Visiting Austria on a visa for Germany

Hi All,

I currently am on an internship in Munich for 6 months and have a German visa, I was wondering if I can travel to Austria on this visa or do I need to get an Austria tourist visa separately? Any info?

You're in the Schengen zone...open borders and all that

Ummm ... are you sure though .. cuz I don want to be held up at the God damn border and be sent back to India... especially since I am going to the US in a couple of weeks.. FYI .. I will travel by train from Munich to Salzburg

There are no border checks between Munich and Salzburg.

Do some research. Look up Schengen Agreement. Here you go, knock yourself out.

There are no borders for travelers between Germany & Austria.

One more time for the slow... THERE ARE NO BORDER CHECKS!!! Hince the "Open Borders", mentioned above.
As long as you have your passport with German living/working permit in it your good.. There are only spot/random
checks on the trains.

Yours must be a schengen visa. Austria is one of the 15 schengen countries, at the moment. So, you can travel in Austria too. Please cross-check with the type of visa you have.

Switzerland aint under Schengen, but I travelled there with the German residency permit (work permit, which also gives you a right to travel in schengen countries) and the border security also checked that. So, I dont think you would have to face problems while travelling.

The German Residence permit, is your Schengen Visa.

No Freak .. my Visa clearly says Deutschland and under Type is says D .. what ever that means . Anyways from all the other responses on this site I think it should be ok for me to travel for just a day... However if there are any red flags please do post them...
Thanks all

Did you read any of the information in the Schengen Agreement link Keydeck posted?

It says Deutschland/Germany because

1. Thats who issued it
2. Where you live
3. Where you work/study

It's not meant to tell you which countries you can/can't travel to..

Thanks DarkKinght ... I don't mean to sound daft.. but you cant hold me responsible for asking especially Given the problems I have had with US customs inspite of having all my documents.. I din't want to have to go thru the same here in germany ... thanks again

Thanks everyone .. I feel confident having read Kay's article... and Humbly bow out of this discussion to book my tickets to Austria .. cheers everyone.

Prost...und..Ahoy/Ahoi..!

Erm... let's try like this:

Hmmm...not as clear cut as I originally thought. I also thought it would be no problem travelling with your visa.
There are mobile border checks but the chances are very unlikely that you will be checked.

The Wikipedia article actually states:


If you have a residence permit then there would be no issue. The article above implies Type D is not a Schengen Visa, but I cannot vouch for its accuracy.

hi Jay,
Thanks for pointing that out .. I just noticed that... Well as far as residence permit goes they told me that I have residence and work permit printed on the Visa and that I don't need to get either.. The only thing I was required to do by KVR was get the Anmeldung or some crap like that... Now whether they need a card or some letter stating I am resident I have no idea.
People any thoughts on this?

I also found this

"Any third-country national with a residence permit valid in one fully implementing country may travel on a valid passport, without requiring a visa, for up to 90 days per six-month period to any other fully implementing country"

"http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/WillkommeninD/EinreiseUndAufenthalt/Schengen.html"

PS this is what is printed on my Visa :

AUFENTHV ERWERBSTATIGKEIT NICHT GESTATTET
AUFENTH.DAUER.ENTSPR.GULTIGKEIT.

any transalations?

What does it say in big letters on the sticker in your passport? VISUM? AUFENTHALTSTITEL?
Visum type D, by itself, will not allow you to legally travel to any country other than Germany.

Is there a picture of a buffalo anywhere on the sticker (no...this is not a joke...the buffalo is the Schengen symbol).


AUFENTHV=Aufenthaltsverordung (residence regulations)
ERWERBSTÄTIGKEIT NICHT GESTATTET=employment not permitted
AUFENTH.DAUER.ENTSPR.GULTIGKEIT=the length of the stay is the same as the validity? This is confusing Beamtendeutsch, which seems tautologous to me.

Ok given the confusion I went down to KVR today and decided to find out first hand :-

When asked they said I cannot go to any other Schengen State with a Deutschland Type D visa. Also the annotations made on my visa are only valid for Germany since I am praktikant i.e. Intern.

@ Jay Thanks for your info if it wasn't for the point you made I probably would have made the trip and put myself at risk
@ Everyone else : Please don't generalize rules... each case is person specific so If you ain't sure then don't dole out advice or atleast add a word of caution.

lol

Thanks sharpe... But I must say these guys are crazy ... I mean what the hell.. and the best part is the person at KVR hardly spoke any English and the only thing she kept saying repeatedly was "Nicht Nicht Nicht" God damn!

One of the great advantages of India is the fact that Indian immigration officers speak flawless German ...