How to Relocate Your Household & Pets to Austria

Moving and Shipping Household Goods

Want to know how to move your household items and belongings? In this section, we tell you about the country’s shipping standards and customs restrictions, to help give you a better idea about what to pack when moving to Austria.

How To Ship Household Items and Belongings

The start of your new life in Austria will be much smoother if you gather all of the following documents together before you move. The absence of certain documents could make it harder for you to find accommodation, access important services, and do everyday things, like work in Austria.

Required Documents

To move household items to Austria, you will need the following documents:

• Passport
• Inventory (three copies)
• Original residence permit (meldezette)
• Certificate of residence change
• Entry certificate from the police station of the relevant municipal office

Customs Regulations for Austria

• Personal effects and household items that you have owned for at least six months are usually imported duty-free if you have been living in your country of origin for at least twelve months. These items can also be imported duty-free if you do not plan to sell the items for at least twelve months after you move to Austria.
• Household items must be imported within two years of moving.

Relocating from an EU Country

If you are relocating to Austria from another country in the European Union, you will be able to move goods freely thanks to free movement of goods in the EU laws. The main requirement is that you bring goods into the EU.

This is the case for all goods, apart from tobacco or alcoholic beverages in your personal luggage, which exceed certain levels. If you want to bring excessive amounts of these items to Austria in your personal luggage, you will have to prove that they are only for personal use.

These are the limits for tobacco and alcoholic beverages:

• Cigarettes: 800 items
• Cigarillos: 400 items
• Cigars: 200 items
• Smoking tobacco: 1kg
• “Heated ‘heat-not-burn’ tobacco”: 800 tobacco sticks or, in different packaging: 250g of tobacco content
• Spirits: 10 liters
• Alcoholic beverages other than beer, sparkling wine or wine, up to 22% volume
• Wine: a maximum of 60 liters of sparkling wine, or 90 liters of other wine
• Beer: 110 liters

If you are coming from Hungary, the most cigarettes you can import without paying tax is 300 pieces. If you want to bring more than 300 pieces, you need to declare this at the customs office and pay tobacco duties.

Relocating from a Non-EU Country

When you are relocating to Austria from a country outside of the European Union, you must declare certain items, including

• goods not intended for personal use;
• goods bought outside of the EU which exceed duty-free allowances for items, such as tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, and medicinal products;
• goods subject to import restrictions or prohibited goods.

If you are carrying items like those listed above, you must take the Red Channel (if one exists) at the airport in Austria to submit a customs declaration. If you do not see a Red Channel or another customs office, ask a member of staff where you can go to declare your items.

Import limits for non-EU citizens relocating to Austria are generally more strict than those which affect EU citizens.

If you are older than 17, you can import

• 200 cigarettes;
• 100 cigarillos;
• 50 cigars;
• 250 grams of smoking tobacco;
• a combination of these in an equivalent quantity;
• 1 liter of alcohol, distilled beverages, and spirits with an alcohol content of more than 22%;
• undenatured ethyl alcohol of 80% and over;
• 2 liters of alcohol and alcoholic beverages with an alcoholic content of no more than 22%;
• a combination of these in an equivalent quantity.

And you can also bring:

• 4 liters of non-sparkling wines, plus
• 16 liters of beer.

Items Exempt From Import Taxes and Duties

For those coming from a non-EU country to live in Austria, you will not have to pay tax and duties to import the following non-commercial items:

• household effects, such as furnishings and linen for personal use
• bicycles, motorcycles, motor vehicles and trailers, camper vans, private airplanes, and pleasure craft (boats)
• general supplies for the house in normal quantities
• domestic pets and saddle animals
• portable instruments for applied or liberal arts

Items Not Exempt From Import Taxes and Duties

• Alcohol, tobacco, or tobacco products
• Means of transport intended for commercial use
• Items used in a trade or profession other than the applied or liberal arts

In addition to meeting the above requirements, you should also have a completed and signed ZBefr 2E form in order to clear customs. The form officially declares your relocation from a non-EU country to Austria.

In order to import your goods duty-free, you will need to provide evidence that you are establishing residence in Austria. You will also need to have proof that you have been a resident abroad for the last twelve months. Documents needed to prove this information includes:

• confirmation of registration in Austria
• employment contract or other work contract
• housing contract
• children’s school registration
• foreign registration or departure confirmations

Regulations When Relocating from an EU Country

If moving from another EU country, you do not need to be concerned with import taxes and duties or submit any applications. However, if you have a car to register, you will be required to pay tax based on the standard fuel consumption of the vehicle. You will do this at the competent tax office. When you first register your vehicle in Austria you will be subject to a standard consumption tax, called the NOVA or Normverbrauchsabgabe, which you can pay at the local tax office.

Austria’s Prohibited and Restricted Items

The following items are prohibited from checked baggage and carry-on baggage:

• Fireworks and sparklers
• Oxygen cylinders
• Gasoline and fuel paste
• Camping gas
• Oxidizing and corrosive substances
• Tasers
• Paint
• Alcohol more than 70% strength
• Poison and household chemicals
• Battery-powered transportation devices, such as hoverboards

You can find a more detailed list of prohibited items in hand luggage and checked luggage on the Austrian Airlines website.

Home Goods Storage

You will find many long and short-term storage options when moving to Austria. Storage ranges in price from about 10 EUR (11.50 USD) per week for 1 square meter of space to 225 EUR (250 USD) per week for 100 square meters.

Most of the storage facilities in Austria are based in the capital Vienna. This means, if you live somewhere other than Vienna, you may need to consider keeping your items some distance away. However, there are still storage centers all over Austria, but just not as many. It is possible to find storage facilities in states such as Styria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Lower Austria, and Carinthia.

Vaccinations and Health Requirements for Austria

Austria is a country with high health standards. The vaccinations suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) are the same vaccinations that are required for most European and North American country, as well as ones required for those traveling to Asia, Africa, or South America, too.

What Vaccinations Do I Need for Austria?

• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Rabies
• Meningitis
• Polio
• Measles
• Mumps and rubella
• TDAP
• Chickenpox
• Shingles
• Pneumonia
• Influenza

You should visit your doctor at least a month before you move to Austria to make sure you have all of the vaccinations you need and that you have time to get any that you are missing.

Austria Immigration Vaccination Requirements

Recently, measles has been involved in outbreaks around the world. To protect your health and that of others, make sure you are protected against this disease. This is something you should discuss with your doctor before you relocate to Austria. However, you do not have to fulfil any vaccination requirements to move to Austria.

Health Requirements for Austria Immigration

There are no specific health requirements to move to Austria, although you must have health insurance. Find out more about this in our Healthcare section.

Moving with Pets

Moving to Austria with pets could be more difficult if you come from a country where infectious diseases in animals are more common. For example, if you are taking your dog, cat or ferret to Austria, you must show proof they have had a rabies vaccination after being microchipped.

Your pet must have a primary rabies vaccination no sooner than 21 days before your pet enters Austria, even if they are coming from a rabies-free or rabies-controlled country. You can view a list of high-rabies countries here. You might be surprised that countries like Antarctica, China, Cyprus, and Ukraine are included in this high-rabies countries list. These lists are created by the WHO.

Can You Bring Pets into Austria?

To bring your fluffy friends into Austria, you might need to get a pet passport and a health certificate. However, there is a limit to how many pets you can bring on a non-commercial basis.

Pet Passport

Pets from outside the EU:

Your cat or dog passport for Austria requires proof of a microchip and rabies vaccination, as well as an EU health certificate.

Pets from inside the EU:

If you are transporting a pet/s to Austria from another EU country, you should ask your vet to get you an up-to-date pet passport. You will not need an EU health certificate unless a rabies booster was given by a vet outside the EU after your pet was microchipped.

As is expected, there are more restrictions relating to pet relocation from non-EU/EEA countries to Austria:

• You are not allowed to bring pets to Austria with the intention to sell them or give them to another owner.
• One person can only bring a maximum of five dogs, cats, or ferrets.
• If you have proof that your animals are entering Austria to participate in a competition, exhibition or sporting event, or to train for such events, they should be allowed entry. The animal(s) must be at least six months old and, in this situation, you may be allowed to bring more than five animals with you.