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Guide: Visa Application Germany
Step-by-step guide to applying for a visa in Germany
... whether you need a visa for Germany
... how the visa process works when applying for a visa for Germany
... how you can apply for a visa for Germany
... what special features apply when applying for a visa for Germany
... what happens at the visa appointment at the embassy
Here you learn ...
Written by: Attorney at Law (Berlin)
Publication date: 13.04.2024
Estimated reading time: 9 min.
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In principle, every foreigner requires a visa to enter Germany. In the following, we will explain which requirements must be met from a legal perspective in order to successfully apply for a visa at the German embassies.
1. Do I need a visa for Germany?
First of all, it should be clarified whether the applicant is subject to the visa requirement at all. Although the visa requirement applies to everyone (see above), there are exceptions.
A visa is always required in the following cases:
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the applicant is not exempt from the visa requirement due to intergovernmental agreements (see the Federal Foreign Office's list of visa requirements) or
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the applicant wishes to work in Germany or
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the applicant wishes to stay in Germany for longer than 90 days and is not a national of the following countries: Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America.
It should be noted in particular that a visa is always required if the applicant wishes to work in Germany (i.e. even if he or she is actually exempt from the visa requirement as a national of the "best friends countries"). The only exceptions to this are foreigners with European citizenship and business travelers.
2. When can I apply for a visa?
The requirements for the issue of a visa generally depend on the type of visa. Therefore, you should first evaluate which visa types are eligible for an application.
The different types of visas that can be applied for are based on the structure of the Residence Act:
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Work visa
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Freelancer visa
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Visa for family reunification
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Study visa
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"Golden visas"
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Humanitarian visas
Depending on the type of visa, different requirements must be met.
3. How can I apply for a visa?
Even if the requirements for obtaining a visa are met, the visa process is often lengthy and problematic in practice. Embassies are often overloaded, which is why visa applications are not processed for months or even years. However, a good knowledge of the visa process or legal support from a lawyer specializing in migration law can avoid problems and thus shorten the processing time.
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First step: Determining the responsible embassy
Before applying for a visa, it must be determined which embassy abroad is responsible for the visa application. In this respect, an application to an embassy that does not have jurisdiction will result in the visa application being rejected.
Responsibility for issuing visas is generally based on the applicant's place of residence. If the applicant is not a national of the country in which the embassy is located, proof of residence is usually required (e.g. a residence permit from this country). Such proof may be particularly relevant if there are several embassies in a country that are responsible for processing visa applications (see e.g. applying for a visa in India).
Second step: Collecting the necessary documents
As soon as the responsible embassy has been determined, it is necessary to evaluate which documents are actually required for the visa application. This depends not only on the type of visa (e.g. work visa or family reunion visa), but also on the embassy. Although the legal requirements are always the same, almost every embassy has its own country-specific requirements. In African countries in particular, the embassies only trust the respective documents to a limited extent, so that numerous other documents must be submitted as proof (see e.g. here in the case of Nigeria). From a lawyer's perspective, it is doubtful whether this approach by the embassies is lawful. In this respect, hiring a lawyer for immigration law can be helpful if, for example, certain documents are not available or are incomplete.
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Which documents are required in each individual case can usually be found on the website of the relevant embassy (see e.g. list of necessary documents Embassy India). When compiling the respective list of documents, care should be taken to ensure that the correct visa type (i.e. Schengen visa (up to 90 days stay) or national visa (more than 90 days stay)) and the correct visa type (i.e. work visa, family reunion, etc.) are selected. As a rule, the documents must also be certified in a certain way (i.e. apostilled or legalised) and submitted in duplicate.
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Third step: Booking an appointment at the embassy
As soon as it has been determined which documents are required for the visa application and that these documents can actually be obtained, a visa appointment must be requested at the embassy. For this purpose, an appointment must be booked via the website of the respective embassy using the so-called "RK visa" in the corresponding category (see e.g. here for an appointment booking in Great Britain (London and Edinburgh)). In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to book appointments at the embassies, as there have been repeated cases of abuse of the appointment booking systems. In the Middle East in particular, a flourishing black market has developed with appointment trading: Various providers book appointments in the RK visa using bots and scripts and then sell these appointments to applicants. Although the embassies are trying to counteract this practice with technical measures, they have not yet been able to get to grips with the problem.
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Fourth step: Attending the appointment
The actual application takes place at the visa appointment. From a lawyer's perspective, it is not necessary to submit the application at the appointment itself (visa applications can also be submitted informally, i.e. even by email), but the embassies are regularly of the opinion that it is only possible to submit the application on site. This issue is regularly the subject of legal disputes and although the administrative courts have repeatedly made it clear that written applications are also possible, the embassies and the Federal Foreign Office do not deviate from the unlawful obligation to make an appointment.
The purpose of the appointment is basically to receive the documents and to examine them superficially and check that they are complete. An actual legal examination of the application does not take place. If the embassy employee has doubts about the "plausibility" of the application, a short visa interview also takes place.
Fifth step: Entry into Germany
As soon as the visa has been issued, it should first be checked for accuracy. It regularly happens that embassies make typing errors in the passport number or validity period. This can lead to unpleasant surprises at the airport. If the visa has been issued correctly, you can enter Germany.
Registering the apartment
The first step after entering Germany is to register your home. This legal obligation applies to everyone in Germany, not just foreigners. After registering the apartment, the foreigner receives a so-called registration certificate, which serves as proof of residence. The registration certificate is important, as the foreigners authority does not recognize its own jurisdiction as long as the residence is not proven with a registration certificate. The application for a residence permit will then not be processed. In practice, this can lead to considerable problems, as some registration authorities (especially in Berlin) hardly ever grant appointments to register the residence. An application for a residence permit is then usually only possible with legal support (e.g. from a lawyer specializing in migration law).
Application forms
If the foreigner has an apartment in the respective city and has registered it, they must apply for the residence permit in this city. In principle, no specific form of application is prescribed. The application can therefore be submitted online, by letter, by fax or even by e-mail. In practice, however, most immigration authorities have now switched off their public e-mail addresses so that applications can only be submitted using the online forms. For the largest immigration authorities, these are the following online portals:
- State Office for Immigration Berlin
- Foreigners' Registration Office Frankfurt am Main
- Munich District Administration Department (KVR)
A major problem when using the online portals is that they often request documents that are not relevant to the specific application. In these cases and due to other technical difficulties, the online portals cannot be used. The only solution is then to submit the documents in another way. It may help to contact a lawyer, as lawyers have the option of communicating with the immigration authorities via the electronic justice system (special electronic mailbox for lawyers). This often makes communication and the application process much easier.
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Once the application has been submitted, the stay in Germany is considered legal if the previous stay was also legal (so-called fictitious effect). This means that if a residence permit is applied for with a visa, the visa is initially deemed to be automatically extended. It is therefore not necessary for the immigration authority to decide on the application for a residence permit before the visa expires. The fictitious effect applies until the foreigners authority has decided on the application. The fictitious effect therefore has a very important function, as it ensures that the foreigner may continue to reside in Germany. The foreigners authority must issue a so-called "fictioncertificate" as proof of the fictional effect. In legal transactions, the fiction certificate serves as proof of legal residence. In practice, however, the immigration authorities are so overloaded that they are not able to issue a corresponding fiction certificate in time. This can lead to considerable problems, as the employer, for example, is dependent on the foreigner being able to provide proof of legal residence. A fictitious certificate is also required for travelling, as otherwise re-entry to Germany is not possible. A missing fictitious certificate can also lead to problems under ID law, as foreigners are obliged to present their residence permit to the authorities on request. Due to these serious consequences of a missing fictitious certificate, it may therefore be necessary to instruct a lawyer to obtain the fictitious certificate. In case of doubt, a lawyer specialising in migration law can take legal action to enforce the rights of the foreigner. Have made a mistake.
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Further information on applying for a residence permit can be found in our VISAGUARD guide to residence permits.
Appointment at the immigration office
After a residence permit has been applied for and a fictitious certificate has been issued, an appointment will be made at the Foreigners' Registration Office. Unfortunately, in practice it is often difficult to get an appointment at the Foreigners' Registration Office. Particularly in large cities, the immigration authorities are so overloaded that appointments are only available months later. This can lead to dramatic situations, as the foreigners are dependent on the appointment in order to obtain a residence permit. Hiring a lawyer specialising in migration law can be helpful here, as lawyers do not have to book the appointments but are automatically allocated them by the authorities.
During the appointment itself, the first step is the so-called identification procedure (i.e. the submission of personal details and fingerprints). The clerk also checks whether the application is complete and points out any missing information. If the foreigner has to provide proof of German language skills for their application, the case officer may also check their German language skills in a short interview during the appointment.
At the end of the appointment, the clerk will, in the best case scenario, order the residence permit applied for from the Bundesdruckerei. For this purpose, he will issue the foreigner with a letter confirming the order. From the moment the letter is handed over, the residence permit is legally issued. The electronic residence permit (eAT), which is issued by the Bundesdruckerei, is merely proof of the residence permit. After the electronic residence permit has been printed, the foreigner receives a message so that they can collect the electronic residence permit from the immigration office. Printing the electronic residence permit usually takes 6 - 8 weeks. After receiving the electronic residence permit, it is essential to check it to ensure that the immigration authority and the Federal Printing Office have not made any mistakes.
4. Processing time visa
The processing time for issuing visas is regularly problematic, as embassies abroad are often extremely overloaded. This can result in processing times of several months or even years. We have written a separate VISAGUARD article on how to avoid these visa processing times.
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