If we see that you want to travel within 15 calendar days after your application reached the visa section, we will return your passport and unprocessed application with a refund of fees to you immediately. Only in exceptional circumstances we might process the application. Days for logistics between VFS and the Consulate are not counted, therefore plan min. 3 days extra for logistics.

If you are planning on travelling to Germany in the near future, kindly see if you can reschedule your travel plans. We continuously open more appointments as we increase our capacity, however, you have to check regularly for fresh appointments as the demand is high and we are quickly booked out!

If you are planning to travel to Germany in the near future, please make an appointment with our external service provider VFS in time. You can check the next available appointment here.

Appointments can be booked and Schengen visa applications can be submitted in all Visa Application Centers run by VFS Global all over India, regardless of your place of residence. If the Application Centre closest to your home town is already fully booked, please feel free to check for available appointment slots in one of the other major Indian cities. This relaxation does not apply to applications for national visas (D-visa category) such as student, employment or family reunion visas.

The processing time for Schengen visa starts only once the application reaches the Consulate. This might take up to 6 working days depending on the delivery conditions and public holidays. Therefore, please account for delays in the visa processing time. It can take an average time of 15 days to process your Schengen visa application after it has reached the Consulate. Please take this into account before filing your application. If your travel date is imminent or lies within two weeks of application date, please check if you can postpone your trip.

In general, neither the German mission nor the service provider can expedite the process. Requests for preferential treatment cannot be honoured.

Schengen visa (C) cascade:

Rule applicable to all third country nationals permanently residing in India: According to the rule in place you need three Schengen visas, correctly used within the past 2 years to qualify for a C1 (one year duration), after that C1 you could qualify for a C2 and then for a C5. If your passport is not valid long enough, you will receive the next lower category (e.g. passport cannot take a C5 because your passport requires a validity of three months after visa expiry date - hence we give a C4) - this in accordance with Article 24(2) of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009.

Rule for Indian nationals living in India: Because of the sustained growth of the Indian economy, the number of bona fide applicants of Indian nationality that have lawfully used previous visas continues to increase, more favorable rules than those provided for by Article 24(2) of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 should apply in respect of those applicants. We will issue a C2 (two year visa) if you have 2 lawfully used Schengen visas within the past 3 years! After that applicants qualify for a C5 according to the regular cascade. For certain travelers who are deemed trustworthy or out of other reasons the visa section may even give up to C5 straight up, this in accordance with Article 24(2c) of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009.

However, applicants do not have an entitlement to any of this. If the visa sections come to the conclusion that still you should get a day-to-day after 2 used Schengen visas within the past 3 years, they are right to do so. If your passport is not valid long enough, you will receive the next lower category (e.g. passport cannot take a C5 because your passport requires a validity of three months after visa expiry date - hence we give a C4) - this in accordance with Article 24(2) of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009.

Find up to date info in our visa FAQs!