We would like to circulate some important messages regarding the processing for National visa applications.

The following group of applicants is affected by this update:

- all students

In order to accelerate student admission and visa processing for Indian students, the German government introduces the Academic Evaluation Centre (APS), attached to the Science Section of the German Embassy in New Delhi.
From November 1st onwards, APS certificates will be a mandatory part of the documents to be submitted with your visa application. The visa section has already updated the checklist for students, see here.

The APS will be open for applications beginning October 1st, 2022. For more detailed information on how to obtain the mandatory APS certificate, please consult https://aps-india.de/.
Please bear in mind that the visa section will not answer any queries regarding the APS.

Applicants need an APS certificate before booking an appointment to submit a visa application from November 1st onwards.

All persons who are currently waitlisted for a student visa appointment:
Due to the new application procedure, we unfortunately need to close this waitlist in order to release appointment slots under the new categories. These slots will be available for booking from October 1st onwards.

Once you have completed the APS procedure, please book a new appointment on the VFS website.
To ensure that only applicants who went through the correct admissions process book an appointment, you will need to enter your unique APS case number given on the certificate into the booking system.

To sum it up:

1) starting October 1st: apply for APS-certificate
2) obtain fresh letter of admission for summer semester ’23 or winter semester ’23-‘24
3) book your appointment via VFS website after having obtained the APS-certificate

For all students who still have an admission letter for the winter semester ’22 – ’23, please ask your university for a confirmation letter that you are allowed to join your studies later.

Please bear in mind that this information does not pertain to Schengen visa applications.