Loading…
Schengen Type CVerified 20 Apr 2026Free-of-charge Schengen short-stay research visa for Indian researchers visiting Italy for research activity (≤90 days) with a Host Agreement (Convenzione di accoglienza).
Professional filing · fee back if refused
Not included in our fee: a flight reservation (from ₹708) and a confirmed hotel booking (₹590 per hotel). Book them separately, only if your visa needs them:
Opens WhatsApp. We send the 50% advance link; the balance is due before anything is submitted.
What you get
SureshotVisa promise
Visa refused — 100% of our fee back, initiated within 7 days. Embassy and visa-centre fees are collected by the authority and are not refundable by anyone. Refund policy
Pro Lifeset Overseas Pvt Ltd · Licence 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024. The visa decision is the embassy's.
Or leave your number for a Italy visa callback
Leave your number and we'll WhatsApp you back. No long forms.
✓ The ₹499 report is fully refundable · our refund promise
Check the official requirements
Guide last reviewed 2026-04-20. Fees, documents and appointment rules can change.
Heads up — Italy Visa Checklists Vary by Jurisdiction
Italy splits visa decisions across 4 Indian consulates — New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru — each with slightly different document checklists, fees rounding, and processing nuances. The requirements listed on this page match the New Delhi (North) jurisdiction.
New Delhi (North) jurisdiction covers
What it costs
Paid directly to Italy / VFS — these are not our service fee, and we never mark them up.
Figures per VFS Global, last verified 20 Apr 2026. Fees change without notice — the official page is final.
Visa fee is GRATIS / FREE for this category. However, the VFS Service Charge of ₹652 (per applicant, inclusive of all taxes) still applies. Optional value-added services (courier, courier assurance, premium lounge) are available at extra cost. Visa fee and service charges are non-refundable if the application is refused by the Embassy of Italy or withdrawn while under processing.
Flights · Hotels · Insurance · Itinerary
Italy applies the Schengen rules, so travel insurance is not a nice-to-have — it is a legal condition of the visa.
2 of 4 are compulsory for Italy
Where people slip: Flying into one city and out of another with nothing showing how you travel between them. Officers read the whole route, and an unexplained gap reads as a plan that does not hold together.
Book for ₹708 (+₹472 per family member)Where people slip: Free-cancellation bookings are accepted, but if the entire file is free-cancellation the officer sees a trip nobody has committed to. Some of it should be real spend.
Confirmed hotel booking, ₹590 per hotel: message us firstWhere people slip: Buying cover for the adults and forgetting the children. Every traveller needs their own EUR 30,000, infants included — a real refusal we have seen on a family of four.
What a Schengen policy must showWhere people slip: Spending more nights in another Schengen country than in Italy. That gets a file rejected before it is even assessed.
The letter your itinerary attaches toWe can arrange the flight reservation, the hotel and the itinerary for your Italy file — each sold separately.
We are a B2B travel agency as well as a visa consultancy, working with partners including Riya Travel — so the flight reservation and the confirmed hotel booking both come from us, and you deal with one team. Every booking is a real one under your own name. We do not sell travel insurance: buy the policy directly from an insurer.
None of them is part of our visa fee: each is bought on its own, at the price below, with or without our visa service.
Flight reservation ₹708 (+₹472 per extra family member) · Confirmed hotel booking ₹590 per hotel · Travel itinerary ₹1,499. GST included.
Delivery. Usually within 30 minutes during office hours, Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00 IST. Confirmed hotel bookings are not bought online: message us first on WhatsApp or email info@sureshotvisa.com with the city, dates and travellers.
Tell us your dates — we will say which of these you actually need
What to gather
Having a document isn't the same as presenting it right — that's the part we handle.
Do not staple.
Issued ≤10 years, 3 months validity beyond stay, 2 blank pages.
Must specify: employment conditions, monthly financial support, research activity + esteemed duration, researcher mobility (if any), medical insurance details in favor of the researcher.
Required · optional / if applicable
5 steps from intake to approval — never as linear as government sites pretend.
Obtain Host Agreement (Convenzione di accoglienza)
Italian host institution drafts and signs the Convenzione covering financial + medical insurance + research activity details.
Get proof of Indian researcher status
Letter from your Indian University/Research Institute confirming employment.
Fill form + book VFS
visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/ita/ — select jurisdiction centre.
Submit at VFS + biometrics
FREE visa fee; pay only ₹652 VFS service charge.
Embassy may call for VCC/Personal Interview
Processing 15 working days (extendable 45).
Biometrics and the visit to the visa centre are yours to attend in person — no consultancy can do those for you. How we work
What works
9 levers that flip a borderline case.
What kills cases
Top 3 refusal triggers we see.
Each link opens the official Italy page on VFS Global (we never host third-party forms): pick your visa category there and use its "Download Form" section for the current version.
We're actively building per-visa quizzes. For now, the best way to assess your eligibility for Research Visa — Short Term (Schengen Type C) is a 1-on-1 consultation with our team.
A consultant at our licensed firm replies today
Frequently asked
Yes — Embassy Visa Fee is GRATIS for Research C category. You only pay the VFS Service Charge of ₹652 (per applicant).
Research C is for short-term research stays up to 90 days. Research D is for long-term research (>90 days) and requires a Nulla Osta from the competent Italian Authority (SPORTELLO UNICO PER L'IMMIGRAZIONE).
It's the formal Host Agreement between the Italian host institution and the researcher — mandated by Italian law. It specifies employment conditions, financial support, research activity, duration, mobility, and medical insurance. Without it, application is not accepted.
Private companies can host under specific frameworks. The Convenzione must be drafted accordingly. If the activity is more 'employment' than research, consider Employment visa instead.
Family members apply separately as Tourist or Accompanying Spouse/Parents visa (for longer stays). Short research visits under 90 days — family uses Tourist visa.
15 working days standard, extendable to 45. Apply between 15 and 180 working days before planned departure.
A consultant at our licensed firm replies today
Reviewed by Sherbir Singh Grewal, SureshotVisa — a government-licensed consultancy (Licence 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024). Verify us.
A strong Italy file clearly explains your travel purpose, funds, and ties to India. We structure and submit everything properly — so your case is presented clearly and professionally.
Our professional fee · GST included
₹4,999GST included
File-ready in 3–5 working days after documents
5★ · 110+ reviews · reply in 5 min
Everything below — included, nothing extra
Not included in our fee: a flight reservation (from ₹708) and a confirmed hotel booking (₹590 per hotel). Book them separately, only if your visa needs them:
Not sure you qualify? Start with a refundable ₹499 possibility report — an honest Yes / Maybe / No, credited to this fee.
Price is for our consultancy service only and includes 18% GST. No agency can guarantee a visa — the final decision rests with the visa authority.
Your fee, in one glance
Government, VFS, insurance, ticket and hotel costs are separate and charged at cost. Read what each item means, in full.
Before you file
Filed on a guessed checklist, the government fee is gone on a refusal and the refusal follows every future application. Filed after a consultant at our licensed firm has read the papers against each other, the file answers the officer's questions before they are asked. Same Italy rules, different outcome. How we do that is written once, in full, on the method page rather than repeated here.
A consultant at our licensed firm replies today
Source & Disclaimer
Data on this page is sourced from the official VFS Global Italy website and Embassy of Italy. Last verified 2026-04-20. Always verify with the official embassy before applying — fees and requirements change without notice.
Also relevant
Ready?
Share your travel purpose, employment/business profile and funds. We'll tell you honestly where your file stands.