Health insurance options for OeAD scholars from EU/EEA countries and Switzerland

If you have a national health insurance in your home country and your stay in Austria is temporary you can apply for theEuropean Health Insurance Card (EHIC) with your national health insurance provider. This is a free card that gives you access to medically necessary state-provided healthcare in Austria under the same conditions and at the same costs as people insured in Austria.

The European Health Insurance Card must be submitted to the Austrian residence authority (when applying for your registration certificate) as well as your Regional Office.

All scholarship holders who are enrolled as "regular degree programme students" (ordentliche Studierende) at an Austrian university, university of arts, university of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen) or at the University Preparation Programme (Vorstudienlehrgang) can take out a health insurance with the Austrian Gesundheitskasse. The main requirements are a current place of residence in Austria and a current enrolment at an Austrian higher education institution. Furthermore you need to consider that there may be other requirements such as previous duration of your studies, income limits, possible breaks in your studies or changing your subject. Here you can check whether or not you fulfil the requirements. Students with self-insurance pay a monthly premium of 69.13 EUR [as of 2024].

A copy of your application for self-insurance has to be handed in at your Regional Office. Further information is available here.

For stays over six months a health insurance can be taken out with UNIQA at your Regional Office. The monthly insurance premium will be individually calculated (insurance tariffs from 61 euro [as of January 2021]). Further information is available at the relevant local Regional Office.

If you cannot prove sufficient health insurance as described in points 1, 2 or 4 to your Regional Office you will automatically be insured with UNIQA for the duration of your stay.

You may also take out a travel insurance that is valid in Austria from the day of your arrival for the duration of your stay has a minimum coverage of 30,000 euro and guarantees recovery and repatriation costs in case of an accident. The insurance has to pay all medical costs directly in Austria. It is not enough that the insurance provides reimbursement in your home country.

You have to provide a confirmation about your insurance to the Austrian residence authority (when applying for your registration certificate) as well as your Regional Office.