Awards
Who won in 2026
Cannes Lions for advertising78, the Oscars for film147, the Prix Ars Electronica for media art70.
‹ Back to “Art as a career”
International · As of 4 October 2026
Art careers abroad: 5 regions compared
As an Austrian, and so an EU citizen, you can work in Germany, Italy and Switzerland without a visa. In Japan you can stay up to 12 months on a working holiday80, in the UK up to 5 years with the Global Talent visa83. For each region, here are the market, pay, employers, the way in and the legal situation.
EU: no visa7 countriesAs of 4 October 2026
Free, no sign-up. Not legal advice: check with the linked authority before you move.
01 · Selection
How we selected employers and figures: 4 criteria
Open positions
Adverts with pay
Positions open on 4 October 2026, read directly on company websites or on karriere.at.
Pay
Large recruitment firms
Salary guides by Robert Half and Robert Walters, plus official statistics from the USA and the UK.
Voices of the industry
Studies and associations
Surveys of artists and the positions of their associations, per country where available.
No ranking, no paid entries. Where we found no reliable figures, we say so.
02 · Japan
Japan: record anime market, 12 months of working holiday
Japan’s anime market reached a record 3.84 trillion yen in 2024, 56% of it from abroad12. Austrians aged 18 to 30 can stay up to 12 months on a working holiday and work during that time80.
Employers
teamLab, anime studios
teamLab in Tokyo recruits all year round for art, computer graphics and technology55. In the anime industry, 47.3% still worked freelance in 2023, down from 69.6% in 2019112.
Way in
Working holiday, possible twice
Up to 12 months per visa, at most 200 places a year, free of charge, not in bars or gambling80. Japan is the only country that allows Austrians 2 stays148.
Law and debate
Training allowed, with limits
Japan’s copyright law generally allows training, but not when works are collected in order to generate similar ones149. In 2024, well-known voice actors launched a campaign against unauthorised use33.
| Role | Amount | Type of figure |
|---|---|---|
| Graphic designer at international companies, Tokyo | ¥6 to 9 million98 | Robert Walters salary guide |
| UI/UX designer at international companies, Tokyo | ¥8 to 12 million98 | Robert Walters salary guide |
| Creative director at international companies, Tokyo | ¥15 to 23 million98 | Robert Walters salary guide |
| Anime: in-between drawings (douga) | average ¥2.63 million112 | Survey by the JAniCA association |
| Anime: industry average | ¥4.56 million112 | Survey by the JAniCA association |
Robert Walters mainly surveys positions for bilingual professionals at international companies. Salaries at Japanese anime studios are considerably lower.
A semester or a master’s in Japan can be funded, for example with JASSO and MEXT scholarships: everything on the page Scholarships and funding.
03 · Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Germany, Austria, Switzerland: no visa, but registration
As an EU citizen you work in Germany without a permit. In Switzerland, a notification is enough for up to 3 months of work a year. Beyond that you need a permit: L for contracts under 12 months, B for 5 years. You must register within 14 days and before starting work150,82. In Austria, 76% of firms in the creative industries are one-person businesses85.
Employers
From Hagenberg to Munich
APEX Gaming in Hagenberg1, Win2day in Vienna108, Luma AI in Munich5, Black Forest Labs in Freiburg75. For Switzerland we did not check a suitable advert.
Law and debate
Courts are deciding all the time
German courts do not protect images for which only ideas and styles were specified48. GEMA won against OpenAI; the ruling is not yet final42.
Voices of the industry
Payment and consent
91% of 3,072 artists in Germany demand payment for training, 87% their consent32. In Austria, IG Bildende Kunst represents artists113.
| Country and role | Amount | Type of figure |
|---|---|---|
| Austria: advertising graphic designer in Vienna, starting | from €2,844.20 a month64 | Minimum pay under the collective agreement |
| Austria: “UX/UI Designer”, Vienna | from €50,400 a year108 | Job advert |
| Germany: graphic designer | median €35,500 a year, range €29,700–41,80081 | Salary data from a job platform |
| Switzerland: all occupations | median CHF 7,024 a month151 | Official wage structure survey |
For Swiss pay by occupation, the Federal Statistical Office offers the Salarium pay calculator152.
04 · United Kingdom
United Kingdom: 2.46 million jobs, a visa for talent
The UK’s creative industries had around 2,464,000 jobs in 2025, 17.3% more than in 2019, 30.3% of them in London10. For artists there is the Global Talent visa, with the endorsement issued by Arts Council England83.
Employers
London
ElevenLabs is looking for an “AI Creative Producer”2, Synthesia for a “Product Designer”69, both also remote in Europe.
Way in
Global Talent
Up to 5 years per grant. Costs: £561 for the endorsement, £205 for the visa and usually £1,035 healthcare surcharge per year83.
Law and debate
Worries are measurable
26% of illustrators have lost commissions that are now done with AI13. Getty Images lost almost entirely against Stability AI in 202541.
| Role | Amount | Type of figure |
|---|---|---|
| UX/UI designer | £33,000 / £45,000 / £58,250109 | Robert Half salary guide |
| Graphic designer, London | £34,250 / £45,000 / £55,00096 | Robert Half salary guide |
05 · Italy
Italy: Agency of the Year and a law for human works
LePub in Milan was named Agency of the Year at the Cannes Lions advertising festival 202678. Since 10 October 2025, an Italian law protects works created with the help of AI only if they are the result of human work40.
Employers
Milan
LePub, award-winning agency in 202678. As an EU citizen you work in Italy without a visa.
Law
Human work counts
Law no. 132/2025 explicitly refers to works “del lavoro intellettuale dell’autore”, i.e. resulting from the author’s intellectual work40.
Pay
No reliable figures
For Italy we only found pay figures from online surveys. We do not consider them reliable enough, so we give none.
06 · USA
USA: large studios, a visa for outstanding work
Motion designers in the USA earn a median of $91,000 a year66, animators and effects artists $102,03017. For artists there is the O-1B visa for extraordinary ability, applied for through a US employer or agent84.
Employers
Studios and tool makers
Epic Games103, Riot Games in Los Angeles107, Pixar95, Figma with early-career positions79, Krea and Luma AI4,21.
Awards 2026
Oscars and Cannes
Oscars 2026: “Avatar: Fire and Ash” for visual effects, “KPop Demon Hunters” as animated feature147. Ogilvy was named Network of the Year in Cannes78.
Law and debate
Only people are authors
In 2026 the Supreme Court let stand the ruling that only people can be authors46. In 2025, voice actors in games secured a consent requirement38.
| Role | Amount | Type of figure |
|---|---|---|
| Graphic designer | $52,750 / $68,500 / $81,00097 | Robert Half salary guide |
| Motion designer | $76,750 / $91,000 / $108,50066 | Robert Half salary guide |
| UX designer | $98,500 / $121,000 / $145,250110 | Robert Half salary guide |
| Creative director | $103,250 / $135,000 / $165,75067 | Robert Half salary guide |
“Entry / mid / experienced”: a quarter, half and three quarters of salaries lie below these values. US salaries are higher, but so are health insurance and living costs.
07 · Questions
3 questions about working abroad
Do I need a visa to work in Germany or Italy?
No, as an Austrian you can work in any EU country without a visa. In Switzerland, a notification is enough for up to 3 months a year; beyond that you need a permit and must register within 14 days, before starting work82.