News & Buzz

How to move to Austria from India as a student with your spouse

In the history of studying abroad, no one who has done it from scratch would call the immigration process glamorous. If you happen to be from a developing nation such as India, the burden of proof – that you can actually live, study, or work abroad legitimately — just gets crazier.

My spouse is about to start his joint Masters of Science degree in Human-Computer Interaction at
Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS) and FH Salzburg this October. Since I moved to Austria with him, we have had to furnish extensive documentation along the way.

The process has been lengthy and not without its unique set of hurdles. But here’s how you can do it!

An Indian student’s guide to studying in Salzburg (and bringing your spouse along):

Step One

After the most daunting task of deciding on the university and subject you wish to study, you have to do all or most of the following:

• fill out application forms,

• appear for admission test(s) and online interviews,

• write an SoP (statement of purpose),

• provide language proficiency certificates,

• send in your apostilled (officially verified) documents, and pay tuition fees.

Getting your educational and personal documents apostilled is perhaps the most agonising task of all. PLUS was kind enough to first send the admission acceptance before asking for my spouse’s apostilled documents (in his case, bachelor’s certificate and mark sheet). If you are going for a bachelor’s degree you will need to submit your apostilled Higher Secondary school certificate and the final mark sheet.

Step Two:

The first official immigration step is to get an appointment at the Austrian embassy to apply for your residence permit. Whether you live in a different part of India or in one of the neighbouring South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations, you will have to make this pilgrimage to India’s capital city, New Delhi, because this is the only assigned Austrian embassy of this region.

Incumbent students need to email their documents ahead of time to the embassy who will provide an appointment date after checking that all your documents are in order.

This process used to be simpler when one could have chosen a preferred appointment date online.

The documents you need to submit at the Austrian Embassy for your residence permit are to be arranged in this sorting order:
• passport
• application form
• passport copy
• personal documents (apostilled police clearance, marriage and educational
certificates)
• travel Insurance
• admission letter
• financial proof
• accommodation proof
• all documents of spouse (under family reunion application)
• extra supportive documents (if asked for)

A few things to note:
Do not staple or pin the documents
• Bring the original set of all documents (to be checked at the embassy) as well as photocopies (to be submitted)
• Bring cash for the consular fee, which was 270 euros (INR 25.460 approx.) for a couple as of August, 2024. This amount changes every month as per the currency exchange rates.
• For family reunion: I submitted the same set of documents as my husband (except for admission letter and educational certificates) at the embassy the day we had our appointment
• For financial proof, you can show a savings or fixed deposit account that has been active for at least six months. This account should be under your or your sponsor’s name. I submitted bank statements from an account I have held jointly with my mother for quite a few years now. The other accounts either jointly or individually belong to my husband and me.

Step Three:

After receiving the residence permit approval email, book your tickets to Austria and head over to the local VFS office with the following documents:
• Passport

• Filled in D-visa application form
• a recent passport-size photograph according to European Union norm
• health insurance valid for the entire duration of your D-visa, which is four months starting with the day of arrival (with a minimum coverage of 30,000 euros)
• flight reservations (one-way flight is sufficient)
• D-visa fee of 150 euros per person
• a print-out of your RP approval email
• fingerprints submitted at the VFS centre

You can opt to get your stamped passport couriered to your place or pick it up at the VFS centre. Now you are ready to come to Austria! There’s still work to be done for your journey, but more on that later in our series.

–––––––––

See more about visas here in Dispatches archives.

Debiparna Chakraborty
Author at  | Website |  + posts

Debiparna Chakraborty is a journalist is from Kolkata, India. She has worked for publications such as Far Out Magazine, The Times of India, The Indian Express, reviewing films, TV shows and penning food, travel, lifestyle articles and personal essays for nearly a decade. She recently moved to Salzburg, Austria with her partner-in-life and continues to document life and write wherever she can find a cosy corner; a warm cup of tea (or even a good bowl of soup) being nearby never hurts.

To Top

Subscribe to our newsletter

Receive the latest news and updates from Dispatches Europe. Get lifestyle & culture, startup & tech, jobs and travel news dispatched to your inbox each week.

You have Successfully Subscribed!