All applicants have to come in person, since the identity needs to be verified and biometric date has to be collected. Long term visa applicants have to visit the German missions according to their appointment, allotted by VFS.

As soon as you know the month of your intended relocation to Germany it is recommended to book an appointment well in advance. While waiting for the appointment date to come, ensure to collect all necessary documents as per the checklist. Make sure to have filled out your application form correctly. Make enough copies in order to have 1 x set of originals and 2 x sets of copies. Sort your application according to the checklist/information leaflet. If you see that a document is missing get in touch with the visa section. Please come on time on the day of your appointment.

All documents have to be shown in original, at the time of application. Documents presented in copy cannot be accepted and your application will be considered as incomplete. Copies of admission letters might be accepted, however the original has to be produced at a later stage.

Documents from certain countries might have to be legalized before they are recognized by the German authorities. You will find more information on the website of the German Foreign Mission in your native country. Additional charges for the legalisation process or verification of documents might apply. Please check our separate leaflet.

Yes you can. A long term visa entitles you to travel outside of Germany and within the Schengen Agreement, for a period of up to three months, as long as you maintain your residence in Germany. However your passport might not be recognized by all countries, and hence limits the countries.

Imagine you have an accident during your stay in Germany. Please check carefully whether your medical insurance will also cover costs for medical treatment abroad. If yours does not, you need to submit a health insurance covering your stay in Europe when applying for the visa.

Yes, you do. The residence permit will be issued by the Aliens' Office after your arrival in Germany. It will include a permit to work.

After you submitted your application for residence permit and have been approved, you will receive an entry-visa. The residence permit will be issued by the immigration office (the so-called “Ausländerbehörde” or “Ausländeramt”) after your arrival in Germany. Depending on your case, this residence permit might include a work permit.

Yes. Under the amended Immigration Act which entered into force on 28 August 2007, foreign spouses have to prove they have at least a basic knowledge of German. For detailed information on this, please see the following link to the website of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. You can also request further information directly from the German diplomatic missions in the respective country.

After you submitted your application for residence permit and have been approved, you will receive an entry-visa. The residence permit will be issued by the immigration office (the so-called “Ausländerbehörde” or “Ausländeramt”) after your arrival in Germany. Depending on your case, this residence permit might include a work permit.

The notification sent to the applicant by the mission abroad states not only that the visa application has been unsuccessful, but also gives the grounds on which it was rejected and information on the applicant's right to appeal the decision.
If a visa application is rejected, the applicant can appeal (“remonstrate”) in writing (signature required) to the mission abroad within one year of the notification of the rejection. The mission abroad will then reconsider the application.
If the mission still concludes that the applicant does not meet the conditions for obtaining a visa, it will again set out in detail in writing the reasons why it rejected the application in a Remonstrance Notice.
The applicant may appeal this decision within one year of the notification of the decision by filing an action with the Administrative Court in Berlin.
The applicant in addition has the option of appealing directly to the Court (also within one year of the notification of the initial decision) instead of remonstrating to the mission.
For reasons of data protection, information about individual visa applications may only be provided to the applicant personally or to a person whom the applicant has authorized in writing to receive such information.