Estonia visa guide
The Estonia Study & Research Visa is for study, research or an internship in Estonia. Short stays of up to 90 days use a Schengen Type C visa; longer study requires a national long-stay visa or residence permit.
Beyond the standard Schengen documents, the embassy expects a certificate of admission or registration at an educational establishment in Estonia, or a cover letter from the inviting institution.
Lifeset Overseas confirms whether your stay needs a short-stay visa or a residence permit and builds the file so your study or research purpose is clearly evidenced.
Estonia: short study, research and internship visa from India
For courses, research stays and internships of up to 90 days, the Embassy of Estonia in New Delhi issues the short-stay Schengen visa (type C) under its "Study, research, internship" checklist. Degree study of longer than 90 days is a different route: a long-stay (D) visa followed by a temporary residence permit for study issued by the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board, applied for after admission to an Estonian institution.
The Embassy's short-stay study checklist
The application is completed online at https://eelviisataotlus.vm.ee/ and submitted at VFS Global. The Embassy requires:
- Passport issued within the last ten years, valid at least three months after the scheduled return, with two empty pages, plus old passports (or an FIR or proof of cancellation).
- The application form signed twice; for a minor, signed by the legal guardian with apostilled custody proof.
- One photograph under six months old, 35 × 45 mm, colour, white background, "no software corrections".
- Travel health insurance valid in Schengen with at least EUR 30,000 coverage for the whole stay.
- Proof of accommodation, including campus residence reservations or the host's private-accommodation proof.
- Proof of transport: return flight tickets and itinerary; the Embassy asks that you "do not buy tickets before obtaining the visa".
- Proof of financial means in original on A4: three months of stamped bank statements and two years of income-tax acknowledgements, with the employed, self-employed and retired supplements the Embassy lists, or the sponsor's equivalents.
- The admission, enrolment or internship confirmation from the Estonian institution or company.
Official sources
- Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs — online visa application: https://eelviisataotlus.vm.ee/
- Study in Estonia (official): https://www.studyinestonia.ee/
- VFS Global — Estonia visa application centre, India: https://www.vfsglobal.com/estonia/india/
Checked against the Embassy of Estonia study checklist held in our Knowledge Base on 30 September 2026. Fees and rules change; the official page always prevails.
Verified figures for Estonia
What a year in Estonia costs — and what you must prove
- Public-university tuition, non-EU student, per year
- €1,500 – €15,000
- Funds the visa authority asks you to show
- €880 a month
English-taught courses: widely available. IELTS Academic 6.0 with no part below 5.5, or TOEFL iBT 75, at the Un — ask us for the current requirement.
Read on the official pages below on 27 Aug 2026. Figures change every academic year — check them before you pay anything.
Where Estonia stands among the 29 Schengen study countries
Computed from verified figures
On the lowest published public-university fee for non-EU students, Estonia sits 9th of 26 Schengen countries (€1,500 a year at the floor, up to €15,000). The living-cost proof the residence permit asks for works out to about €880 a month, which ranks 14th-lowest of the 23 countries that publish a monthly or yearly figure. English-taught programmes are widely available — Estonia is one of 18 Schengen countries where that is true, so the language of instruction is not the filter it is elsewhere.
Closest on tuition: Austria and Latvia. Compare all 29 side by side on Study in Europe.
