The rule behind the numbers
There is one structural fact worth knowing before any table.
Schengen short-stay visa fees are harmonised. The EU Visa Code sets a common price for a type C visitor visa, currently EUR 90 for adults, and every Schengen consulate charges it.
Student long-stay fees are not harmonised at all. A national type D visa or a student residence permit is priced by each country under its own law, which is why the same application costs around EUR 50 in one destination and several hundred in another. There is no European ceiling and no relationship between the fee and how good the destination is.
Typical government fees, September 2026
Treat these as ranges to plan with, not quotes. Fees are revised without much warning, several are set in local currency, and the authority's own page is the only current figure.
| Country | Where you pay | Typical government fee | Also payable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | VFS Dhaka | around EUR 50 | Service fee, courier, insurance |
| Hungary | Consular office, Dhaka | roughly EUR 60-170 | Residence card issue on arrival |
| Malta | VFS Dhaka | around EUR 100 | Residence card fee after arrival |
| Greece | Visa centre, Dhaka | roughly EUR 90-180 | Service fee, courier to Delhi |
| Bulgaria | Embassy, New Delhi | around EUR 100 | Indian visa and travel, then TRC fees |
| Cyprus | Filed by the university | roughly EUR 150-250 in permit fees | University administrative charges |
| Sweden | Migrationsverket, online | around SEK 1,500, roughly EUR 130 | Residence card issue |
| Denmark | SIRI, online | roughly DKK 2,000-2,700, roughly EUR 270-360 | Biometrics within 14 days |
| Finland | Migri, online | roughly EUR 350-600 | Delhi trip for biometrics |
Finland is the most expensive of the nine on the fee alone, and the paper application costs more than the online one — a genuine saving for doing it the intended way.
The costs nobody puts in the plan
For most Bangladeshi students the visa fee is somewhere between a fifth and a half of what the file actually costs. The rest looks like this.
| Item | Typical | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Visa centre service fee | BDT 3,000-6,000 | Charged on top of the government fee |
| Health insurance | EUR 100-500 per year | Required for most applications, see below |
| Certified translation | BDT 500-1,500 per page | Adds up fast on transcripts |
| Attestation and apostille | BDT 3,000-10,000 | Depends on the document set |
| Police clearance | BDT 500-1,000 | Plus travel to collect it |
| Courier and photographs | BDT 1,500-3,000 | |
| Delhi trip, where required | BDT 40,000-60,000 | Finland and Bulgaria, plus the Indian visa |
The health insurance guide explains why the cheapest policy is often rejected, and the document attestation guide covers the legalisation chain.
The part that hurts: none of it is refundable
⚠️ A visa fee is a fee for a decision, not for a visa. If the application is refused, the government fee, the service fee and the courier charge are gone, and so is the cost of every document that has since expired. That is the real argument for not submitting an incomplete or unexplained file to save a fortnight — a second attempt does not cost half, it costs the whole thing again.
It is also the reason to be sceptical of anyone offering to speed a decision up for money. No fee buys priority on a student application at any of these nine missions, and paying someone who says otherwise usually buys nothing at all. The agency fraud guide covers the patterns.
Two fees people forget entirely
The residence permit is a separate charge. In most of these countries the visa or entry decision is one payment and the residence card issued after arrival is another, commonly EUR 30-160 depending on the country. Budget for it in your first month, not your first year.
Currency endorsement. Sending fees out of Bangladesh has its own process and its own cost, and doing it informally creates a paper trail problem later. See sending tuition from Bangladesh and currency endorsement.
What to do next
- 1Open the official page for your destination and write down today's fee. Not a forum figure, not this article — the authority's own page.
- 2Add the whole second table to your budget before you decide the country is affordable.
- 3Run the numbers against tuition and living costs in the cost calculator so the visa file is a line in the plan rather than a surprise in June.
Official sources — check for yourself
- EU Immigration Portal — visas and permits
- Migri — Finnish Immigration Service, fees
- Migrationsverket — residence permit for studies
- New to Denmark (SIRI)
- VFS Global — Italy visa application centre, Bangladesh
Rules and figures change. We review these articles periodically and show the date above, but always confirm the current requirement with the official source before you act on it.
Common questions
Why is Finland so much more expensive than Italy?+
Because student long-stay fees are set nationally and are not harmonised across Europe. Finland prices a full residence permit decision by its immigration service, Italy prices a consular visa sticker. The gap says nothing about the quality of either destination, and Finland is still cheap on tuition compared with most of the world.
Do I get the fee back if my visa is refused?+
No. The fee pays for the decision, not the outcome, and it is not returned on a refusal. Service charges and courier costs are also lost. This is why fixing a weak file before submission is cheaper than testing it.
Is there a way to pay for faster processing?+
Not for student applications at these nine missions. Premium lounge services at a visa centre buy comfort and a shorter queue, never priority in the decision queue. Anyone selling guaranteed speed is selling something they do not control.
Does the visa fee cover the residence permit as well?+
Usually not. In most of these countries the entry decision and the residence card are separate charges, and the card commonly costs another EUR 30-160 after you arrive. Keep money aside for it in your first month.
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