Austria is one of the Schengen countries. In order to travel there, Russian citizens will need a visa. The rules for obtaining all Schengen visas are similar. If you already have experience of self-filing of documents for any other visa from the Schengen list, then there will be no problems with obtaining an Austrian visa either.
Documentation
To apply for a visa, the first step is to prepare all the necessary documents. The final result depends on them, travel agencies often provide assistance in their design. In fact, you can collect all the papers yourself.
You will need the following documents:
A foreign passport valid for 90 days after your trip to Austria ends. Make a copy of the first personal data page. If there are other Schengen visas in your passport, make copies of them too. In the case of such visas in previous passports, it is useful to attach these old passports to the documents, making copies from the pages with the existing Schengen visas.
Visa application form completed in English or German. Attach 2 photos to your application.
Make photocopies of all significant pages from the Russian passport.
Confirm the purpose of your stay in Austria. This can be a hotel reservation or a private invitation, sometimes a route description is used for this purpose.
Attach documents confirming your employment in Russia. This is usually a job certificate, but a student ID or retirement ID is also suitable. For private entrepreneurs, you should show the incorporation documents for your company.
Show proof that you have sufficient funds to travel. This can be a bank statement or a statement showing the movement of funds over the past three months.
Compulsory health insurance for Schengen countries, valid for the entire duration of the trip.
Buy or book tickets to and from the country. If you are traveling by car, you must have documents for it.
It is highly desirable that all documents be translated into German or English. You can make a translation yourself, or you can order it at a translation bureau. The lack of translations leads to the fact that the period for consideration of the application may be somewhat delayed.
Applying for a visa
You can apply for a visa through the consulate or visa centers, they are available in several large cities of Russia. You can submit papers to the consulate yourself, through your closest relatives (if there is documentary evidence of the fact of kinship) or a courier accredited at the consulate. You can apply to the visa center only on your own or through your relatives. Admission of applicants is possible only by appointment, you can sign up online on the website of the Austrian consulate. You cannot be more than 30 minutes late: documents will not be accepted.
Consideration of an application usually takes from 2 to 8 days, in the hot season (winter for Austria) this period can take up to 2-3 weeks.
If an application is submitted through the consulate, it must be paid through Raiffeisenbank. If the application takes place through a visa center, it is easier to pay right there, but in this case, the cost of the services of the center itself will be added to the cost of the visa fee, which is 35 euros for a regular visa and 70 for an urgent one.
