General information

National visas are issued for long-term stays for a particular purpose. Usually issued for 90 days, such visas may be issued for up to a year in certain cases. After entering Germany, visa holders must apply for a residence permit as a general rule.

Preparing your application

You should start preparing your application as soon as you have plans to stay long term in Germany. The entire visa application process can take several months.
Please prepare your application as follows:

• Fill in and print the application form for national visa category D (please click on the arrow at the top left next to the word “German” to get to the English Version) and take it along when applying at the Embassy.
• Compile the documents you need to submit with your application by consulting the below checklists. If documents or supporting documents are missing your application may be rejected.
  
  Employment as professional driver
  Employment as a nurse while taking on additional qualifications
  Self-employment
  Study
  Family reunion

Submitting your application

You must arrange for an appointment in order to be able to submit your application to the Embassy. On the day of your appointment you will personally hand in your complete documentation and pay the fee. The Embassy will ask you questions about your planned trip and take your photograph and fingerprints.

What happens during processing?

The Embassy will review your application and make a decision on whether or not to grant you a visa. To this end, it will check whether your application meets the legal requirements. For some visa categories, we will require approval from other entities beyond our control, such as the local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) or the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit).

Depending on the purpose of your intended stay in Germany, it can take up to several months to reach a decision on your application. The following are the approximate processing times after you have submitted a complete application :

The Embassy will contact you as soon as it has made a decision on your application. Please understand that we do not offer appliation status tracking and are not able to answer questions on the status of your application during the a.m. processing times. After that, enquiries are only answered if they are made by email by the applicant, his/her legal representative or by another person authorised in writing by the applicant. The Embassy cannot answer enquiries made over the phone.

Blocked bank accounts for student visas

You can prove in the visa application procedure that you have sufficient financial means, for example in order to demonstrate that you are able to meet your living costs, with a blocked bank account (Sperrkonto). You can choose yourself where to set up your blocked account. Feel free to carry out a search on the internet using the keywords “Blocked account” or “Sperrkonto”.

Have a good trip! Information for visa holders

If all the information on your visa label is correct, you are free to travel. Please check the information on the label as soon as your passport is returned to you. You should let us know immediately if there are any mistakes so that we can issue you a new visa.
Your visa will state your full name and passport number and include your photo. It will also state the number of days you can stay and the period of validity, that is, the time by which you must have received your residence permit for Germany. Therefore, please do not forget to register at the residents registration office shortly after you arrive in Germany and to make an appointment with the foreigners authority.​​​​​​​