Border controls set up by Austria to halt the coronaviurs pandemic have caused considerable travel problems for the roughly 200,000 foreign-based workers, leading to a labor shortage in the healthcare, manufacturing and agricultural sectors. Minister of Europe Karoline Edtstadler is trying to make agreements with neighboring countries that would allow exceptions to the current rules on inter-state travel. At the moment, Austria has an agreement with the Czech Republic that allows Czech employees in the healthcare sector. Edtstadler is seeking to extend exceptions made for them to other employees in critical infrastructure, such as technical employees in hospitals. At the moment, a complicated series of rules govern the conditions under which other foreign nationals from Hungary, Slovakia and Romania are allowed to work in the country.
