- Many Asian students, with special emphasis on Indian students are looking forward to start their education, earn a diploma and subsequently begin a new life in Austria.
- Unfortunately, there is a serious lack of information related to the visa application process, life and other study/work issues in Vienna.
- We hope this blog will provide a structured and detailed information on the above mentioned topics.
- For any queries feel free to contact or post your comments.
- I am also glad to update any new or posted information on request.
- We feel privileged to have our blog mentioned in the Indian Embassy in Vienna website (Link).
Student Visa
- To study in Austria, students need to apply for a student residence permit from your home country and the visa-D. Based on your nationality, Visa D may or may not be necessary. For Indian citizens, Visa D is mandatory.
- For Indian students, initially they have to apply for a student residence permit, after getting an appointment (Austrian embassy, Delhi) with all the necessary documents as stated in the link Student Visa requirements . For details regarding the appointment, contact the Austrian embassy Austrian Embassy, India.
- Once you get the appointment, you should make the application with the necessary documents in person. If there is any issue with the document, they will request you to submit the correct or missing documents within a specified time period.
- If all documents are correctly processed from the Austrian embassy. You would receive an e-mail from the Austrian embassy, Delhi stating that the residence permit has been approved and you can apply for the following Visa-D.
- Visa-D ( temporary travel visa to reach Austria and collect your issued residence permit ) is more straight forward process with minimum waiting time. To apply for Visa-D, make an appointment at the nearest VFS (Austria) with the required documents. Visa-D requirements
- Once you get the Visa-D stamped in your passport, you are ready to fly to Austria and begin with your studies.
- Once you are in Austria, say Vienna, you need to go to the MA-35( Magistrate) on your allotted day and collect your student residence permit in person, with some additional fees to collect.
- Also make sure that you make your meldezettel (registration of your accommodation with the government) application within 3 days of your arrival in Austria.
- Then you can apply for insurance card(e-card) eg. and open a student bank accounts using the documents mentioned above. Most preferred insurance for students
Additional links:
General Enquiries
1.What is apostille?
Apostille is a process of legalizing your original certificates such as educational, birth, marriage certificates etc. To apply for student Visa, all the documents needed to be apostilled. Do not confuse apostille with common notary attestation as it is a time consuming process. The normal method is as stated in the website. In most cases, it is faster to get the apostille, using trusted 3rd-party agents as it is faster. Most 3rd party agents get apostille through the Sub Divisional Magistrate. Be aware that the Birth certificate and Marriage certificate have to be certified from the local state authority ( State Home Dept) initially and then to MEA.
Note: Nowdays its possible to get the appostille stamp using services provided by the VFS at a safer and cheaper rate. Contact nearest VFS office for more details.
2. How long does it take to know the status of the applied Visa?
On an average, for the student visa, it takes a minimum of 2 months to get a reply, after the initial submission of the documents at the Austrian embassy, Delhi. In worst cases, it can take up to 6 months to get a reply. The only option is to wait for the reply as it is hard to track the status of every application. For more details, it is better to contact the embassy. For Visa-D, it takes an average of 15 days to get the Visa stamped.
3. Do we have to send original documents for the university application?
Yes, most universities require to verify the original degree certificates, in order to issue the confirmation for the admission. Further details can be obtained by contacting the admission office of the concerned university.
4. Is IELTS necessary for admission?
Yes, most degree courses held in english will require the applicants to have the IELTS certificate. The eligibility scores can be found from the concerned university websites. In case, if you opt for a study course in German, minimum of B2-C1 level German skill is required.
5. What happens if my Visa is issued after the beginning of the semester?
In such unfortunate cases, it would be better to contact the admission office and ask if it is possible to join the current semester or if it is possible to transfer to the next semester.
6. Is it needed to get the travel insurance from India?
Yes, its required to get the travel insurance from India before leaving for Austria. Some insurance companies like Reliance, Bajaj Allianz, Chola MS etc might be worth checking out.
Link to some insurance companies Insurance
7. Getting PCC (Police clearance certificate) in India and from Austria.
Normally, you require the PCC when you make the visa application. In India you can get the PCC - as a stamp on your passport from the nearest passport office. You have to make the online application before you can get the stamp.
If you are in Austria, and require the PCC, you can go the Indian Embassy, fill out the PCC application form, along with documents such as visa, passport and meldezettel copies. Pay an application fees of 22 Euro ( in 2018 yr ). You can collect the PCC, after a specified period of time.
8. How is the pre-study course for Bachelors/ Masters - German language course done?
For the pre-university course, you have to register with the VWU, which is the most famous institute for the pre study program. They have admission in a similar manner as universities ( semester system). Fees have to be paid similar to universities.
Details about VWU in english Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten
other institutes like ÖOG Similar to VWU
9. Is there any scholarships to study in Austria?
There are limited scholarships to study in Austria, Normally you need to pay around 800 euro tuition fee per semester, as a foreign student. Exception if you have a resident permit apart from Student resident permit. eg. if you hold a work permit, you are exempted from paying fees, only minor student union fees is applicable
Scholarships links : Oead Scholarships
search Grants available : Grants Search
10. How to look for PhD scholarships or fundings ?
Kindly have a look at the main FWF site : FWF
Also find further links to other PhD positions and other scholarships in the same website ( right hand side)
11. Can I work while holding a students residence permit or studying?
Yes, you are allowed to work for a maximum of 20 hrs per week (non EU students), if you fulfill the conditions that you have a valid students residence permit, provided your temporary employer has applied for your temporary work permit confirmation (Beschäftigungsbewilligung) at the public employment office (Arbeitsmarktservice- AMS).
Residence Permit
There are a lot of PhD students and skilled workers coming to Austria for research purpose and employment.
The general details on the visa ( research and work permits) are given in the following link.
Note: PhD students with a hosting agreement letter and others in special cases have an option to apply for the residence permit, directly in Vienna. Further details contact the embassy.
For students:
A frequently asked question by students is about the stay back option and how to change from a student permit to work permit.
- Once the course is successfully completed, all graduates are eligible to apply for a job-seeker visa ( Valid for 6 months). The students have 6 months to stay in Austria after their studies and find a suitable job ( min 30 hr per week). There may be exemption to this rule ( not confirmed) , that students who passed there degree can further apply and renew their student resident purpose for 12 months for job seeking purpose, provided they fulfill the requirements. Contact the Austrian embassy for further clarifications on the same.
- Once you find a job, you have the possibility to change to the work permit , Red-White-Red card ( valid for 24 months). After which you can change to more flexible Red-white-Red card plus (RWR+).
- For PhD students on Forscher Visum, they have the option to change to direct RWR+ after 2 years of continuous stay in Austria.
For Students:
Please find the attached job sites to find part time student jobs.
Student Jobs_1
Student Jobs_2
Student Jobs_3
Accomodation
In general accommodation providers (ordered based on availability):
Oead,
Ojab,
Home4students,
Stuwo,
Akademikerhilfe,
Wihast,
kopling warhaus, Studentenheimplatz.
Then say for private apartments like Zuwanderfonds, willhaben site, wg-gesucht, Studentenwohnen site etc.
Student dorms will be good to start with, as you can get proper documentations needed for visa applications.
Please note nearly all accommodation will initially asks for a caution (security) deposit, which may begin from €700 or above depends on the rental agencies. In some dormitories, the caution deposit has to be send upfront, even to check if the room is available. If not, they will refund the money to your account. Check with the agency about the cash dealings.
While in some, an initial small fee needs to be transferred to check the room availability.
The basic rent in a dormitory for a shared room starts from around €270 and for single room €350 to above.
Note: Most dorms don't allow flexible booking of rooms, and may ask for minimum 1 semester or 1 year. Check with the dorm on this prior to reserving. In my experience I found OeAD agency more flexible on this.
In addition, please be patient and wait to get a response related to your money or deposit transfer to the dorms in Austria from India ( or other countries). As it can take up to 5 working days for the money to reach the bank accounts in Austria, in addition to the time taken by the employees to verify it. Wait for a minimum of 10 working days before you contact the employees of the dorm. To be on the safe side, try to do the booking of dormitory or accommodation at least 1 month before your visa appointment date at the embassy.
Daily Living
Travel Tickets
If you are living in Vienna, you have access to reliable and extensive public transport network called Wiener Linien. Initially you can apply for any semester or seasonal tickets at any main u-bahn stations like Karlsplatz, Pratestern etc. Alternatively, it is also possible to make an application online with the required documents as given in the link.
- Semester Ticket
- If you are a full-time student and under the age of 26, you are eligible for a student semester ticket valid for a semester. This ticket allows you to allow travel freely within the Vienna city zone using any modes such as train, tram or bus.
- The current price is €75 per semester
- Yearly ticket
- If you are above 26 (student or not), you can apply for a yearly travel card which costs €365 (This can be paid by monthly installments or full payment)
- For options regarding payment, check the website or inquire with the ticket counter.
Note: There are also single, weekly and monthly tickets available, but these are a bit expensive and would be better to take seasonal tickets.
- For more information, check out this link
Living Expenses
- Hint on the basic food expenses
- 1 litre milk - €1 or less
- 1 packet bread - around €1
- Other groceries varies from €1 to €5
- Some general super markets are Spar, Billa, Hoffer, Merkur, Penny etc.
- Utensils are a bit expensive which would costs a minimum of €7 or above.
- Some well-known shops are IKEA, Leiner, KIKA etc.
- Student Stationary shops : Libro, Tedi.
Student Visa
- To study in Austria, students need to apply for a student residence permit from your home country and the visa-D. Based on your nationality, Visa D may or may not be necessary. For Indian citizens, Visa D is mandatory.
- For Indian students, initially they have to apply for a student residence permit, after getting an appointment (Austrian embassy, Delhi) with all the necessary documents as stated in the link Student Visa requirements . For details regarding the appointment, contact the Austrian embassy Austrian Embassy, India.
- Once you get the appointment, you should make the application with the necessary documents in person. If there is any issue with the document, they will request you to submit the correct or missing documents within a specified time period.
- If all documents are correctly processed from the Austrian embassy. You would receive an e-mail from the Austrian embassy, Delhi stating that the residence permit has been approved and you can apply for the following Visa-D.
- Visa-D ( temporary travel visa to reach Austria and collect your issued residence permit ) is more straight forward process with minimum waiting time. To apply for Visa-D, make an appointment at the nearest VFS (Austria) with the required documents. Visa-D requirements
- Once you get the Visa-D stamped in your passport, you are ready to fly to Austria and begin with your studies.
- Once you are in Austria, say Vienna, you need to go to the MA-35( Magistrate) on your allotted day and collect your student residence permit in person, with some additional fees to collect.
- Also make sure that you make your meldezettel (registration of your accommodation with the government) application within 3 days of your arrival in Austria.
- Then you can apply for insurance card(e-card) eg. and open a student bank accounts using the documents mentioned above. Most preferred insurance for students
Additional links:
General Enquiries
1.What is apostille?
Apostille is a process of legalizing your original certificates such as educational, birth, marriage certificates etc. To apply for student Visa, all the documents needed to be apostilled. Do not confuse apostille with common notary attestation as it is a time consuming process. The normal method is as stated in the website. In most cases, it is faster to get the apostille, using trusted 3rd-party agents as it is faster. Most 3rd party agents get apostille through the Sub Divisional Magistrate. Be aware that the Birth certificate and Marriage certificate have to be certified from the local state authority ( State Home Dept) initially and then to MEA.
Note: Nowdays its possible to get the appostille stamp using services provided by the VFS at a safer and cheaper rate. Contact nearest VFS office for more details.
Note: Nowdays its possible to get the appostille stamp using services provided by the VFS at a safer and cheaper rate. Contact nearest VFS office for more details.
2. How long does it take to know the status of the applied Visa?
On an average, for the student visa, it takes a minimum of 2 months to get a reply, after the initial submission of the documents at the Austrian embassy, Delhi. In worst cases, it can take up to 6 months to get a reply. The only option is to wait for the reply as it is hard to track the status of every application. For more details, it is better to contact the embassy. For Visa-D, it takes an average of 15 days to get the Visa stamped.
3. Do we have to send original documents for the university application?
Yes, most universities require to verify the original degree certificates, in order to issue the confirmation for the admission. Further details can be obtained by contacting the admission office of the concerned university.
4. Is IELTS necessary for admission?
Yes, most degree courses held in english will require the applicants to have the IELTS certificate. The eligibility scores can be found from the concerned university websites. In case, if you opt for a study course in German, minimum of B2-C1 level German skill is required.
5. What happens if my Visa is issued after the beginning of the semester?
In such unfortunate cases, it would be better to contact the admission office and ask if it is possible to join the current semester or if it is possible to transfer to the next semester.
6. Is it needed to get the travel insurance from India?
Yes, its required to get the travel insurance from India before leaving for Austria. Some insurance companies like Reliance, Bajaj Allianz, Chola MS etc might be worth checking out.
7. Getting PCC (Police clearance certificate) in India and from Austria.
Normally, you require the PCC when you make the visa application. In India you can get the PCC - as a stamp on your passport from the nearest passport office. You have to make the online application before you can get the stamp.
If you are in Austria, and require the PCC, you can go the Indian Embassy, fill out the PCC application form, along with documents such as visa, passport and meldezettel copies. Pay an application fees of 22 Euro ( in 2018 yr ). You can collect the PCC, after a specified period of time.
8. How is the pre-study course for Bachelors/ Masters - German language course done?
For the pre-university course, you have to register with the VWU, which is the most famous institute for the pre study program. They have admission in a similar manner as universities ( semester system). Fees have to be paid similar to universities.
Details about VWU in english Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten
other institutes like ÖOG Similar to VWU
9. Is there any scholarships to study in Austria?
There are limited scholarships to study in Austria, Normally you need to pay around 800 euro tuition fee per semester, as a foreign student. Exception if you have a resident permit apart from Student resident permit. eg. if you hold a work permit, you are exempted from paying fees, only minor student union fees is applicable
Scholarships links : Oead Scholarships
search Grants available : Grants Search
10. How to look for PhD scholarships or fundings ?
Kindly have a look at the main FWF site : FWF
Also find further links to other PhD positions and other scholarships in the same website ( right hand side)
11. Can I work while holding a students residence permit or studying?
Yes, you are allowed to work for a maximum of 20 hrs per week (non EU students), if you fulfill the conditions that you have a valid students residence permit, provided your temporary employer has applied for your temporary work permit confirmation (Beschäftigungsbewilligung) at the public employment office (Arbeitsmarktservice- AMS).
Residence Permit
There are a lot of PhD students and skilled workers coming to Austria for research purpose and employment.
The general details on the visa ( research and work permits) are given in the following link.
Note: PhD students with a hosting agreement letter and others in special cases have an option to apply for the residence permit, directly in Vienna. Further details contact the embassy.
For students:
A frequently asked question by students is about the stay back option and how to change from a student permit to work permit.
- Once the course is successfully completed, all graduates are eligible to apply for a job-seeker visa ( Valid for 6 months). The students have 6 months to stay in Austria after their studies and find a suitable job ( min 30 hr per week). There may be exemption to this rule ( not confirmed) , that students who passed there degree can further apply and renew their student resident purpose for 12 months for job seeking purpose, provided they fulfill the requirements. Contact the Austrian embassy for further clarifications on the same.
- Once you find a job, you have the possibility to change to the work permit , Red-White-Red card ( valid for 24 months). After which you can change to more flexible Red-white-Red card plus (RWR+).
- For PhD students on Forscher Visum, they have the option to change to direct RWR+ after 2 years of continuous stay in Austria.
Please find the attached job sites to find part time student jobs.
Student Jobs_1
Student Jobs_2
Student Jobs_3
Accomodation
In general accommodation providers (ordered based on availability):
Oead,
Ojab,
Home4students,
Stuwo,
Akademikerhilfe,
Wihast,
kopling warhaus, Studentenheimplatz.
Student dorms will be good to start with, as you can get proper documentations needed for visa applications.
Ojab,
Home4students,
Stuwo,
Akademikerhilfe,
Wihast,
kopling warhaus, Studentenheimplatz.
Then say for private apartments like Zuwanderfonds, willhaben site, wg-gesucht, Studentenwohnen site etc.
Student dorms will be good to start with, as you can get proper documentations needed for visa applications.
While in some, an initial small fee needs to be transferred to check the room availability.
The basic rent in a dormitory for a shared room starts from around €270 and for single room €350 to above.
Note: Most dorms don't allow flexible booking of rooms, and may ask for minimum 1 semester or 1 year. Check with the dorm on this prior to reserving. In my experience I found OeAD agency more flexible on this.
In addition, please be patient and wait to get a response related to your money or deposit transfer to the dorms in Austria from India ( or other countries). As it can take up to 5 working days for the money to reach the bank accounts in Austria, in addition to the time taken by the employees to verify it. Wait for a minimum of 10 working days before you contact the employees of the dorm. To be on the safe side, try to do the booking of dormitory or accommodation at least 1 month before your visa appointment date at the embassy.
Travel Tickets
If you are living in Vienna, you have access to reliable and extensive public transport network called Wiener Linien. Initially you can apply for any semester or seasonal tickets at any main u-bahn stations like Karlsplatz, Pratestern etc. Alternatively, it is also possible to make an application online with the required documents as given in the link.
- Semester Ticket
- If you are a full-time student and under the age of 26, you are eligible for a student semester ticket valid for a semester. This ticket allows you to allow travel freely within the Vienna city zone using any modes such as train, tram or bus.
- The current price is €75 per semester
- Yearly ticket
- If you are above 26 (student or not), you can apply for a yearly travel card which costs €365 (This can be paid by monthly installments or full payment)
- For options regarding payment, check the website or inquire with the ticket counter.
Note: There are also single, weekly and monthly tickets available, but these are a bit expensive and would be better to take seasonal tickets.
- For more information, check out this link
Living Expenses
- Hint on the basic food expenses
- 1 litre milk - €1 or less
- 1 packet bread - around €1
- Other groceries varies from €1 to €5
- Some general super markets are Spar, Billa, Hoffer, Merkur, Penny etc.
- Utensils are a bit expensive which would costs a minimum of €7 or above.
- Some well-known shops are IKEA, Leiner, KIKA etc.
- Student Stationary shops : Libro, Tedi.
- Clothing and accessories
- There are a lot of shopping malls in city and outside. Some well-known are:
- Some famous Indian/Asian grocery shops are
- Restaurants ( Cooking your self is more budget friendly )
There are a lot of Indian restaurants within the city. They are quite expensive unfortunately. One of the popular places among students at very low budget is Deewan near University of Wien.
Overview: Fill all prices in this link Cost of Living in Vienna
Please leave a comment if you find this blog useful, as it would encourage us to update more information.
Feel free to follow our Facebook group:
- Clothing and accessories
- There are a lot of shopping malls in city and outside. Some well-known are:
- Some famous Indian/Asian grocery shops are
- Restaurants ( Cooking your self is more budget friendly )
There are a lot of Indian restaurants within the city. They are quite expensive unfortunately. One of the popular places among students at very low budget is Deewan near University of Wien.
Overview: Fill all prices in this link Cost of Living in Vienna
Please leave a comment if you find this blog useful, as it would encourage us to update more information.
