Welcome Home

The ‘Welcome Home’ initiative, run by the Austrian Business Agency (ABA), supports skilled Austrian nationals living abroad who wish to resume or restart their careers in Austria. The initiative targets this group because they represent an asset to local labour markets, given their fluency in German, qualifications already recognised in Austria, and internationally acquired professional experience. Its aim is to facilitate the return of Austrians abroad by offering consultations, information and events addressing the professional, logistical and personal needs of returnees.

Support offered

Welcome Home structures support across three dimensions. The first covers professional matters: career consultation, information for the self-employed and entrepreneurs, including advice on business registration, access to ABA's Talent Hub job board, information relevant to academic researchers, and networking opportunities. The second covers family and personal matters such as residence rights, immigration procedures, school, nursery and housing search, and health insurance. The third dimension focuses on community building. It includes professional and social networking events held in Austria and abroad, employer visits that connect returnees with Austrian companies seeking to recruit skilled workers, and regular social gatherings in Vienna that help returnees build personal and professional networks. Support is delivered through multiple channels: personal consultations available online or in-person, regular webinars, in-person information and networking events (both within and outside Austria), and the Welcome Home website, which hosts downloadable brochures and checklists. Access does not require formal registration, informational resources are publicly available on the website, while consultations can be arranged directly through ABA.

Target group

The initiative targets Austrian nationals living abroad who are interested in or intend to return, and their partners and family members.

Eligibility criteria

To access support, an individual must be an Austrian national that is abroad or has returned from abroad and/or their partner or family member.