If you have applied for a Schengen visa: Schengen visas (C visas) submitted through any VFS Application Centre (including VFS Kolkata) are processed by the Consulate General in Mumbai. The Consulate General in Kolkata will not be able to give you any information about an application processed in Mumbai. Kindly only contact the German Consulate Kolkata about a Schengen visa application if you have been explicitly informed that your application is exceptionally processed by the Consulate Kolkata. Thank you!

Please check the standard processing time for your visa category by clicking here (scroll down to Step 3).

If the standard processing time has passed, please contact the Visa Section of the German Consulate Kolkata through our contact form to enquire about the current status of your visa application. When making the enquiry, please give the following details:
1. Last name (as in passport).
2. First name (as in passport).
3. Passport number.
4. Visa category (please write either “Schengen visa” or “long-term visa”).
5. Visa sub-category (please write e.g. “Blue Card”, “family reunion”, “job-seeker” …).
6. Institution and city where the visa application was submitted (please write e.g. “German Consulate Kolkata” or “VFS Kolkata”).
7. Date on which the application was submitted.

Please be aware that in most cases, we will unfortunately not be able to give you a detailed answer.

Long-term visa (D visa) applications are physically sent to and checked by different authorities in Germany. The exact authorities depend on the visa category, but may include, for example, the Foreigners Authority (Ausländerbehörde), the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) and the Federal Office of Administration (Bundesverwaltungsamt). We regret that, in many cases, the time that these authorities need for processing the application on their end amounts to several weeks or even months. Additionally, the Central Register of Foreigners (Ausländerzentralregister) and other registers are consulted. Since the processing times vary considerably, the Consulate cannot give an estimate on how quickly it will receive a reply from the concerned authorities.

Short-term visa (C visa) applications are issued only after consulting, for example, the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the Visa Information System (VIS). In most cases, they take much less time to process – however, in individual cases, longer processing times may apply for these visas as well.

For both C visa and D visa applications, please understand that the Consulate usually does not receive any updates before all concerned authorities have taken their final decision and all consultations have been completed. In most cases, we simply have not received any update that we could forward to you. We will, of course, inform you once a decision about your visa application has been made or if anything is required from your side. This will be done via e-mail or phone.

Thank you very much for your understanding and co-operation!

If you wish to stay in Germany for up to 90 days, please apply for a Schengen visa. Schengen visas are sometimes also referred to as “short-term visas” or “C visas”.

If you wish to stay in Germany for more than 90 days per 180 days, please apply for a German national visa. National visas are sometimes also referred to as “long-term visas” or “D visas”.
There are many sub-categories of national visas with different prerequisites. If you are not sure for which of these categories you should apply, you can try our Visa Navigator.

Please click on Schengen visa or national visa for further information, including a step-by-step guide on how to apply, checklists of the documents to submit for all sub-categories, and information on the visa fees.

If you wish to apply for a national visa/D visa (i.e. you wish to stay in Germany for more than 90 days per 180 days), please click here for more information.

If you wish to apply for a Schengen visa/C visa (i.e. you want to stay in Germany for less than 90 days), you can book an appointment at any VFS Visa Application Centre in India (including VFS Kolkata), from where your visa application will be forwarded to the German Consulate General in Mumbai for processing (since Apirl 2021, the German Consulate Kolkata only processes Schengen visa applications in exceptional cases). Please click here for more information.

We are aware that due to a sharp increase in demand for Schengen visas (C visas), longer waiting times for appointments and longer visa processing times may currently apply. However, we regret that the Consulate General in Kolkata is not able to speed up neither the process of getting an appointment nor the visa processing time. It remains the applicant’s responsibility to obtain a visa appointment in due time before their intended travel date.

Appointments can be booked for submitting Schengen visa applications at any VFS Visa Application Centres in 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 centres in India. (Note: This only applies for Schengen visas.)
We also recommend that you regularly check the VFS online booking portal for new appointments since additional appointment slots continue to be opened, often at short notice.

You can find more information, including a link to the online booking portal, by clicking here.

We regret that the German missions in India, including the German consulates, cannot give you any information about visas for entering or staying in India. As a German authority, we are only familiar with the laws and regulations regarding visas for entering or staying in Germany.

For information on visas for India, please contact the following Indian authorities:

· If you are staying in India: Please contact the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) competent for your place of residence. You can find a list of all FRROs in India, including their contact details, by going to https://indianfrro.gov.in/eservices/home.jsp and clicking “Support Centres” on the bottom left.

If you are staying in the jurisdiction of the FRRO Kolkata, the contact details are as follows:
FRRO Kolkata
237, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Rd, Ballygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal 700020
Tel.: +91 33-22818640
E-Mail: frrokol@nic.in

· If you are staying outside of India: Please contact the closest Indian mission in the country where you are staying. You can find information about the jurisdiction of the Indian missions in Germany at https://indianembassyberlin.gov.in/pages?id=Mg,,&subid=MTQ,&nextid=MjU1.

You may also find some information on Indian visa regulations on the following website of the Foreigners Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India: https://www.mha.gov.in/MHA1/TourVisa.html.

Please note that the German Consulate Kolkata cannot guarantee that the information on the above-mentioned websites is correct or up-to-date.

Thank you for your understanding!

Indian nationals generally require an airport transit visa (A visa) for Germany. This visa allows a short stop-over at an international airport only, without leaving the airport’s international transit area. If you need to leave the international transit area (e.g. to go to a hotel or to catch a connecting flight at another terminal or another airport), please apply for a regular Schengen visa (C visa). If you are not sure whether your connection requires leaving the international transit area, please consult with your airline.

Exemptions:
a) Indian nationals holding a valid visa or residence permit from a member state of the Schengen area or Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Ireland, Canada, Japan, or the USA (except for holders of an US “Advanced Parole Document”)
b) Indian nationals holding a valid residence permit for Andorra, Monaco or San Marino
c) diplomatic passport holders
generally do not require an airport transit visa.

To book an appointment for a transit visa in the VFS appointment booking system, please select “Kolkata - Visa Application Centre” (or any other visa application centre), the category “Schengen visa” and the sub-category “airport transit”. Applications for airport transit visas are processed by the German Consulate General Mumbai. You can find more information, including a link to the online booking portal, by clicking here.