Schengen Tourist Visa from Tokyo: Austria

September 27, 2019

For my next European trip, I will land in Austria, stay only in Austria, and leave via Austria. So I don’t really have a choice but to apply for my next Schengen Visa in…. Austria. 🙂 Quick note – they don’t feel friendly! Haha.

What you need to prepare

• Appointment. The moment you know you have to go get a Schengen visa, book an appointment! For Austria – Tokyo, here’s where you book it: https://appointment.bmeia.gv.at/
• Documentation. Follow the list provided by the website here: https://www.bmeia.gv.at/en/austrian-embassy-tokyo/travels-to-austria/visa/
  • On the passport size photo, they will actually check if your face accounts for around 80% of the picture. Check the ICAO standard.
  • On the bank statement, a six month rule is strictly followed. Ensure it covers the past six months, based on the date of application.
  • On the insurance, the word they are looking for is “The insurance coverage is UNLIMITED”. I have used Mawista GmbH for my past two applications, I don’t think there’s any issues.
  • On the letter pack, they really do have one there, so just take note of the tracking number.
  • NOT IN THE LIST: photocopy of all visa pages in you current passport – I had one Chinese visa and an old Schengen visa. I had to go have a copy of those.
  • NOT IN THE LIST: photocopy of Schengen visa for the past 3 years, if not in your current passport.
  • If you lack documentation, no worries. You can just mail it to them.

Getting There

It’s a very close walk from the station to the embassy. At the gate, all I had to do was ring the bell. They speak Japanese, English and German (Austria-German I assume) 

At the Embassy

• Submit the documents above.
• Pay the visa fee (I paid JPY7,100 cash, including the letter pack price). I think this has been increased for 2020.
• Get your fingerprints taken (no photos????)

Quick update – the letter pack arrived at my house on October 13, a little over 2 weeks from my application. The validity is for 3 months, but for exactly the number of days in between my flight dates haha.