In today’s blog, we will discuss the process of applying for a student visa for Italy, from the very beginning to the end, including the costs involved.
Understanding Expenses
You need to understand that there are two separate aspects to consider:
- The expenses for document preparation.
- The required bank statement.
In this blog, we are focusing on the budget and expenses related to the visa process, not the bank statement, which will be covered in a separate, detailed blog.
Starting the Process
When you start your process today, you may delay until your visa file is prepared, and your documents are ready for submission. You may only have Rs 4 lakh at this point.
Let me clarify: the total expenditure is not even Rs 1 lakh. If you spend wisely, you may not even spend Rs 50,000. Within Rs 50,000, your visa file can be prepared.
Document Attestation
First, we will talk about document attestation:
- Your matriculation documents
- Your intermediate documents
- Your bachelor’s documents from the Higher Education Commission (HEC)
- Intermediate documents from the IBCC
- Lastly, all these documents are attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The cost of this process is approximately Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000. For estimation, let’s consider it as Rs 15,000. If your expenses are less than Rs 15,000, you’ll save some money.
Visa File Preparation
Now, after preparing your documents, the next step is preparing your visa file. An important part of this is obtaining:
- Health insurance
- Dummy accommodation
- Dummy tickets
You can get all three together for around Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000. If you purchase from my reference, you can get it at a discounted price of Rs 12,000.
Additional Costs
If you are a student from Karachi or if your bachelor’s degree is from Pakistan but you are currently abroad, you will need to apply for your visa at the respective embassy.
For Karachi students, you will need to prepare for Cemia. Cemia includes:
- Statement of Comparator
- Statement of Verification
Combining both, it costs approximately Rs 70,000. This estimate includes your earlier expenses:
- Rs 15,000 for document attestation
- Rs 12,000 for health insurance, dummy accommodation, and dummy tickets
- Rs 70,000 for Cemia
Visa Fee and Miscellaneous Expenses
When you submit your visa file at the embassy or consulate, a visa fee is also charged. Last year, I paid around Rs 19,000, but considering the current exchange rates, estimate it at around Rs 25,000.
Now, if you account for photocopies of documents and passport-sized pictures, estimate another Rs 10,000 for miscellaneous expenses.
Total Expenses
Now, let’s sum up the costs:
- Document attestation: Rs 15,000
- Health insurance, accommodation, and tickets: Rs 12,000
- Visa fee: Rs 25,000
- Miscellaneous: Rs 10,000
- Cemia (if applicable): Rs 70,000
Your total expenses will be approximately Rs 1,20,000 to Rs 1,30,000, which is around 300 Euros. If you remove the Cemia expense, the total will be around Rs 60,000 to Rs 65,000, which is not a huge amount for the visa file preparation.
Post-Visa Expenses
Once you receive your visa, you will have additional expenses. You will need to go shopping and book your flight.
The flight can be a bit expensive, costing around Rs 50,000 to Rs 2,00,000. Also, bring some currency converted into Euros, as you will need to manage expenses for the first two to three months until your scholarship arrives.
I recommend bringing at least 2,000 Euros, which would amount to around Rs 6,00,000.
Conclusion
To summarize, I have broken down the entire process step by step based on my personal experience. If you have any questions or recommendations for the next blog, feel free to ask. I hope you found this blog helpful.