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Germany

A Complete Guide to Germany Visa Requirements

Germany is one country in Europe that attracts a lot of visitors because of its rich cultural heritage, art and beautiful landscapes. Berlin and Munich are two of its most popular cities among tourists. And, why not? The country has so much to offer for all kinds of travellers! Germany is also a part of the Schengen region of Europe and thus require tourists to apply for a Schengen visa at the German embassy. In order to do that, you need to be aware of the Germany visa requirements and comply with them to ensure visa approval. In this article, we will share with you all that you need to do to fulfil Germany visa requirements and sail through the visa application process smoothly.

The Schengen visa allows barrier-free entry into all its 26 member states, which also includes Germany. This one visa enables a tourist to have access to all these countries without having to go through repeated checks while crossing borders within this region or having to get multiple visas for each country. This makes the Schengen visa one of the most sought after and lucrative visas globally.

However, you need to decide which country’s embassy you need to apply to, based on your travel plans and the point of entry and exit. So if you are planning to spend a considerable amount of time in Germany and just a couple of days in France, the embassy you should be applying to for a visa, is the German embassy. In that case, you need to know exactly how to go about it and what the German visa requirements are.

TYPES OF GERMAN VISAS:

There are typically 10 different kinds of visas the German embassy can issue to visitors.

Then Schengen visa is just one out of this list but is widely popular because of its appeal to tourists wanting to visit Europe. In this article we will focus on the requirements you need to fulfill in order to get a Schengen visa to travel to Germany.

WHAT ARE THE KEY GERMANY VISA REQUIREMENTS?

As part of the Schengen countries of Europe, here is a list of documents that need to be submitted in order for you to meet the Germany visa requirements.

Passport – This is the obvious one! You need to hold a valid passport to be able to apply to the German embassy for a visa. Not only that, the passport needs to be valid for at least 6 months from when you send in your application. So even if you have a valid passport, if it is about to expire in the next 3 months, it will not be accepted by the embassy.
Photos – 2 passport-sized photos need to be submitted as part of Germany visa requirements. The photos need to be clear and taken in well-lit conditions.
Proof of accommodation – When applying for the visa, one of the documents that needs to be submitted is a proof of accommodation. It needs to show that you have either booked your own accommodation in Germany or have someone sponsoring your stay. This is one of the key components of the Germany visa requirements.
Proof of transportation – This refers to documents showing proof of your confirmed air tickets, showing your travel dates and duration. It is basically an itinerary of your travel plans in Germany. This is another key component of the Germany visa requirements as outlined by the embassy.
Travel health insurance – This includes valid and suitable health insurance plan covering the total number of days you will be staying in Germany
Bank statement – A document from your bank showing your monthly transactions for the past 3 months
No objection letter – This letter is required to validate your current status and assure the embassy that your have permission to travel. A no objection letter is typically obtained from your employer or school authorities.

The Germany visa requirements seem fairly straightforward at first glance. However, if you think carefully, you will notice that the proof of accommodation and proof of transportation are not that easy to show after all! This is because of a few reasons. In order to show these proofs, you need to purchase your air tickets and book your hotel rooms before initiating the visa application process. This can turn out to be a major issue later in case your visa does not get approved for any reason or the approval process takes longer than expected. If you don’t receive your visa on time to travel on the planned dates, both your flight tickets and hotel bookings go to waste.

Some airlines and hotels may provide a refund, but in most cases a huge chunk of money is lost as cancellation fees. And sometimes, if you do not cancel your reservations before a certain number of days, you may not even get any refund. This is an unwanted situation to be in, especially when you just wanted to plan a trip to Germany and enjoy your holidays.

With a little bit of planning, this situation can be avoided. In the next section, we tell you how!

FLIGHT RESERVATION AND HOTEL RESERVATION FOR GERMANY VISA REQUIREMENTS:

To help you fulfil Germany visa requirements and also avoid unnecessary loss of money due to cancellations, there is something known as flight reservation for visa and hotel reservation for visa application. A flight reservation for visa is simply a proposed flight itinerary that you can obtain from a verified travel agency, as opposed to purchasing a flight ticket from an airlines. These itineraries are like confirmed bookings and come with a unique reservation ID, but without having to pay for the tickets upfront. This eliminates the risk associated with purchase of flight tickets before having an approved visa in hand. In this case, once your visa is approved, you can go ahead and confirm the flight reservation by paying for the tickets.

In case your visa gets rejected, you still have the option to cancel the reservation without incurring any financial loss! The same strategy applies to hotel reservations. Instead of booking hotel rooms in advance without knowing when your Germany visa will come through, opt for a hotel reservation for visa application that can be cancelled or postponed at any point if your visa does not get approved. This provides you with a lot of flexibility as well as peace of mind to know that there is no risk of losing money! If you are interested in knowing more about these services, read our articles on flight reservation and hotel reservation for a step-by-step guide.

If you have been planning to arrange for all these documents or need any other assistance to fulfil the Germany visa requirements, reach out to us via our contact us page. Our team of experts have years of experience in handling these issues and will ensure that you have a smooth sail through the visa process!