This chapter provides information about what "habitual residence" means and how it affects your entitlement to social security benefits.

Where do I have habitual residence?

"Habitual residence" means the same as permanent residence. You are habitually resident in Austria if you have your centre of interests in Austria. When determining whether someone has established a habitual residence, the duration and continuity of residence, and not just the circumstances of a personal and occupational nature, are considered. This includes:

• the type and specific characteristics of any activity you perform, especially the place where you perform such activities, the permanence of the activity and the duration of each employment contract;
• your family relationships and ties;
• performance of paid and voluntary activities;
• if you are studying, your source of income;
• your housing situation, especially its permanence;
• the state in which you are liable to pay tax.

If your habitual residence cannot unambiguously be established on the basis of these criteria, the place where you intend to live, as evidenced by the facts and circumstances, will be the deciding criterion, taking into account, in particular, the reasons which have led you to change residence.

The term "habitual" always presupposes a stay of a certain duration. However, an intention to establish a permanent residence is not absolutely necessary.

If you have officially registered your residence in Austria, this does not automatically mean that your habitual residence for the purposes of entitlement to social security benefits is in Austria. Checks based on the above criteria can, in fact, show that you are habitually resident in another Member State.

In principle, it is possible for you to work and stay in another Member State for a long time and, yet, have the centre of your interests and, thus, your habitual residence in Austria. The opposite is also possible.

Under Austrian law, entitlement to a range of social security benefits is dependent on habitual residence. Please note, however, that these requirements may be invalid under Union law.

For example, the social security benefits linked to habitual residence in Austria include:

• Unemployment benefit;
• Long-term care benefit;
• Child benefit;
• Child-raising allowance.

Union law recognises entitlement to social assistance or guaranteed minimum resources and other benefits similar to social security ones, such as differential allowance for pensioners, only if you have your usual place of abode in Austria.

Know your rights

Commission publications:

• National insurance systems in the EU