Welcome
National Visa FAQs
Have a query regarding National Visa? Check out our FAQs.
General
Kindly contact our service provider VFS Global who is handling the booking of appointments.
In case you are residing in the consular district of the German Consultes General in Bangalore and Chennai and the booking is via RK-Termin website: close your browser session and start a new one to try again.
Please click here for more information on how to book your appointment.
Please book one appointment per applicant.
The German Missions understand that your travel is important to you. However, Germany applies a strict policy of transparency and equal treatment. Please understand that early appointments can only be granted in extreme medical or humanitarian situations. Should this be the case, please send an email to the German Mission in whose consular district you reside and inform us on the hardship you are experiencing, attaching relevant proof, and we will duly assess your case.
Yes. Every long-term traveler needs a visa and a separate appointment has to be booked to apply for the visa.
Yes.
Your relative/friend may accompany you up to the gate of the German Mission‘s visa section. For security reasons and space limitations, you will however have to appear for your visa interview by yourself. Our staff is multilingual, so do not be afraid that you will not understand a question.
No. You have to apply at the German mission in which consular district you have your place of residence. The list of consular districts can be found here.
In order to apply for a long-term visa, you need either the original documents or copies certified by a German authority. Certifications by Indian authorities or notary publics will not be accepted.
If you no longer possess a document in the original, you can apply for a new one with the competent authority.
Please understand that we do not have the capacity to double check your application prior to your appointment, neither can we give binding information regarding individual applications in advance. Please refer to the checklist of the visa category you apply for and make sure you have all the necessary documents. Your documentation will be checked during your appointment.
If your name is different from the way it is mentioned in the documents you are presenting for your visa application, please present as proof a corresponding notice in two newspapers and / or the publication of your name change in the Gazette of India.
Also, your name should be the same in all your documents that were issued after the name change happened, e.g. marriage.
Please note that if the checklist of required documents for the visa category that you are applying for mentions a birth certificate, then it is a mandatory document.
If you do not already have one, then you can apply for a late registration of birth at the competent registrar's office.
Attestation or apostille of Indian documents is not recognized by German authorities and is therefore not required for visa purposes. However, your documents might have to be verified for its genuineness.
If this is the case, it is mentioned in the corresponding checklist of the visa category you are applying for. For more information on document verification, please click here.
The acceptable modes of payment for the visa fees varies in different German Embassy/Consulates in India. Please refer to the acceptable modes of payment at respective Indian Embassies/Consulates.
Unfortunately, there is no way to track your application online. Depending on the category of your national visa application, processing may take several months.
Status inquiries will not be answered within the first three months after filing your application, as this increases the processing time considerably.
You will be notified on the result of your application automatically once it has been decided upon.
Please contact your local aliens authority (Ausländerbehörde) for detailed information. They will advise you if your residence permit / Fiktionsbescheinigung can be extended or if you need to apply for a return visa.
Unfortunately not. The automated booking system relies on the information that you have entered. Please always be careful to enter only correct data. If the purpose of your stay changes, you are required to cancel your appointment and book a fresh one in the correct category. Bear in mind that your booked category always has to match your intention of stay – otherwise your appointment booking will become invalid!
Upon receiving an official letter rejecting a visa application the applicant has three possibilities:
1. The applicant, at any point of time, may apply again for a visa.
2. Request for a re-assessment of the visa application. This procedure is called remonstration. It is free of charge. You have to submit a signed remonstration letter to the competent mission within a month upon receiving the rejection.
3. The applicant may file a law suit against the refusal. The application will then be re-assessed by the administrative court in Berlin.
In order to issue a national visa, the visa section always has to check that the health insurance covers the starting date. Therefore, please make sure that your health insurance matches your tentative travel date!
If the health insurance starts later than your tentative travel date, the visa section will have to insert the later starting date as per the health insurance.
Student
Unfortunately not. The booking system is completely automated and therefore no manual interference can be done on the visa section’s side. Please inform your university already about your late arrival.
The confirmation of your university is only sufficient if the university has individually tested your language skills and confirms the same for your case only.
Please be informed that otherwise a recognized English certificate is obligatory. The visa section has the right to ask for the same - this requirement cannot be replaced.
Do NOT provide exemption letters or language of instruction certificates! The visa section will not consider them and might reject your application, if you fail to cooperate.
For your student application, we need to check that you are able to finance your stay up to one year.
This is the reason why the visa section also needs to check the payment of your tuition fees.
Please note: the first two semesters of tuition fees have to be paid.
There is a clear categorization which students application are done at VFS and which are done at the Embassy or Consulate.
The majority of all students' applications will be done at VFS, so if you intend to study for a German bachelor or master degree for which you require an APS certificate, if you receive an EU or a German scholarship for your studies or if you do PhD/postdoc studies, you will have an appointment at VFS.
If you intend to study at a facility that awards non-German degrees, you will make your application at the Embassy or one of the Consulates.
You can't actually chose where to apply, and should you have booked an appointment in the wrong category, your application will not be accepted.
The Consulate accepts multiple blocked accounts from several banks. There is no preference between the providers. Please keep in mind that the missions cannot list blocked account providers. Kindly look for the different options and providers online.
An education loan is additional to the blocked account. Therefore, there are no specific criteria from the Consulate as to the amount of the loan.
In order to submit sufficient proof of financing your livelihood in Germany, you need to cover 992 euros per month (from 01 September 2024). If the stipend covers 992 euro per month already, there will be no need for a blocked account anymore.
If, however, the stipend only finances the tuition fees, you will be asked to submit proof of finance in addition to your stipend, thus opening a blocked account or handing in an official sponsorship letter issued by a German authority in Germany (VE - Verpflichtungserklärung).
We do not accept the Indian “Affidavit” of support as a replacement for an official sponsorship letter (VE) or blocked account. That is an additional document.
Duales Studium is always student visa category. We do not classify depending on the relation of practical/theoretical classes.
There is no specific format for a cover letter. You should depict your motivation on why you would like to study exactly in Germany. Be it by hand or computer – that is irrelevant.
However, it has to come from your end and cannot be drafted by a third party.
Family Reunion
Yes, you may already book an appointment for a date shortly after your marriage. Please make sure, though, that you have all the necessary documents together by the time of your appointment.
It depends. If your spouse is highly skilled and holds an EU Blue Card, an ICT Card, or if your spouse is a scientist, you are considered “dependent” if you apply along with your spouse or if you follow him/her within six months of his relocation.
In case your spouse holds another residence permit and / or you relocate more than six months after his/her arrival in Germany, please apply in the “family reunion” category.
If the person holding a residence permit / visa as per § 16b AufenthG has already been married to his*her spouse at the moment of issuing the permit / visa and if this person’s intended duration of stay exceeds one year, the spouse as well as the children are eligible for family reunion.
If the marriage was solemnized after the issuance of visa, it will be at the discretion of the clearance officer only, whether family reunion will be approved or not.
In order to apply for family reunion, please read the respective checklist thoroughly.
Yes. As a spouse of a German national, it is mandatory to present an A1 certificate while applying for family reunion.
No. As a spouse of an EU national, an A1 certificate is not required.
Employment
It depends on the annual salary that you will receive: You can apply for Blue Card, if you receive more than 43.992 € for Natural Scientists, Mathematicians, Engineers, Doctors and IT professionals (also known as MINT professions) // 46.530 € for applicants over 45 years of age // 56.400 € for all other professions
Yes. The applicant has the right to change his*her purpose of stay. The immigration offices in Germany will check the requirements for the change of purpose of stay and will then issue a new residence permit accordingly.
It is very important to acquire prior approval by the immigration office in Germany. Otherwise, the applicant might face legal consequences!
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