CHANCENLAND VORARLBERG LIVING AND WORKING BROCHURE GETTING STARTED MANUAL FOR YOUR LIFE IN VORARLBERG to Munich Germany LAKE CONSTANCE Hörbranz BREGENZ to Zurich Lustenau Switzerland DORNBIRN Bezau Hohenems Götzis Rankweil Damüls FELDKIRCH to Zurich Frastanz Nenzing Lech BLUDENZ Zürs to Vienna, Liechtenstein Innsbruck and Salzburg Brand Schruns Tyrol Gaschurn Partenen Motorway Main Street District Border Railway IMPRINT Issue 5 | October 2019 COPYRIGHT Wirtschafts-Standort Vorarlberg GmbH (WISTO) CAMPUS V, Hintere Achmühlerstraße 1, 6850 Dornbirn, Austria www.wisto.at CHANCENLAND VORARLBERG www.chancenland.at | [email protected] Photo credits are listed on the respective pages. In addition: Cover, page 1: ©Matthias Weissengruber/WolfVision GmbH. All rights reserved. Information is subject to change. LOOK AHEAD 01 INTRODUCTION 08 COMMUNICATION 01.01 Economy 08.01 Mobile 01.02 Language 08.02 Internet 02 REGISTRATION 09 WORKING 09.01 Find a Job 02.01 As EU/EEA-Citizen 09.02 Apply for It 02.02 As Third-Country Citizen 09.03 Working Conditions 03 ADMINISTRATIVE STEPS 09.04 Income Tax 10 HEALTH SYSTEM 04 INFRASTRUCTURE 11 INSURANCE 04.01 Travelling By Train 11.01 Health Insurance 04.02 Travelling By Bus 11.02 Accident Insurance 04.03 Travelling By Car 11.03 Unemployment Insurance 04.04 Driving Safety 11.04 Retirement Pension Insurance 04.05 Cycling 11.05 Additional Information 04.06 Local Supply 12 EDUCATION 05 PUBLIC AUTHORITIES 12.01 Studying 05.01 Municipal Office 12.02 Schools 05.02 District Authority 05.03 State Government 13 LEISURE 13.01 Sports Clubs 05.04 Embassies 13.02 Shopping 06 MONEY 13.03 International Friends 13.04 Cultural Guide 07 ACCOMMODATION 14 NEWS AND EVENTS 07.01 Find your new Home 14.01 News and Media 07.02 Got It 14.02 Events 07.03 Buy Furniture 14.03 Cinema 14.04 Nightlife Welcome to Vorarlberg! We are happy that you have chosen our region. With this brochure we want to provide relevant information and helpuf hints, so that you are in good hands right from the beginning. All the best! | ©Silvretta Montafon 002 01 INTRODUCTION TO THE REGION Vorarlberg is Austria‘s Vorarlberg is the most western federal state n most industrialized, of Austria and borders Switzerland, Germany, n most export orientied and Liechtenstein and Tyrol. n most innovative state. It is divided into four districts: Bregenz, Dorn- Many of Vorarlberg‘s companies have establis- birn, Feldkirch and Bludenz. About 397,000 in- hed powerful brands, like Head (ski and tennis habitants live in Vorarlberg on an area of 2.601 rackets | www.head.com), Wolford (fashion | km². www.wolford.com), Zumtobel (lighting systems | Besides Vienna Vorarlberg has the highest www.zumtobel.com), Rauch (fruit juices and be- population density in Austria. With almost verages | www.rauch.cc) or Doppelmayr (cable 50,000 inhabitants, Dornbirn is the largest city cars and ski lifts | www.doppelmayr.com). of Vorarlberg and tenth largest in Austria. The Additionally, due to the attractive business con- capital city Bregenz counts about 30,000 inha- ditions, a number of international corporations bitants. Due to its unique geographical situa- have settled in Vorarlberg, like Liebherr (cranes | tion Vorarlberg looks back on long tradition of www.liebherr.com), Mondelēz International (Mil- immigration and commuting. Therefore people ka chocolate | www.mondelezinternational.com), are open-minded and the economy is internati- HILTI (construction equipment | www.hilti.com) onally oriented. or Red Bull (energy drink | www.redbull.at). 01.01 ECONOMY For more information about Vorarlberg‘s eco- nomy visit www.chancenland.at or download Vorarlberg has been one of the leading tex- the Location Brochure at www.chancenland.at/ tile manufacturing hotspots in Europe, until locationbrochure.pdf. far-reaching changes in the textile market have triggered an extensive transformation of the lo- 01.02 LANGUAGE cal economic structure. Not many regions are German is the official language in Austria and thus able to transform a structural change as suc- a prerequisite for permanently living and working cessfully as Vorarlberg. Today, metalworking, in Vorarlberg. Some may find that the dialect used mechanical and electrical engineering, elec- in this area is somewhat far away from Stan- tronics and IT are major branches. The goods dard German, however, this is probably the case produced are targeted to various applications for most regional dialects in every language. The and markets for use by both B2B and B2C cu- good news is that you will find no problems getting stomers. This variety brings the region a high around with Standard German and English. resistance to economic crises. Vorarlberg is home to powerful brands – with Doppelmayr being one of it. The world market leader in ropeway construction has installed more than 14,700 ropeways in 90 countries. ©Doppelmayr | RIGHT Language courses are held in small groups and are a good way to find new friends. ©WISTO 003 BEGIN AFRESH 02 REGISTRATION port as well as a copy and the original docu- ment of your academic degree. 02.01 AS EU/EEA-CITIZEN n Download the registration form at www.help. If you are a citizen of the European Union or gv.at/Portal.Node/hlpd/public/resources/ EEA (Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and documents/meldez.pdf Iceland), you are allowed to live in Austria wi- thout any notification besides your passport or n Fill in the registration form (see p. 18) identity card for three months. n Get the signature of your landlord If you intend to stay longer, you have to apply n Go to the municipal office and hand in the for a registration certificate within four months, filled registration form starting from the day of your arrival in Austria. The application has to be made to the district Be aware that office hours are between 8-12am authority (see 05.02) and costs 15 €. For the or after prior arrangement by phone. Offices application process you need to provide the fol- are closed on weekends. And please note: The lowing documents: registration form is a very important document, so keep it in safe custody. If you move, you have n Your passport to report to the municipal office again, since it n A copy of your employment contract collects data of inhabitants in order to generate n A confirmation that you are covered by statistics and inform you in case of emergen- health insurance. (In most cases the insu- cies. rance provider will be VGKK. www.vgkk.at) Additionally to your registration at the muni- n For spouse and children: marriage certificate or birth certificate cipal office, you have to register at the district 02.02 AS THIRD-COUNTRY CITIZEN Citizens from non EU/EEA-countries, who want to stay in Austria for more than six months, need to have a residence permit and a work permit. There are different options for resi- dence permits (e.g. Rot-Weiss-Rot Card). The Rot-Weiss-Rot Card regulates immigration to Austria dependent on criteria like qualifica- tion, work experience, language skills and age. The card is valid for one year and entitles for settlement and employment with a certain em- ployer. Find more information at www.migrati- LEARNING GERMAN on.gv.at or contact the district authority. German language courses are offered at Bezirkshauptmannschaft Dornbirn Klaudiastrasse 2, 6850 Dornbirn Volkshochschule (VHS) [email protected] Bludenz www.vhs-bludenz.at +43 (0)5572 308 0 Bregenz www.vhs-bregenz.at Götzis www.vhs-goetzis.at 03 ADMINISTRATIVE STEPS Hohenems www.vhs-hohenems.at WIFI www.vlbg.wifi.at Within three days after moving to Vorarlberg, AK-Bildungscenter www.ak-vorarlberg.at you have to register at the municipal office (Meldeamt; see 05.01) in your municipality. Inlingua Vorarlberg www.inlingua-vbg.at Therefore, you need to fill in the registration Creative Center www.creative-english.at form (Meldebestätigung) and bring your pass- 004 authority (see 05.02). on, online or via the ÖBB Ticket app. If you plan your trips some weeks ahead, you can get great ticket deals online. Find schedules and prices 04 INFRASTRUCTURE at www.oebb.at. When travelling frequently you should invest in a VORTEILScard that allows The distances in Vorarlberg are easily manage- you up to 50 % discount on all routes. The VOR- able, since the roads and the public transport TEILScard can be bought online. It costs 99 € system are highly developed. From Partenen, per year, 19 € for anyone under the age of 26 the most southern village of Vorarlberg, it takes and for families. about an hour by car to get to the most northern municipal Hörbranz. There are different types of trains running in Vorarlberg. The S-Bahn is the slowest one and 04.01 TRAVELLING BY TRAIN stops at every station on the route (67 min from The railway system of ÖBB (Austrian railway Bregenz to Bludenz). Regionalexpress (REX) is company) connects every city at the direct a fast train that only stops in larger stations route from Bregenz to Schruns (see map on (such as Bregenz, Dornbirn, Hohenems, Feld- p. 001). Additionally Zurich, Munich, Innsbruck kirch and Bludenz). And railjet, InterCity, Euro and Vienna can be reached directly. City are international trains, that pass Vorarl- berg on their way to Zurich, Vienna or Munich. Be aware, that you have to buy your train ticket They stop only at the larger stations and are the before boarding the train – either at a ticket fastest (45 min from Bregenz to Bludenz). machine, at a ticket counter at the railway stati- When travelling to Montafon by train, you switch from ÖBB to the red-yellow Montafonerbahn (MBS) in Bludenz. This private train runs from Bludenz to Schruns in 20 minutes and stops at every station.