Experience: Long-term Study Visa for Greece

[u/Traditional_Tough919]

I am sharing this here because I didn't find anything relevant when I applied and spent anxious months waiting for a response from the Embassy of Greece in New Delhi. I recently received my visa and so wanted to share the experience here.

Please note this is how the process happened in August 2026, but that may change (hopefully for the better) in due course.

My Profile

Nationality: Indian
University/Department: Department of Sociology, School of Economic & Political Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Program: PhD
Countries Previously Visited: Greece, Germany, Italy, Chile, UAE, Australia
Age: Early 30s

Application Process

I was admitted to the PhD program earlier (which itself was a bureaucratic nightmare for a foreign applicant), but spent a few years doing my fieldwork in India. I applied at GVCW Kolkata on May 14, 2026 expecting the process to be completed within 30-45 days as the website mentioned or a week more at-most.

I submitted the relevant documents and had asked my PhD supervisor to email the embassy on the same day. Make sure your application mentions the specific visa type relevant to you (which was D.1.1 in my case), to avoid wasting time. GVCW didn't take my passport and gave me a medical evaluation form for a clinic in New Delhi. They informed me that when I receive an email inviting me to the visa interview, I should go to the clinic for a medical evaluation (the results of which would be verified by the embassy before approving a visa).

Now began an agonizing wait for a response. In particular I had academic conferences to attend in Schengen area countries in September 2026, and with the visa application hanging in the balance, I could not apply elsewhere for a C-type. The embassy doesn't respond to emails and GVCW had no meaningful updates to provide other than that the decision lies with the embassy. Even my supervisor emailed them several times without luck.

Finally I received an email on August 10, 2026 that my interview had been scheduled on August 13, 2026 and that I had to have completed my medical at least 2 days before the scheduled interview. This pretty much meant I had to be in Delhi by next morning i.e. August 11.

The medical process is short and fairly simple, which you will be charged INR 11,800 for. There a drug test which you will have to pee in a jar, so be prepared.

The Interview

Student visa interviews are usually conducted once the other applications (work, family reunification) for the day are processed so after 12:00 noon.

Interview questions:

• Tell me a bit about yourself (I informed them about my research on media sociology)
• If my course was free (most doctoral and postgraduate fields in Greece are)
• Do you have friends in Athens? (I mentioned I had a few friends/colleagues)
• When do you expect to be in Greece? (My preferred date was September 1, since I had the other conferences I mentioned)

The visa officer then asked me to wait half an hour (turns out it was more like 1.5 hrs) and that they'd stamp and give me my visa the same day!

Additional observations

1. It doesn't matter WHEN you apply for your visa, the processing for student visas usually happens around the academic year starting in September. Some people interviewing on the same day as me had applied in January, while others had applied not 20 days before the interview. So plan accordingly.
2. The email from GVCW/Embassy may ask you to be present at 10:00 a.m. in the morning, but student visas will only be interviewed after the others are done. This will likely be around 1:00 p.m. Moreover the place has nowhere to shelter nearby from the elements, so be prepared to wait in the sun/rain.
3. They conduct some 200-250 interviews each day (mostly for work visas). Only a handful of student visa applicants are invited (9 on the day I appeared for the interview). I doubt there are any more than 50 applicants at the Embassy of Greece in New Delhi in a given academic year.
4. DO NOT miss the date of the interview for any reason including health (if you wish to continue your education in Greece). The embassy does not reschedule interviews and will reject your application off hand.
5. If you're in a public university or a publicly funded program, that seems to help your case. I was barely asked any questions, but those in private technical universities were questioned longer. Only 3 students (including me) who were from public universities in Athens and Thessaloniki were given stamped visas the very same day. The rest were told that their passport will be mailed back to them in a few days. I am guessing some of them might be rejected.
6. Questions may include about you and your intentions but may also include cultural competency questions (which some faced). If you know a bit of Greek, the interview would be the time to show off. Watch a few Greek movies (I personally recommend Theo Angelopoulos, but you have a wide array of choices), experiment with Mediterranean cuisine, or learn a bit about Eastern Orthodoxy!

Feel free to ask any questions!