Austria visa guideAn Austrian family and friends visit visa is a Schengen short-stay visa (type C) for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, staying with someone who lives in Austria. You fill in Austria's form in English or German, lodge the file at a VFS centre such as Chandigarh or Jalandhar, and the Austrian Embassy in New Delhi decides, usually within 15 working days of receiving it.
The document that sets an Austrian family visit apart is the EVE, an electronic declaration of sponsorship. Your host files it in person at the police directorate where they live in Austria, free of charge, and sends you its ID number. It is not a letter they can write themselves.
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Do Indians need a visa to visit family in Austria, and which one?
Yes. Visiting a son, daughter, sibling or friend in Austria for up to 90 days in any 180-day period takes a Schengen short-stay visa, type C, filed under Austria's checklist for visitors with a sponsorship (updated March 2026). VFS calls it the visitor visa, for those visiting family or friends in Austria. The application form is Austria's own, filled in English or German and signed, the file goes in at VFS, and the Austrian Embassy in New Delhi decides.
What sets this visa apart is the host's role. Austria has a formal instrument for a host who pays for a visitor: the EVE, or Elektronische Verpflichtungserklärung, an electronic declaration of sponsorship that the host files with the police authority in Austria. Your relatives cannot write it themselves on paper.
Austria family visit visa at a glance
- Visa
- Schengen type C, visitors with a sponsorship
- Longest stayLonger family visits need a visa D
- 90 days in any 180-day period
- From your hostPlus the EVE when the host pays
- Invitation and proof of legal residence
- EVE filed atFree of charge
- Regional police directorate where the host lives
- Decided by
- Austrian Embassy, New Delhi
- Visa feeFree under 6
- €90 adult, €45 child aged 6 to under 12
Austrian Embassy New Delhi visitor checklist (March 2026), Austrian Interior Ministry and VFS Global Austria, checked 14 Oct 2026
Where do applicants from Punjab apply?
At an Austrian VFS centre. Chandigarh and Jalandhar are the nearest for Punjab families, Gurugram for Haryana and New Delhi for Delhi, all open Monday to Friday. Whichever centre you choose, the file reaches the same Austrian Embassy in New Delhi.
Each family member has an own appointment, and VFS has rules that matter for parents and children:
- In person. Everyone attends, with one exception: an authorised travel agent can submit for someone whose fingerprints were captured within the last 59 months. If that earlier Schengen visa sits in an old passport, VFS asks for biometrics again.
- Who may enter. Only applicants, caregivers and people accompanying children under 18 are allowed into the centre, so an elderly parent can bring a caregiver.
- Children. Under-12s give no fingerprints, but a child under 5 must still come to the appointment, and anyone under 18 comes with an adult who is not VFS staff.
- Missed slot. A new appointment can be booked only after 24 hours.
To see how dates are opening up, check our Austria appointment availability page.
Which documents depend on your situation?
Your own papers follow the common checklist further down. Item 6 of Austria's visitor checklist is what your host provides in every case:
- an invitation from the family member or friend, with their address and contact details and the intended period of your stay;
- evidence of their legal residence: a copy of their passport or national ID card, or their residence permit, as applicable.
Item 7 is the EVE, marked "If applicable". Austria's official sources do not quite agree on when it applies. The checklist lists it as optional. The Embassy's website says an EVE is how you prove funding when you cannot show enough of your own. And VFS's description of the visitor visa says the inviter has to provide one on your behalf. Follow the strictest reading: if your host is paying for any part of the trip, ask for the EVE.
Your host pays for the trip
- What to add
- The EVE filed by the host, quoting its ID number in your application
You pay for yourself
- What to add
- Your own funds: original bank statements for 3 months, stamped and signed, and ITRs with barcode for 2 years
Retired parents
- What to add
- Pension statements for the last 3 months and/or proof of regular income from property or a business
Employed
- What to add
- Salary certificates for 3 months, employment contract, company NOC, and your official email (or HR's) on the form or a business card
Self-employed
- What to add
- GST certificate, Udyam memorandum, Import Export Certificate or Certificate of Incorporation
Child with one parent
- What to add
- Original notarised NOC from the other parent, plus copies of both parents' passports or ID
Child travelling alone
- What to add
- Original notarised NOC from both parents or guardians
The EVE does not replace your own papers. The checklist still asks every visitor for proof of occupation, bank statements and ITRs, and the Embassy wants evidence of your roots in India: property, employment, a pension and family ties.
How much is the Austria visa fee for Indians visiting family?
Each adult pays a €90 visa fee and each child from 6 to under 12 pays €45; children under 6 pay none. VFS listed these as ₹9,900 and ₹5,000 on 14 October 2026, adjusting the rupee figure with the exchange rate at month end, and adds a ₹2,479 service charge per person. A family of four therefore pays per head, and nothing is refunded if a visa is refused. The EVE itself costs your host nothing, and our filing fee is shown at the top of this page.
How long does it take, and when should you apply?
Allow up to 15 working days from the day the Embassy receives the complete file, plus transport time between VFS and New Delhi. The Embassy's website calls 15 calendar days the norm, says processing may currently take longer than usual, and allows up to 45 calendar days in individual cases. Use the longer figure when you plan a visit around a birth, a wedding or a graduation.
The EVE adds its own lead time. Your host books an appointment at the police directorate, files the EVE and passes you the ID number, and you can apply only 48 hours after it was filed. So the sequence is: host files the EVE, you lodge at VFS, the Embassy decides. Applications open six months before departure. The checklist warns that a file reaching the Embassy less than 15 working days before travel is sent back to VFS with the passport, and advises applying at least 1 month ahead.
Why do Austria family visit visas get refused for Indian applicants?
The Embassy must establish a plausible, verifiable purpose, enough money for the stay and the return, and your intention to leave before the visa expires. Family files tend to fail in these places.
An invitation that leaves out the dates (reasons 2 and 10)
The checklist asks the host to state the intended period of your stay, with their address and contact details. A warm letter with no dates, or dates that differ from your flight reservation and insurance, makes the purpose impossible to verify.
Money that is neither yours nor pledged (reason 3)
Austria expects costs to be covered from your own assets or income. If they are not, the alternative it names is the host's EVE. A file with thin personal statements and no EVE has nothing to fall back on.
No visible reason to return (reason 13)
Parents visiting children abroad are asked, in effect, what brings them home. Show property, a pension, other family in India and a return reservation well inside the 90 days. A long, open-ended plan works against you.
Insurance that does not fit (reason 16)
Since 1 March 2026 Austria accepts insurance for applications lodged in India only from insurers on the approved list. Each insurer's scheme has an age band, so check that the policy covers an older parent's age, gives at least €30,000 and runs for the whole stay.
Our Schengen refusal reasons page explains every numbered reason. After a refusal, the Embassy names two remedies, a "Vorstellung" at the consulate or an appeal to the Federal Administrative Court, and the Interior Ministry gives 4 weeks for the appeal.
Tips for a stronger file
- Agree the dates first. Fix the travel dates with your host before they write the invitation or file the EVE, so every document carries the same period.
- Send your passport details early. The host needs a copy of your passport data page and your full address in India to file the EVE.
- Quote the EVE number. Write the ID number your host sends you into the application, and apply no sooner than 48 hours after filing.
- Keep your own papers complete. Stamped and signed bank statements, ITRs with barcode, pension or salary proof, even with an EVE.
- Show the relationship. A birth or marriage certificate showing how you are related to your host helps the invitation make sense.
- Clean passport. No alteration or handwritten amendment on the data page; renew first if there is one.
- Order and copies. Arrange the file in the checklist's order, with copies of earlier Schengen visas and stamps from old passports.
- Insurance by age. Choose a scheme on the approved list whose age band covers each traveller.
How does your host file the EVE?
In person, at the regional police directorate (Landespolizeidirektion) responsible for their main residence in Austria, free of charge. Austria's Interior Ministry recommends that the host phones the aliens police first, to book an appointment and to ask which documents their case needs. A private host should bring current papers:
- identity document, and proof of lawful residence if they are not an Austrian citizen;
- their residence registration (Meldezettel), and a rental contract or land register extract not older than 3 months;
- income proof, such as payslips for the last 3 months, a tax assessment or a tax adviser's letter for the self-employed;
- bank statements for the last 3 months, proof of other regular income and of outgoings such as loans or maintenance, and savings if any;
- a copy of your passport data page and your full address in India, so your name and date of birth are recorded correctly.
By filing, the host declares that they will cover all costs public bodies may incur through your stay, even beyond the period of the invitation. The host is not a party to the visa procedure and is not told the outcome; you are. Once the EVE is filed, the host receives an ID number and passes it to you.
What if parents want to stay longer than 90 days?
Then a Schengen visa is the wrong one. The Austrian Embassy says that for a stay longer than 90 days but not more than six months, for example a family visit, you can apply for a visa D, with documents showing the purpose of the stay. Austria's Interior Ministry describes the visa D as covering 91 days up to six months; beyond six months a residence permit is needed.
Do not count on extending a visa in Austria. The Embassy's checklist states that neither a C nor a D visa can be extended or renewed there, while the Interior Ministry allows an extension at the regional police directorate only under clearly defined conditions and only while the visa is valid. Follow the stricter rule and choose the right visa before you fly. For the wider picture, see the Austria country page and the Austria tourist visa guide.
Official sources
- Visa, Austrian Embassy New Delhi (BMEIA)
- Einreise / Visa / Visumfreiheit / EVE, Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior
- VFS Global Austria India: visa types, fees and processing time
- VFS Global Austria India: visa application centres
- VFS Global Austria India: what happens at the centre
- Information on Travel Medical Insurance (approved list applied by Austria), German Missions in India
- Visa Code, consolidated text (EUR-Lex)
