Study in Austria

General Information for

Students from Nepal

Preface 2
The Story 3
1. How to search for your field of study 4
2. Admission to Austrian University 5
3. Eligibility Criteria for Admission in Masters and Bachelors 5
4. Document Attestation from Austrian Consulate 6
5. Admission Dates 7
6. Language Requirements 7
7. Visa Process 8
8. Money matters and Bank statement 9
9. Fees and Expenses in Austria 10
10. Accommodation Issues 11
11. Health insurance in Austria 11
12. Part time Jobs 12
13. Difference between University and University of Applied Sciences 12
14. Step-by-step procedure for study in Europe 14
15. Some Useful Links 15
Frequently Asked Questions 16

Bishal
July, 2022

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Preface
This document contains information on the admission and visa process for Europe in
general and for Austria in particular, for Nepalese students. After receiving many
questions on admission and study in Austria, I decided to write this document. Many of
these questions were very simple and irritating, like “how can I get admission an
Austrian university?” This question itself is enough to tease your mind when a
Bachelor's degree holder asks this. Also, some people ask simple questions that they
may know by themselves by just analyzing one particular situation or just by Googling
this over the internet.

That is why I decided to write this document and categorically elaborate on each step for
admission in some European universities in general and for Austria in particular.

Since the collective effort cannot be perfect at all, the case of an individual’s work is
worse than that. There will be some discrepancies in this document, a lack of details on
some topics and maybe some wrong information (I did not put anything wrong
intentionally but I may not be updated), and also some grammatical mistakes as well.
The reader is required to give his feedback. Ask some questions on topics that may be
left untouched so that I may add it here for the next version of the document. In this
way, we will be able to carry it on with up-to-date information. No feedback will not
only stop its development but also with time, some information may get wrong.

Another reason to write this document is the lack of information about Austria, as few
students come here.

Also, the Austrian Consulate do not clarify any matter regarding the visa process and
Residence permit application. The behavior of the person at the Austrian embassy in
Dehli is really demoralizing and not helpful at all (At least in my case) . He will not tell
you anything in detail. Either they don’t know or they don’t clarify this to the applicant.
This makes the visa process more difficult along with the verification and attestation fee
and ambiguity of the whole process. But I hope, after you read these documents,
everything will be clear to you.

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The Story
Some time ago, when I started applying to Austrian Universities, there was no one to
help out to clarify matters regarding my Austrian visa, studies, work, bank statements
etc. I asked on different groups but could not find anyone. It’s not because there is no
Nepalese students community in Austria, they are there, but they don't help out. Most of
them are beneficiaries of consultancy and since consultancy handled their visa process,
they know nothing about actual difficulties which one encounters when one applies for a
visa at his own. You won't find any of them on forums or groups.

I also got admission in Germany. I could only apply for one country, either Germany or
Austria and not both because I had financial proof of one year only. For Germany I had
to send this money to Germany and if I sent it there, the statement from Germany would
not be accepted by the Austrians. So, after a long thought, I decided to apply for
Austrian visa. The program in Austria was a little more attractive to me than the one in
Germany. Apart from that, I decided to go to Austria to clarify different ambiguities
related to Austria. e.g Visa process, Job situation etc. In other words I just decided to be
a "j Hunxa try garxu". My intention was to come here and then help more students
from Nepal to come here and clarify the ambiguities surrounding Austrian visa
application. At this decision, my whole year or in other words, future and previous effort
that I had done in getting admission in Austrian and German universities was on stack,
but I believed in success and finally after a long and tiresome visa process, I succeeded
and arrived here..
Once I started Austrian visa process, there were a lot of difficulties that I faced. On
every hurdle that I faced, people around me heavily discouraged, literally demoralized
and criticized me on my decision to apply for an Austrian visa and not for German for
which everything was clear. At the very beginning, I encountered a big hurdle and was
almost turning back on my decision when one day, I came across this verse "(When you
have taken your decision, put your trust in god". I just stopped there, where I saw this
verse on a wall painting and thought for a while ... "is this verse saying something to
me?"....... And I said, yes! ......it is in fact about me!!!!. This way I must say that I have
found a clue, a golden rule to every success and every successful decision. This one

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verse has given me a formula for my whole life. After that, I just remained firm on my
decision and I continued to cope with the hurdles. I remained stick to my decision
During my visa process, I encountered another guy from Nepal, who was also struggling
for an Austrian visa and he was a student of the same university where I had got
admission. He was around 2 months late in applying for visa and knew nothing about
the process. Since, I had been through the visa process, I helped him out and I think it’s
my first success that he arrived around 2 months after me. Though, he was late to be
here but the success had its worth and a nice taste and heavenly smell.

I am especially thankful to group moderators of Norway and Finland

1. How to search for your field of study

To find the program of your interest is a primary task when you decide to go abroad for
studies. Here are links from where you can have a look at the study programs offered by
Austrian Universities.
http://www.studyguide.at/ 🡪 Particularly for Austria
http://www.mastersportal.eu/ 🡪 Whole Europe.

Here you can search for your field of study. The search tool here is very nice and
sophisticated. You can sort your search results by country as well.

The first link actually is in German language but you can open it in Google Chrome
which automatically translates pages in a foreign language into English. This will make
your life easy. For details on ‘Universities’ and ‘University of Applied Sciences’ please
see the section “Difference b/w ‘University’ and ‘University of Applied Sciences’ ”

First site is not very much detailed and you may not know the details for the program
you are interested in, but at least you will know that which university is offering this
program. After this step, you can Google the name of that university to access
university website to get more information and details about study program, admission
procedure fees and everything else.

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The second link also gives some description of the program and in some cases its
curriculum with the link to the course home page. Which makes this site more attractive
for program search and of course this site is in English.

2. Admission to Austrian University

Unlike Sweden, Finland or Germany, there is no central authority for receiving and
verifying documents in Austria. Each university conducts its admissions separately and
they have their procedure different from each other. Please look at the website of your
university to know details about the admission procedure.

3. Eligibility Criteria for Admission in Masters and

Bachelors
To apply for a Master's degree program in Europe, one has to have a Bachelor degree of
4 years from Nepal. This accounts of 16 years of education (Intermediate + Bachelor =
12 + 4 = 16 years of education). If, however, your Bachelor's degree is of 2 years, then
you will have 14 years of education and you are not eligible to apply for Master's degree
courses. So, in this case, you have to do Masters from Nepal and complete your 16 years
of education and then apply for Master's Degree here in Europe . For master's degree,
there is no entry test you can directly apply to the university portal.

To apply for Bachelor degree, you must have your 12 years of education completed. It
means that Intermediate (+2) degree holder can apply for Bachelor program provided
that he/she fulfils language requirements. Almost all Bachelor degree program in
European countries are taught in their local languages e.g German, Italian and Finnish
etc. However, you may find some Bachelor programs in English in some countries like
Finland, Germany and Austria. Please look at university database of respective country
to find info about that.

Admission to Bachelor degree program is usually accompanied by an entry test, just like
Nepal. Some universities conduct entry tests in foreign countries if they have sufficient
Bechelor degree applicants from that particular country. If you apply in such a program

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and your university does not conduct an entry test in Nepal, then you may have to visit
India or … for that test, if university conducts that entry test there. I have a friend who
applied for such a program in Finland in 2021. His university conducted an entry test in
Nepal and he has to go to Nepal for that test. He went there, appeared in entry test,
passed it and now he is in Finland studying his Bachelor's degree.

4. Document Attestation from Austrian Consulate

Some universities in Austria ask applicants to send documents attested by the Austrian
Consulate. If your university says so, then you have to send them attested documents by
Austrian Consulate. If the university website does not say so, then for admission, there
is no need to attest your documents from Austrian Embassy. But for visas, you will have
to attest them, as according to Embassy, this is a standard procedure which you have to
follow. So, in either case you have to get your documents attested by Austrian Embassy.
Here is a list of documents which Austrian Embassy Attests.

1- Academic Certificate (+2, BSc,BE,ME and any other degree issued by a Nepali
University or Institute)
2- Birth Certificate
3- Police Clearance Certificate or Police Certificate.
4- Relationship certificate

All documents must be verified by the ministry of foreign affairs (Tripureshwor) at first.
When documents are verified, embassy will call you to get your original documents
Attested. Embassy will put a stamp at the back of your Original Documents with the
signature of the Counselor/Ambassador. They will charge 80-Euros (Eighty Euros Only)
per document of yours, for attestation. You have to pay equivalent amount in Nepalese
Rupees.
Embassy only attests your original documents. You will send photocopies of these
attested documents to your university.

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Austrian Honorary Consulate of Nepal
Manakamana Marg 22 (near Nagpokhari, Naxal), Kathmandu, Nepal
+977 1-4534690
autconktm@gmail.com

5. Admission Dates
Admission dates are not specific in any country of Europe. Dates vary from university to
university. Most university's intake is annual and it is usually in fall semester. For fall
semesters, admission starts usually in February, March. If university intake is also
available in summer semester, then for summer semester, admission dates are usually in
October, November. You have to consult website of your selected university to know
final dates and information about intake.

6. Language Requirements
Usually, Bachelors degree programs all over the Europe are taught in the local language
of that particular country. There are very few universities that offer Bachelor degree
courses in English. But for Masters, case is different. From last decade, the majority of
universities which offered Masters courses have started Master degree courses in
English. They say these courses as “International Master Degree Program”. It is called
‘International’ because it is in English.
If your selected program is in local Language then university will require you to have a
certificate in their Local language e.g German, Italian etc. If program is in English, then
they will require you provide English Language Proficiency Certificate (IELTS, TOEFL
or in some cases, they may accept a Proficiency Certificate from your university).

To know about the score requirements in TOEFL or Band requirements in IELTS, you
have to check your university website. Each university has its own requirement. Many
universities accept IELTS band 6.0 or even 5.5, and TOEFL iBT scores 80. Some may
require a higher score of 90 (TOEFL) or 6.5(IELTS). So, it would be nice if you strive

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for the maximum score in your Language Certificate to increase the number of
universities you can apply.

Note: Although your selected university may accept a Proficiency Certificate issued
by your own previous university, this certificate will always be below the scores of
IELTS and TOEFL. Since competition for admission is more and more every year,
you may lose your position if your competitors are providing IELTS/TOEFL as
compared to you. So, it would always be better to provide an internationally
recognized English Language Proficiency Certificate.

7. Visa Process
In general, the visa process is the same for all countries except Austria. As, if your
documents are not Verified and Attested by the Austrian Consulate, they will do so
first(this process takes 2,3 days) even if your university does not require you to get
them attested by Embassy.
When you have submitted your documents for verification, take an appointment with
Delhi embassy by contact form or by email.
Once you get your admission letter from the university and your documents are attested
by consulate, you start your visa process. In Austrian case, application for visa is called
“Application for Residence Permit”. You apply for Residence Permit and once your
application is approved (It usually takes 4-6 weeks), the embassy will call you to submit
the Schengen visa form. After you fill in that form and submit the visa fee and submit
your passport, you get your visa in 10 days.
The form for the Residence Permit Application is a little complicated and is in German.
It has around 10-12 pages. At first sight, you may not be able to recognize even a word
out of it. But with a little effort, you can find the soft copy of this form on Google. I
found it on the Austrian foreign ministry website (I don’t remember it now). Once you
get the soft form, you can give this .pdf or .doc to Google translator to get a Translation
and then fill in the form. Otherwise, If someone of yours knows the German language
can fill this form. But at least don’t pay anyone to fill out this form. You can contact me
if you don’t find any way out.

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The fee for a Residence Permit Application is around 120-Euros , which you have to
submit while submitting your application. The residence permit application is necessary
for people (students) who want to stay in Austria for more than six months. Usually,
Master degree program is of two years. Students who want to come to Austria for one
semester or less than six months, they don’t need to apply for Residence Permit. For
this kind, they have to apply via VFS-Austria, and also for people who wish to
come to Austria with a working visa they have to go to VfS Center. Individual
required documents may be varied for this process.

Application Form for Residence Permit and its explanation is also available on this site.
http://www.bmeia.gv.at/vertretung/taipeh/ratgeber/formulare-zum-download.html
This page is in German. You can translate it from Google Chrome or Google toolbar in
IE or Mozilla.

8. Money matters and Bank statement

If you are not holder of a scholarship then you have to prove that you have sufficient
funds to cover the expense of one or one years. As, I know, Sweden requires the proof
of two years. The rest of countries, including Austria, require you to show sufficient
money for one year. Money for One year for Austria is around 12,000 Euros (—for age
above 24 years). It changes a little bit every year. (Usually, increases). This amount of
money is more than any other country in Europe. This is because Austria is a little bit
more expansive then other countries. If your age is below 24 years, then you have to
show 6,684.
Please look at
https://studyinaustria.at/en/useful-tips/questions-and-answers/visa

For updated amount of this money. (Please type above link in your browser if it does not
work by clicking on. Otherwise, you can browse OEAD website for this information.)

For Austria, your local bank account statement which is in Euro will be accepted. The
solution is to open a Euro account in an internationally renowned bank like Standard
Chartered or GIBL,NABIL etc. Submit this amount of Euros (12000-euros or whatever

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is required) into that account, get your bank statement and balance sheet (Currency
should be in euro), and attach it to your Residence Permit Application form.

For Austria, money doesn’t need to be there for last six or 12 months. But it would be
nice, if it is there for last 3 or 4 months to avoid any risk. Even if it was not there for last
3, 4 months, it will not be a problem. You may have opened your euro account just a
week ago.

If your university requires you to show proof of funds while applying for admission,
they will give you a form to fill. This form will have some fields asking you to enter
annual income of your family. Usually, university doesn’t need any proof at this time.
So, you can just fill this form in to show that your family income is sufficient to support
you. You don’t need to have money in your bank at this time.

9. Fees and Expenses in Austria

Usually, there is a tuition fee is waived for student from Nepal. But you have to pay
around 22 euros in each semester as a student union fess
Austria is a little expensive country in compared to other countries of Europe. For single
person living alone in single room, the cost will be from 400 to 450 Euros per month
(this includes rent, internet, electricity cost and food). Room rent is usually from 300 to
400 Euros/month(In student hostels). But if you share your accommodation, you can
reduce your monthly cost. Furthermore, it also depends on the city where you live.
Capital and large cities are expansive as compared to small and remote areas. But even
if you live in Capital, the monthly cost should not be more than 500 Euros.

Food cost per month, as I estimated here is around 80 to 100 Euros, if you know how to
save money. But even if you don’t know, it will not be over 80 Euros.

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10. Accommodation Issues
When you are applying for Residence Permit Student, you have to show a document
proving that you have accommodation for your stay in Austria. For this you must have
booked a room in a hostel or a student dormitory. For this purpose you have to contact
with your university they will provide you student dormitory or if they don’t have
student hostel/dormitory so in this case you have to book hostel/dormitory at your own.
There are several student dormitories/Hostels in Austria named
1. Home 4 Students website: http://www.home4students.at/

2.Akademikerhilfe website: https://www.akademikerhilfe.at/en

3. Mozartheim website: http://www.mozart.uni-klu.ac.at/

4. Studentheim website: http://www.studentenheim.at/

Book your room there and they will provide you with an agreement that you will submit
to the embassy as a proof of accommodation.

11. Health insurance in Austria

Health insurance is must is Austria. You have to get it once you arrive here. It costs you
50 to 60 Euros per month which is low as compared to Germany.You have to get some
travel health insurance when you apply for a Residence permit from Nepal. You have to
get Insurance of at least 3 or 4 months from your expected travel/arrival to the start of
your study period. You will submit this insurance certificate with your Residence
Permit Application. Once you are here, you will apply for student health insurance at a
local insurance company. This health insurance is in fact local to the whole of Europe.

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12. Part time Jobs
Due to small number of students, part time jobs are available in Austria. For example
you can do a newspaper delivery job and earn 800 Euros a month. This job is easy to
get in winter because people avoid doing it due to cold. In big cities like Vienna,
student work in restaurants and earn reasonable amount to support themselves for their
study period.
If you are technical person, you can work in some company as an internee and they may
pay you from 800 to 1100 Euros (it is just a rough estimate). But, it’s always hard to
find such internships related to your field of study. Still, there are more opportunities
here in the technical field as compared to Norway, Finland and Sweden.

If you want to work here, then for that you have to get work permit. A work permit is
hard to get everywhere in Europe because of the policy of the European Union.
Companies are asked to hire local Europeans unless absolutely necessary. If you are too
good in your field, then you will have no problem in getting a work permit.

After your Master's degree, there is a “work-search” visa here in Austria for 12 Months
after completing your degree. Here in Austria, students, if they get an
internship/traineeship in some company. Then with time, Company may hire them if
they are good enough and in that case, they get a work permit. You can also get a visa on
basis of your internship/traineeship, but it is usually for 12 months. If they did not get
job or internship, they usually get admission into another Master's to prolong their stay.

13. Difference between University and University of

Applied Sciences
Before 10, 12 years ago, there were only Universities and there was nothing named like
University of Applied Sciences (Fochhochschule in German abbreviated as FH). Then
the government in German speaking countries (Germany, Austria) established this new
type of university and named it “Fochhochschule” (FH)🡪University of Applied
Sciences. The purpose was to enhance industrial and practical courses in Bachelor and
Masters.

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Study at FH is more practical oriented in collaboration with industry, while at University
study is more Research Oriented. So, if someone wants to work in Industry after his
Bachelors or Masters, he should enroll in an FH and if someone wants to have more
research in his study, then he should prefer University.

According to the definition or law, degrees from both FH and University are equvalent
when compared by credit scores earned. Also, one who has done his Bachelor from an
FH is eligible to enroll in Masters in a University. Similarly, a Master degree holder
from an FH is eligible to enroll into PhD anywhere. But, unfortunately, this may not be
exactly the case.

Generally, a degree from University is considered superior to a degree from FH, when
you want to enroll for further studies. I know one of my friends who did is Bachelors
from an FH in Germany, but he was denied admission in Masters in a University saying
that you hold a degree from FH and you need to take more study courses to be eligible
to enroll in Masters. So, that guy has no other way except to enroll in a Master course at
some FH. This is one example which may not be implied as a general rule, but I wanted
it to share this with you.

In, the case that you go for a practical work in an industry, then FH degree would be
preferred over University degree.
Generally, outside German speaking countries, people and universities don’t know the
difference b/w FH and University. They consider both as university and degree of both
as equivalent. This means that if an FH master degree holder goes to some non-German
speaking country to enroll in PhD, they may not consider this little difference and he
will not have any problem in getting admission.

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14. Step-by-step procedure for study in Europe
1. Get your passport if you haven’t made it yet. Passport is needed not only for
IELTS/TOEFL but also it is required by every university where you want to apply for
admission.

2. If you want to apply for Austria, Get your documents attested from Austrian
Consulate whenever you have time. As, this may not be required for admission but it
will eventually be required for visa.

3. Get your IELTS or TOEFL done on priority bases. This will make you eligible to
apply for admission anywhere.

4. Make some Recommendation letters (2 or 3) from university professors you know.

Make them general and not particular to any university so that you can use them while
applying anywhere.

5. Meanwhile, think about the arrangement of money which you have to show, once you
get admitted. Look around for people who may help you out. Also, pray for yourself so
that some resources may appear out of nowhere.

6. Find your field of study in some university which is free or which has some nominal
fee which you can afford. It’s better to make a list of universities where you think
yourself eligible to apply and prioritize them. Look at university website in detail to
know about admission procedure and fee matters. Some universities may want you
apply online and then send your documents along with a printed copy of the online
form. In some cases they may defer your documents until you have been preselected. If
you are preselected, then they will ask you to send paper copies of your documents. The
process depends on your university. In some cases they may conduct an interview.

7. Note down admission procedure and mark deadlines on your Calendar so that you
may have no problem in future in meeting deadlines.

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8. Apply for admission in time. It is better to apply as soon as possible when admission
starts.

9 If you are admitted, you will be notified by email as well as you will receive an
admission letter. After you receive your admission letter, you can start your visa
process.

10. For Austrian visa, you have to show proof of accommodation arrangement. Your
university will usually arrange you a proof of accommodation if you are admitted. You
have to ask them for that. Proof of accommodation is necessary for Residence permit
application.

11. Contact the Dehli embassy to make an appointment to apply for visa.

12. In case of Austria, you apply for Residence Permit.

13. Apply for visa (Residence Permit) as soon as possible. Usually visa process takes
4-6 weeks. But it may prolong if there is some problem. In case of Austria, if your
Residence Permit Application is accepted, embassy will ask you to submit Schengen
visa form. They will call you in that case. Submit that Schengen visa form and you will
get your visa in 10 days.

14. When you get your visa and have your passport stamped by the embassy, book a
flight and get yourself on a study abroad tour.

15. Some Useful Links

www.studyguide.at 🡪 Austrian Universities guide.
http://www.mastersportal.eu/ 🡪 Master portal for all Europe.

https://oead.at/en/to-austria 🡪 Austrian Exchange Server.

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This is a very useful and informative link about study in Austria. You will find
up-to-date information about financial proof and scholarships available in Austria. It
also contains detailed information on visa process, part time work and work permits in
Austria.

Frequently Asked Questions

1- Can I go to Germany or any other European country, once I am in Austria after
my admission to an Austrian University?

Yes. You can go to Germany or any other European country after you get Residence
Permit Card from here. Since you are living in a Schengen country, you can go to other
Schengen countries (25 countries) and live there for maximum of 3 months in a 6
months period.
If you plan to apply for any other European country, you can do that from Austria as
well. For example, if someone plans to apply for some German university then he can
apply there. If he gets admitted then he has to apply for German residence/student visa,
because with this Austrian residence, he can live in Germany for maximum of 3 months
in a 6 month period. And again, you will have to fulfill all the requirements laid by
Germany for a student e.g. deposit of one year expanse money in German bank etc.

2- How university conduct Interviews of an applicant?

If your university conducts interviews for admission to Master degrees then this
interview will be on Skype. In general, they don't.

3- Is there any interview at the embassy while applying for a residence permit or
visa?
If you are a student and you are applying for residence permit after your admission, then
there will be a no interview at the embassy they just ask only to introduce yourself and
basic questions.

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