Health insurance MA35 will accept: private versus public, and what each really costs

Insurance is the requirement that generates the most anxiety in this whole process, usually more than it needs to. What MA35 (Vienna's immigration office) wants is straightforward: proof of health cover that pays for real medical care in Austria, not a travel policy. The choices come down to three, and once you see the prices next to each other, which one fits you is usually obvious.

What "accepted" insurance means

MA35 needs insurance that covers all risks, meaning genuine health cover for illness and treatment, valid in Austria. A travel-insurance certificate does not qualify, because those cover emergencies and trips rather than residence. Past that bar, MA35 is not particular about whether your cover is private or public, so the decision is mostly about cost and eligibility.

The three options, and what each costs

Here is the at-a-glance version, then the detail.

Quick reference (monthly, 2026):

Private student health policy (e.g. feelsafe / Uniqa): about €100–120 per person
ÖGK student self-insurance: €78.84¹
ÖGK standard self-insurance (the fallback): €565.25, with a six-month wait before benefits¹

Private student policies. Products like feelsafe, underwritten by Uniqa, are sold specifically for this situation. When we did it, they ran about €100 to €120 a month per person, and getting one was easy since we had my wife's study documents, but there are multiple different products for non students also. MA35 accepted ours with no trouble. The one thing to confirm is that you are buying genuine health cover and not a travel policy dressed up for visa use.

ÖGK student self-insurance. The ÖGK (Österreichische Gesundheitskasse, the public health insurance fund) offers a discounted self-insurance for students at €78.84 a month in 2026, which undercuts the private policies.¹ It comes with conditions: residence in Austria, genuine study progress, no already-completed degree, an income cap, and a minimum term of six months. Within those limits it is the cheapest legitimate route, and a spouse and children can be co-insured on it for benefits in kind.¹ Typically you trade affordability though for a smaller available network. Also, make sure you compare the actual policies to determine which coverage is best for you.

ÖGK standard self-insurance. If you do not fit the student product, the public fallback is ordinary self-insurance under §16 of the ASVG (the General Social Insurance Act). This is the expensive one: €565.25 a month in 2026, and benefits do not start for six months unless you have had enough recent insured employment.¹ ² Your income can reduce the amount on application, but as a default it is the "not worth it" option people get warned about. Now you know why the warning exists: it is about this standard rate, not the cheap student one.

The chicken-and-egg, and the way around it

A sequencing trap snags people here. The cheap ÖGK student insurance generally needs you to be resident in Austria, while your residence permit needs proof of insurance, so each looks like it requires the other first.

The documented way through, per OeAD (Austria's agency for education and internationalisation), is to attach a written declaration to your Student application stating that you will take out the ÖGK student self-insurance immediately after you arrive, and to note that in the insurance field.³ That satisfies the application without forcing you to have concluded the public insurance before you legally live there. If you are taking the public route as a student, this is the mechanism that unsticks it.

What we actually did

We both went with feelsafe. Mine was around €120 a month, my wife's nearer €100 because she is younger, and MA35 took both without comment. The €78.84 student rate was another valid option and while it is the cheapest option, we prefered the flexiblity and simplicity of going with the private insurance. We simply found the private policy easier and did not look hard at the public option.

Figures verified June 2026.

Official sources

ÖGK — "Self-insurance: students and self-insurance under §16 ASVG, contribution rates 2026" (gesundheitskasse.at) ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
OeAD — "Health insurance for students: the post-arrival ÖGK declaration" (oead.at) ↩

The law behind this

ASVG §16 — voluntary self-insurance in statutory health insurance, including the six-month benefit waiting period that does not apply where there has been sufficient recent insured employment (ris.bka.gv.at) ↩