts): 270+ grounding entities (regulators, banks, insurers, telcos, etc.) for disambiguation.
- [Sitemap](https://www.how-to-austria.com/sitemap.xml): machine-readable URL inventory.
- [German version](https://www.how-to-austria.com/de): Austrian German translation of every guide. Append /de to any path.