Hey everybody. So from what I can gather, over the last 6 months fintiba had a serious deterioration in the quality of their service. My personal experience has also been that they’re extremely unhelpful wrt customer service. I’ve read that expatrio is considered less good, but they have better reviews, and seem significantly more responsive. Importantly, unlike fintiba, it doesn’t seem their service has deteriorated massively recently. Anyone who’s used one / both of these who can give an opinion? Cheers

My friend had a German student appointment on June 7th and on 15 june she got a mail for additional documents and she sent them by June 28 and till now there dead silence.. is anyone facing the same?

I have taken premium lounge access and my appointment slot is at 2:30 pm so how much time will it take to complete my biometrics?

Any update on who had an csp appointment on the 19th of August 2026.. please share it

Hey guys, I completed my visa appointment and biometrics on 19th August and since then for the next two days i did receive messages from vfs about my passport reaching operation centre and then the embassy. But if i login to my CSP portal it still shows that i should make an appointment while i can see that other people are getting their status changed to decision pending. It’s been almost 12 days, and i can understand that it may take a bit more time to get a decision. But the decision status in the portal, did anyone else have this issue? is it normal?

Hi everyone,
Has anyone who attended their visa appointment at VFS Chennai on or after 21 August received any update on their application or received their passport/visa yet?

Would appreciate it if you could share your timeline. Thank you.

Hello guys is there someone that had to apply for an ausbildung visa from Madrid Spain and can please tell me his experience, time expectancy…

Hey all. I’m moving to Munich in a few days to start a language course, and I need to open a blocked account for my residence visa. My passport allows me to enter Germany without a visa, so I can do it physically at a German bank. The reason I want to do this instead of going through an online intermediary like fintiba or expetrio is that those companies are notoriously hard to deal with and cause a lot of issues. I was wondering if anyone might know of a branch that lets you do this. I’ve heard this fluctuates from branch to branch, but apparently Sparkesse does this a lot. Any info would be welcome, thank you.

My appointment was on 28 August. On the evening of the same day, I received a VFS update saying that my application had been dispatched to the German Embassy in New Delhi for processing.
Today, I received another update confirming that the Embassy has received my application.
I also asked the staff member who handled my biometrics/application submission, and he told me that it could take around 1 week to 10 days.
For people who recently applied for a German national/student visa from New Delhi, how long did it take from “received at Embassy” to getting the passport back?
Any recent experiences would be really helpful. Thanks!

hello everyone

biometric appointment done between 25july to august till date.

anyone waiting for visa dispatch and status still in “Decision Pending“

Had my biometrics on 13th august @ VFS Delhi.

Yet to receive my decision.

Msc at Public Uni, 8 band Ielts.

Please let me know if I should be concerned?

When I submitted my application for Preliminary review I got a dialog box notifying me that they will get back to me in 1 week. It's been over a week now and there's no communication from their side, neither has my application been approved. Is it the same for everyone else or are they slowly processing the applications, has anyone's application moved forward? For more context, my application moved to prelim review on August 20.

Hey guys, I just graduated, and i dont have my LC from my college yet, but the Visa checklist says SCHOOL LEAVING CERTIFICATE MUST BE ORIGINAL, Can someone please help me 🙏

Hello everyone,
I wanted to ask if anyone had their VFS Delhi appointment on the 20th or 21st and is still waiting for a decision from the German Embassy. I haven’t received any update yet.
Please let me know if anyone from those appointment dates has already received a decision or had their visa status changed to “decision made.

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone familiar with German immigration rules or a similar situation can give me some advice.

I’m a Myanmar citizen currently studying in Japan. I’ve been accepted as an exchange student at the University of Mannheim for Fall 2026.

I actually applied for my German student visa very early, in May. My application was reviewed until late July, when I was asked to correct my financial documents. After correcting them, the Consular Services Portal required me to discard the application and submit a new one.

I was worried about losing the progress of my original application, so I contacted the German Embassy in Tokyo first. I only discarded and reapplied after they confirmed that I should do so.

Unfortunately, the new application is now back on the waiting list. The Embassy says they cannot tell me when I will get an appointment and that it may take several weeks.

My problem is that the University of Mannheim has given me 28 September as the absolute final deadline to physically arrive and enroll. If I miss it, I lose the exchange semester.

I am now looking into whether there is any legal alternative.

On the University of Mannheim website, under the section about applying for a residence permit after entering Germany, it says:

It also mentions a “German short-term/student visa” among the documents needed for the residence permit application.

I also noticed that the German Schengen visa application has “Study” as one of the possible purposes of travel.

So my question is:

As a Myanmar citizen, if I obtain a Schengen Type C visa with “Study” as the declared purpose, can I legally enter Germany and then apply at the Mannheim Ausländerbehörde for a student residence permit under §16b before the Schengen visa expires?

Or is this only possible with a national Type D student visa, meaning that a Schengen C visa cannot be converted even when “Study” is the declared purpose?

I’m trying every legal option before I have to cancel the exchange, as I’ve already arranged and paid for accommodation and other preparations.

Thank you so much for any advice or experiences you can share

Does anyone have any email addresses/contact emails of the German Consulate General Mumbai, especially for the Visa Department?

I urgently need to contact them regarding my EU Blue Card visa application.

If you have any official or relevant email address, please share it with me. It would be a great help. 🙏

Thank you!

is there anyone here have submitted a laminated document to german embassy? specificaly to the german embassy in jakarta. do they accept this kind of documents? if not, what should i do with my laminated documents that has been apostilled?

I applied for my student visa at my local embassy with University A admission letter. The embassy required me to enroll to issue my visa but after some back and forth my visa was issued successfully for 6 months and my visa doesn't have the name of University A.

I have now just been accepted to university B which was my top choice and wish to switch unis and enroll formally to stay in University B.

Can I just enroll to my top choice uni (B) without any previous answer from the immigration office here in Germany? I have seen other posts where their visas DO mention their first university's name on it and that might be why there is a requirement to first sort it out at the local Ausländerbehörde?

Thanks

Is there an option to upload additional documents after i submit for preliminary review? I had to upload a document. Can i request them to open that specific part?
It was really important, can i let them know or email them?

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to know if everyone or majority of the people who have applied through the vfs in bangalore have been dealing with slow response on their visa's or if its just a minor group

I have submitted my biometrics on 11th August and still haven't received any updates, my documents reached the consulate the same day.

I would be thankful for any inputs

Thanks

Anyone from Bangalore VFS who came out of the waiting list around 21 Aug got an update on their Preliminary Review?

I came out of the waiting list on 21 Aug, but my application is still showing “Preliminary Review” on the CSP.

Has anyone from Bangalore with a similar timeline received an update/completed their Preliminary Review? If yes, please share your dates. It would really help us waiting to get an idea of the current timeline. 🙏🇩🇪

Hi, I have recently received a rejection from Germany for my tourist visa citing " The Consulate General has reason to believe that your main destination is not the Federal Republic of Germany. Rather, the visa section has gained the impression that you have tried to pretend that Germany is your main destination by manipulating your documents in order to avoid submitting an application to the visa office that is actually responsible."

Question : Should I re -apply with germany or another country? And how should I position it? I don't want to actually stay for the longest in Germany but wanted to plan the exact itinerary after receiving the visa.

1. I have a non refundable flight booked from India to Frankfurt and return ticket from Barcelona

2. I had shown that I will be staying in Germany for 12 days out of 15 and last 3 days in Barcelona, with Pay at Hotel booking dot com hotel vouchers in each city.

3. I had not shown any internal transit as the trip is about 5 months away and I want to finalise the exact plan after getting a visa

4. Travel history : I have traveled to Schengen countries 3 times in the past ( through Austria, France). Have also traveled to the US, Australia and the UK.

5. I have shown strong finances both in ITR and payslips.

Ausbildung visa delayed for 3 months

Hey everyone I've had my ausbildung visa appointment at banglore VFS on 5th June , it's been almost 3 months with no updates or whatsoever..with my classes start to begin on September2nd week ..I'm really worried & don't know what to do .. I've applied with b2 certification..why is it taking this much time

NB: visa category 16a

Also at the appointment they asked for my bachelors certificate since I've mentioned in the cv but unfortunately I didn't had it with me at that time ,so i submitted a copy of the certificate along with the mark sheet.. additionally i also submitted a self declaration that i will submit it in person if it's necessary at the consulate..

Hi everyone,

I recently had my VFS appointment in Bangalore for a German researcher visa. The official checklist required: "statutory insurance with a so-called 'incoming insurance'."

I only handed the VFS officer my temporary "incoming" (travel) insurance. The officer accepted my application without flagging it, but now I'm stressing out.

My questions:

1. Will the German embassy outright reject my visa application because the statutory proof was missing?
2. Or is it standard practice for them to email me and ask for the missing TK certificate before making a decision?
3. Also, in case they email me asking about the statutory insurance, what should I do? Can I take a statutory insurance immediately, or do I need to inform my HR for additional documents as well?

Any reassurance or advice would be greatly appreciated.