OeAD in Solidarity with Ukraine

Scholarships that have already been awarded can be postponed but must have beeen used by the end of the summer semester 2023. Please contact your project coordinator and the responsible person at the OeAD mentioned in your scholarship award.

Students with Ukrainian citizenship are to have their tuition fees for the summer semester 2022, for the winter semester 2022/23, for the summer semester 2023, for the winter semester 2023/24 and for the summer semester 2024 waived or refunded. They have to prove their Ukrainian citizenship by means of a certificate of citizenship of that country or a passport. See the Tuition fees decree.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior provides an overview of the current entry and residence conditions for Ukrainian citizens at Registrierung und Aufenthalt (bmi.gv.at). The following questions will be answered there:

• At which Austrian embassy or consulate general can Ukrainian nationals apply for (initial) visas (where required)?
• Can Ukrainian nationals have their visas extended in Austria?
• Can Austrian residence permits be renewed in Austria (because a return journey is currently not possible)?
• What happens if a Ukrainian national’s legal period of stay in Austria has expired but return to Ukraine is currently not possible?

Detailed FAQs in German and English are also available on the above-mentioned page.

The first point of contact for accommodation for Ukrainian displaced persons in Austria is the Federal Agency for Reception and Support Services (BBU). It has set up a hotline: telephone number +43 1 2676 870 9460 as well as an Infopoint in English, Ukrainian and Russian on its website.

There you will also find the addresses and contact details of the arrival centres in the individual federal provinces, which will then refer you to other, longer-term accommodation.

The BBU and the respective initial reception centres in the federal provinces also provide information about where and to what extent accommodation is offered by individuals and institutions to displaced persons from Ukraine. This includes, among others, student halls of residence, some of which also provide places specifically for Ukrainian students.

If you are a Ukrainian student who needs support with accommodation, please contact the BBU or the respective coordination office of the federal province in which you are staying. This also applies if you yourself would like to offer accommodation for Ukrainian students, researchers and their families.

The Austrian Student Union (ÖH) can also provide information about accommodation possibilities.

Information of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) on accommodation, entry and residence, etc.: https://www.bmi.gv.at/Ukraine.

OeAD student housing provided 35-40 places for refugees from March to June 2022 (mainly in Graz, Leoben, Vienna and other university cities). Anja Lörincz is also available for you at housing@oead.at for all questions you may have.

Deferment of payments can be arranged. OeAD student housing requests you to contact them directly via the self-service platform: Login - OeAD student housing 

The special scholarship program Ernst Mach-Ukraine supports Ukrainian students to continue their studies in Austria. The focus of the Ministry of Science’s special scholarships is to support Ukrainian students in completing or continuing studies that have already been started in Austria as well as in starting a university degree programme. Further information

For other funding for students and scholars from Ukraine please consult the Austrian database for scholarships and research grants.

All universities have different support measures in place. On the Study in Austria website we have listed the various scholarship options as well as information pages of the Austrian universities. A folder in Ukrainian contains an overview of the Austrian higher education landscape, information about study programmes and scholarships. 

The database #ScienceForUkraine is run on a voluntary basis by students and researchers from academic institutions in Europe and all over the world. The aim is to collect and disseminate information about support options at university, national and international level for graduate students and researchers who are directly linked to an academic institution in Ukraine.

The European Commission has imposed strict sanctions in science and research due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has suspended cooperation with the Russian Federation, for example in the Horizon Europe research framework programme. Payments to Russian institutions under existing contracts have been stopped and no new projects with Russian partners will be approved or contracts concluded within the EU research framework programme until further notice. Moreover, all Austrian higher education institutions are advised not to sign any contracts and contract supplements for Erasmus+ mobility or cooperation programmes with partner institutions from Russia and Belarus. The decisions of the European Commission are, of course, supported by the federal minister Martin Polaschek. Recommendation of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF): The federal minister Polaschek has therefore called upon the Austrian higher education institutions and research institutions to autonomously make a differentiated assessment of their relations with the Russian Federation and to critically examine individual contacts. It is therefore up to the Austrian higher education institutions and research institutions to decide.

The OeAD is currently negotiating with the European Commission, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research and other education agencies in Europe. We will inform you as soon as we have any news.

Austrian Student Union (ÖH): Funding pots and counselling for students

Through its “EURAXESS” initiative the European Union has set up its own platform, “ERA4Ukraine”, on which all support options for Ukrainian students and researchers all over Europe are listed and continuously updated. Austria is also involved in this – via the OeAD. It acts as the first point of contact for Ukrainian students and researchers in Austria. Moreover, of course, all other important contacts in the field of science and research are available, especially the individual universities and other higher education institutions as well as research institutions and research funding institutions.

The following groups of persons can apply for an “ID card for displaced persons” according to the Displaced Persons Regulation:

• Ukrainian nationals and
• internationally recognised refugees in Ukraine and
• their family members (spouses, civil union partners, minor unmarried children and other close relatives who had lived in the same household and are dependent on the applicant (fully or mostly)) and who were displaced from Ukraine on 24 February 2022 as a result of the war

Furthermore,

• Ukrainian nationals who held a residence permit from Austria on 24 February 2022 that cannot be renewed because they do not fulfil the requirements for a renewal or that has been withdrawn (a voluntary change to an identity card for displaced persons is not possible) as well as
• Ukrainian nationals who stayed in Austria on 24 February 2022 with a visa or without requiring a visa

can also receive an ID card for displaced persons.

The ID card for displaced persons is automatically extended until 4 March 2025. See information on the extension of the right of residence for displaced persons from Ukraine.

As soon as the ID card for displaced persons has been issued basic welfare benefits (“Grundversorgung”) can be claimed if you are in need of help and protection. Since 21.04.2023, it has also been permissible to pursue gainful employment with this ID without a permit from the labour market authorities.
As regards basic welfare benefits (“Grundversorgung”) please note that you are only allowed to additionally earn a maximum of 110 euros per month. If this amount is exceeded, the basic welfare benefits may be reduced and, depending on how much you earn, you may even lose them completely. This may also apply to donations of more than 110 euros per month. The competent authorities will decide in each individual case, and they alone can provide binding information.

Displaced person status is not available for:

• persons who have recently been granted Austrian residence status for another, longer period of stay,
• third-country nationals who worked or studied in Ukraine or who were asylum seekers there. These persons can apply for asylum in Austria or seek a solution according to the Settlement and Residence Act (Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz – NAG)

The ID card for displaced persons is valid in the entire Schengen area and, in conjunction with a passport, generally allows for visa-free tourist travel for 90 days within a period of 180 days.

Information about residence rights is available from the 'Beratungszentrum für Migranten und Migrantinnen' https://www.migrant.at/. 

The OeAD has compiled information at https://studyinaustria.at/en/studium/informationen-fuer-studierende-und-forscher/innen-aus-der-ukraine about basic welfare support, rights (associated with the displaced person status for persons with a displaced person ID card) and recognition of qualifications gained abroad based on information from AST (Ms Aleksandra Panek, coordination of the contact points for persons with qualifications acquired abroad): https://anlaufstelle-anerkennung.at.