Nationals from third countries for stays of up to 6 months

You have to apply for this visa in person at the competent Austrian representative authority in your country of residence at least four weeks before entering Austria.

 Please contact the Austrian representative authority as soon as possible to arrange an appointment for your visa! The time required to apply for a visa varies depending on capacity and workload. You can find up-to-date information on appointments for visa applications on the official websites of the respective Austrian representative authorities. In many countries, appointment scheduling has been outsourced to the regional offices of VFS Global, depending on the country.

Checklist

Attention: For US American and Canadian OeAD scholarship holders special rules apply for the issuance of visas!

Visas cannot be extended in Austria. After entering Austria with a visa you cannot – apart from a few exceptions² – apply for any other visas or residence permits (for staying for longer than six months) in Austria.

Documents in languages other than German must be submitted together with authorised German translations. Non-Austrian documents as a rule also have to be legalised (exceptions in case of specific legalisation agreements).

You have to submit the legalised originals plus photocopies of all the documents listed here:

• fully completed and signed application form visa C | visa D
• two recent colour photographs size 3.5 x 4.5 cm (according to the EU and ICAO criteria for passport photos)
• valid passport + photocopies of all pages containing entries and stamps
• confirmation of the award of the scholarship by the OeAD
• proof of accommodation in Austria: e.g. rental contract, private accommodation agreement, booking confirmation from the OeAD student housing or a student hall of residence
• proof of health and accident insurance: Before travelling to Austria you have to take out a travel health insurance for 10 to 14 days valid from the day of entering Austria and covering costs of at least 30,000 euro and a guarantee to cover possible recovery and repatriation costs.
  The insurance must pay the costs for medical treatment in Austria directly and not just reimburse them in your home country against submission of receipts.
  In case that you cannot provide proof of having appropriate insurance for the whole duration of your stay please purchase travel health insurance for 10 to 14 days and the OeAD-GmbH will then take out insurance on your behalf and at your costs when you arrive in Austria (please see here). In that case the OeAD confirmation can also serve as proof of insurance after expiry of the travel health insurance (see here)
• Proof of family ties and/or economic ties with the home country (e.g., proof of employment, spouse, children, etc.)
• if available return flight ticket

ATTENTION: We recommend making and keeping a photocopy of the submitted application and of the visa!

The Austrian representative authority and the residence authority may ask for additional documents in individual cases.

OeAD scholarship holders can apply for an exemption from Visa D fees. It is the responsibility of the competent Austrian representative authority to decide on this exemption from Visa D fees. 

It is not possible to take on additional work while receiving a scholarship with a visa that has the addition “gainful employment”, as the visa is explicitly issued for the purpose of the scholarship as stated in the application.

With a “Visa C for Gainful Employment” or a “Visa D for Gainful Employment” you are entitled to travel to other Schengen countries³ for up to 90 days within the validity period of the visa. Additional visas may be necessary for travelling through non-Schengen countries.

Being in receipt of a scholarship does not entitle you automatically to bring along family members (spouse, unmarried minors) to Austria. The scholarship is not sufficient for this! If you do want to bring your family along you have to bear the additional costs yourself and provide proof of being able to cover these costs (e.g. bank/savings account which can be accessed from Austria). Family members can also apply for a visa (“Visa C” or “Visa D” without the gainful employment addition) at the competent Austrian representative authority in their country of residence before travelling to Austria or – depending on their nationality – travel to Austria for a maximum period of three months without requiring a visa. You can neither apply for nor renew a visa in Austria. The above-mentioned documents have to be submitted for each family member.