Social emergencies

If you have already used up your entitlement to unemployment benefits, you can receive unemployment assistance under certain conditions. Emergency unemployment assistance is paid to you on a monthly basis and is intended to help you finance your living expenses. You must meet the following requirements:

• You are registered as unemployed with the AMS;
• You previously received unemployment benefits but have used up your entitlement;
• You are willing and able to work;
• You are in an emergency situation and are therefore unable to finance your necessary living expenses with a regular income. 

Example: You are a dancer at the Vienna State Opera and are made redundant. You receive unemployment benefits. You are unable to find a new job and your efforts to find alternative employment are also unsuccessful. Your entitlement to unemployment benefits has already been exhausted and you have no other financial means to finance your living expenses. You live in a private apartment. You can draw unemployment assistance.

Whether you have other assets—e.g. a your own apartment or a valuable car—is irrelevant for the granting of unemployment assistance. The only important condition is that you do not have a regular income to finance your living expenses.

Info: Applicants for other benefits such as means-tested minimum benefits must realise their assets. 

The unemployment assistance you receive depends on how high your previous monthly income and unemployment benefits were, and how long you have been receiving unemployment benefits for. The longer you have been receiving unemployment benefits for, the lower your unemployment assistance will be. You will receive a maximum of between 92% and 95% of your previous unemployment benefits. 

Emergency unemployment assistance is granted for the duration of your emergency situation, and you may therefore be entitled to it for long periods of time. However, after 12 months you must submit a new application, and the AMS will check whether your emergency situation is still ongoing. Only then will you receive unemployment assistance for a further 12 months.

To do: Submit a new application for unemployment assistance if you are still in an emergency situation after 12 months.

Info: As with unemployment benefits, you may receive additional income from self-employment or employment up to the marginal earnings threshold on top of unemployment benefits only if you meet certain strict legal criteria. See the chapter on additional income with unemployment benefits. This information also applies to unemployment assistance.

If your income is very low and you are in a difficult family or health situation or have a low income, you can apply to your social security provider for exemption from the following fees: 

• You can apply for a prescription fee waiver: if you buy prescribed medication at the pharmacy, you do not have to pay a prescription fee.
• You can apply for an exemption from insurance excess: if your social security provider requires you to pay an excess when using medical services (e.g. the SVS), you can apply for an exemption. 

Regardless of your level of income, the SVS has introduced a scheme to motivate its policyholders to take preventive healthcare measures. By committing to this scheme, you can reduce your excess for medical services to 10%, regardless of your income. 

If you are self-employed and insured with the SVS, you can apply for a financial subsidy for your heating costs. 

To do: Submit an informal application for retrospective support for last winter's heating costs by mid-March at the latest. 

Means-tested guaranteed minimum income benefits are intended for people who do not have sufficient financial resources to cover their living expenses and those of their dependents, and who are unable to receive unemployment benefits or unemployment assistance.

Attention: People who do not have Austrian citizenship may only receive means-tested guaranteed minimum income benefits after 5 years of uninterrupted legal residence in Austria. 

You are entitled to means-tested guaranteed minimum income benefits under the following conditions:

• You have no assets that you could utilise to finance your living expenses. If you had a car or an apartment, for example, you would have to sell it and live off this income for the time being.
• If you are fit for work, you must register with the AMS and be ready to take up work at any time. If the AMS offers you reasonable work and you do not accept it, up to half of your minimum income benefit will be withdrawn. The following people are exempt from this rule:
  • People who have already reached retirement age;
  • People who look after children under the age of 3 and cannot work because their children cannot be looked after in any other way;
  • People who predominantly care for their dependent relatives at care allowance level 3 and above;
  • People who provide end-of-life care or support for seriously ill children;
  • People who are pursuing an education that they began before the age of 18 (does not apply to degree courses).

The level of minimum income benefits is adjusted annually. In 2026, it will be €1,229,89 for single people and €1,721,85 for couples.

Attention: If you receive income from employment or other state benefits at the same time as your minimum income benefits, these will be deducted from your minimum income benefits. Unlike unemployment benefits, training allowance, and unemployment assistance, it is therefore not possible to earn additional income. 

The Artists' Social Insurance Fund supports self-employed artists whose main place of residence is in Austria with financial grants if 

• they find themselves in temporary social, family, or health emergencies and need financial support during this time, or
• incur unexpectedly necessary, extraordinary expenses and are unable to pay these themselves due to their financial situation. 

The Artists' Social Insurance Fund has an annual budget of €500,000 to support its members. 

To do: In order to receive support from the KSVF, you must have your status as an artist recognised and submit an application. 

The KSVF decides whether you will receive a grant. Unlike state benefits, you have no legal claim to this. 

The IG Netz was set up in 1991 by the interest group IG Freie Theaterarbeit and funded by the Arts Section of the Federal Chancellery and some federal states.

IG Netz supports theatre associations ("independent groups of employers in the performing arts") in the payment of social security contributions for their artistic staff.

The requirements for the financial grants are as follows:

• The applicant is an independent group, i.e. a theatre association that hires employees;
• The subsidy is being requested for the social security contributions of artistic staff;
• The theatre association has received funding from the federal government or one of the participating federal states within the previous two calendar years or in the current calendar year;
• The gross salary of artistic employees does not exceed a certain level that is adjusted annually. 

Every year there are 2 submission deadlines for funding applications.

To do: For the months of January to June, applications must be submitted by 30^th September of the current year; for the months of July to December, the deadline is 28^th February of the following year.

Within IG Netz, a commission reviews the applications twice a year. Immediately after the committee meetings, which usually take place at the end of May and the end of November, the approved grants are transferred to the applicants.

Take a look here to find details on the allocation of grants and under this link you will find general information on IG Netz. 

Info: Self-employed musicians, composers, and lyricists of musical works receive subsidies for their social security contributions from the Verein zur Unterstützung und Förderung österreichischer Musikschaffender (Association for the support and promotion of Austrian musicians - SFM). The Musicians' Guild provides detailed information.