A headlamp apparatus for a vehicle includes a left-right deflecting device for deflecting an optical axis of illumination of a projector lamp in a left-and-right direction in correspondence with a steering angle of a vehicle; a vertically deflecting device for deflecting the optical axis of illumination of the projector lamp 30 in a vertical direction; and a deflection controlling device for effecting the operation of setting the optical axis by the left-right deflecting device at a time when the optical axis of illumination is in a state of being oriented in a lower direction than the horizontal direction by the vertically deflecting device. The optical axis position of the projector lamp is oriented in a lower direction than the horizontal direction by the vertically deflecting device until the optical axis position is set to a reference angular position by the left-right deflecting device.