Good day to all, its time to give something back to system, hope my fellow prospective students from north India zone will find this post useful.
university: Hochschule Darmstadt, course IMSEIT.
My post will be specially useful for students who want to travel to Germany for a language course prior to the official start of the program, also for students who did not have blocked account open at the time of the visa interview.
It is possible to obtain a visa for language course and then masters course, I got this information from Berlin, Auswaertiges Amt. It is know as 'Studium mit vogeschaltetem Sprachkurs' i.e. study with pre-language course
This type of visa is not mentioned in the application form available on http://www.india.diplo.de. The checklist for this visa is same as the study visa checklist however two separate set of documents have to be prepared,
a) one for language course
including proof of payment of fee, proof of resident, registration letter for the course.
imp: while selecting the course it has to be made sure that a minimum of 18 hours a week of classes have to be attended.
b) for masters course at the university.
Now to start with the actual visa exp.
I booked my appointment on 30 march 16 the dates available to me were from 19th April onward, however I decided for 26th April 16, as my blocked account application was still under processing back then.
I had started with the blocked account opening process in mid march, I had approached DB Moradabad, as with them one can open a minimum 25k balance saving account as compared to Delhi were the minimum balance requirement is significantly high.
The resident saving account did not take more than two days and by march end I had transferred the funds for blocking. DB, India gave me assurance that my account would be opened in maximum two weeks thus, I opted for 26th of April as my visa interview date.
This was not the case, even by the 18th of April,I had not received any confirmation from DB, Hamburg.I contacted DB, India they said they would write DB, Hamburg a mail for expediting the process. I also tried to reach them using online tool given on their website. They responded within two business days that there was a backlog of 5 weeks and the process cannot be accelerated.
Thus it was sure that I would not have my blocked account opened until the 26th of April. So basically, I had two options
1) to postpone the VI
2) to get a letter from DB, India testifying sufficients funds in my savings account along with a letter stating that the blocked account opening application form has been recieved by DB, Hamburg and the delay was from their end.
I had already confirmed with the embassy that such a letter would be accepted at the time of the interview.
I stuck to the interview appointment for the 26th April.
Now on the day of the VI.
Dressed up in formals, made three sets of xerox ready(only two required) did some last minute checks and reached the embassy by 10:00 am for 1015 hrs interview.
There were five more people there waiting for the same slot, however I was the only one for Study visa.
At sharp 1015 the security guard called us in, I was standing quite close to the gate so went in the first. The guard let me in after cross checking my appointment on the schedule he already had. There was a thorough bag check, body check, was asked if I had my phone or any other electronic item on me. As I wasn't, I was let in and asked to proceed to a counter close to the entrance itself. A guard at the counter give me a green slip with No 3 written on it after confirming my identity as well as the appointment timings. The No 3 was the counter no that I was suppose to go to.
It all happened so fast that I had not been prepared to pull open a door and on the other side meet my VI officer.
The officer was a lady early thirties, she greeted me as soon as I entered her chamber and asked me to present her with one set of xerox documents. All my documents were still inside by bag ( yes, bags are allowed to be carried in till the actual counter). Took me an additional few seconds much to the discomfort of my VI officer. I gave her the set which I had already prepared, wished her a good morning and the interview started.
I had barely put my bag down and was getting ready to put up a smilling face, she asked "who lives in Germany",I got confused with the question and said "nobody". Then why do you have a visit visa, aahhh that she meant I replied "family friends went to visit them" not a good start I thought. Standard questions like what kind of visa, which uni and what course followed. She then started to read my cover letter thoroughly and the mention of the pre-language course caught her attention. She started to ask me about my course, have I paid the fee, if I have booked some accommodation which I had. She started to go through my documents the set which I had prepared for Language course and said, "documents all okay but I can only allow write you up in the system for the Masters program not the language course".
I objected and told her that I had an email saying that I can ask for a single visa for both courses. She sternly replied might have be a communication error or a confusion there is no such visa as study with pre language course, I had the email printed out showed it to her, she went inside and got it checked with her superior, a German National, I could hear them talk, after a while she returned and said that it was possible. Kept the first set of documents aside and asked for the second one.
Second round of question began,
means of finance? Then there was the blocked account!!
I told her everything honestly, about the delay showed her the letter from DB,Moradabad, the email from DB,Hamburg stating five weeks of backlog. In the end she seemed quite satisfied as I also had sponsorship affidavits from my father and sister. Some random questions about my family were also asked.
She then handed me a questionnaire, asked me to fill it up while she herself got busy typing at the keyboard. The questions were: (dont remember them verbatim)
1) why Germany, why this course and uni?
2) class X percentage, school name , place and medium of instruction?
3) class XII percentage, school name , place and medium of instruction?
4) Prominent researchers of your field?
5) CET score? asked me to write toefl score.
5) Any gap(more than six months) in education from school till date, justify them?
6) Fathers name and occupation?
7) Mothers name and occupation?
8) sisters name and occupation?
I finished the questionnaire in about 10 mins time, it took her around five mins more to be done with her typing. Then all of a sudden, she asked" Can u speak German?".
I replied " yes, ma'am. I have successfully competed A2 deutschkurs from Goethe Delhi. Then as expected I was asked few very basic questions in German. The questions were as follows;
what is your name?
what is your favorite food
when were u born?
where do u stay?
how is the weather today?
(obviously in German)
Then it was all done she handed me my passport back, asked me for biomatric scans, and said that I will get an email from embassy in three weeks time.
She did not stamp my passport with D stamp, she said that the embassy has discontinued the practice.
I asked her about my Blocked account, she replied that I should email the confirmation once I have it.
On 28th April, I received confirmation from DB, Hamburg about opening of my account, after four weeks to five as claimed by them earlier. On 2nd may I transferred funds to my blocked account. Got an email from DB stating funds blocked on 3rd May. I sent the email to the embassy on 3rd May itself.
Surprisingly on the 9th May, I got an email from the embassy. It read that I should submit my passport, along with print out of the email, travel itinerary and travel insurance for one month, for visa sticker.
Went to the embassy on 19th-May for submission and got it back on the 26th.
In all my communications with the embassy, I found them very respectful and motivated to help the applicants.
So that's all folks.
If in my capacity, I am open to answering queries. Thanks!!!
university: Hochschule Darmstadt, course IMSEIT.
My post will be specially useful for students who want to travel to Germany for a language course prior to the official start of the program, also for students who did not have blocked account open at the time of the visa interview.
It is possible to obtain a visa for language course and then masters course, I got this information from Berlin, Auswaertiges Amt. It is know as 'Studium mit vogeschaltetem Sprachkurs' i.e. study with pre-language course
This type of visa is not mentioned in the application form available on http://www.india.diplo.de. The checklist for this visa is same as the study visa checklist however two separate set of documents have to be prepared,
a) one for language course
including proof of payment of fee, proof of resident, registration letter for the course.
imp: while selecting the course it has to be made sure that a minimum of 18 hours a week of classes have to be attended.
b) for masters course at the university.
Now to start with the actual visa exp.
I booked my appointment on 30 march 16 the dates available to me were from 19th April onward, however I decided for 26th April 16, as my blocked account application was still under processing back then.
I had started with the blocked account opening process in mid march, I had approached DB Moradabad, as with them one can open a minimum 25k balance saving account as compared to Delhi were the minimum balance requirement is significantly high.
The resident saving account did not take more than two days and by march end I had transferred the funds for blocking. DB, India gave me assurance that my account would be opened in maximum two weeks thus, I opted for 26th of April as my visa interview date.
This was not the case, even by the 18th of April,I had not received any confirmation from DB, Hamburg.I contacted DB, India they said they would write DB, Hamburg a mail for expediting the process. I also tried to reach them using online tool given on their website. They responded within two business days that there was a backlog of 5 weeks and the process cannot be accelerated.
Thus it was sure that I would not have my blocked account opened until the 26th of April. So basically, I had two options
1) to postpone the VI
2) to get a letter from DB, India testifying sufficients funds in my savings account along with a letter stating that the blocked account opening application form has been recieved by DB, Hamburg and the delay was from their end.
I had already confirmed with the embassy that such a letter would be accepted at the time of the interview.
I stuck to the interview appointment for the 26th April.
Now on the day of the VI.
Dressed up in formals, made three sets of xerox ready(only two required) did some last minute checks and reached the embassy by 10:00 am for 1015 hrs interview.
There were five more people there waiting for the same slot, however I was the only one for Study visa.
At sharp 1015 the security guard called us in, I was standing quite close to the gate so went in the first. The guard let me in after cross checking my appointment on the schedule he already had. There was a thorough bag check, body check, was asked if I had my phone or any other electronic item on me. As I wasn't, I was let in and asked to proceed to a counter close to the entrance itself. A guard at the counter give me a green slip with No 3 written on it after confirming my identity as well as the appointment timings. The No 3 was the counter no that I was suppose to go to.
It all happened so fast that I had not been prepared to pull open a door and on the other side meet my VI officer.
The officer was a lady early thirties, she greeted me as soon as I entered her chamber and asked me to present her with one set of xerox documents. All my documents were still inside by bag ( yes, bags are allowed to be carried in till the actual counter). Took me an additional few seconds much to the discomfort of my VI officer. I gave her the set which I had already prepared, wished her a good morning and the interview started.
I had barely put my bag down and was getting ready to put up a smilling face, she asked "who lives in Germany",I got confused with the question and said "nobody". Then why do you have a visit visa, aahhh that she meant I replied "family friends went to visit them" not a good start I thought. Standard questions like what kind of visa, which uni and what course followed. She then started to read my cover letter thoroughly and the mention of the pre-language course caught her attention. She started to ask me about my course, have I paid the fee, if I have booked some accommodation which I had. She started to go through my documents the set which I had prepared for Language course and said, "documents all okay but I can only allow write you up in the system for the Masters program not the language course".
I objected and told her that I had an email saying that I can ask for a single visa for both courses. She sternly replied might have be a communication error or a confusion there is no such visa as study with pre language course, I had the email printed out showed it to her, she went inside and got it checked with her superior, a German National, I could hear them talk, after a while she returned and said that it was possible. Kept the first set of documents aside and asked for the second one.
Second round of question began,
means of finance? Then there was the blocked account!!
I told her everything honestly, about the delay showed her the letter from DB,Moradabad, the email from DB,Hamburg stating five weeks of backlog. In the end she seemed quite satisfied as I also had sponsorship affidavits from my father and sister. Some random questions about my family were also asked.
She then handed me a questionnaire, asked me to fill it up while she herself got busy typing at the keyboard. The questions were: (dont remember them verbatim)
1) why Germany, why this course and uni?
2) class X percentage, school name , place and medium of instruction?
3) class XII percentage, school name , place and medium of instruction?
4) Prominent researchers of your field?
5) CET score? asked me to write toefl score.
5) Any gap(more than six months) in education from school till date, justify them?
6) Fathers name and occupation?
7) Mothers name and occupation?
8) sisters name and occupation?
I finished the questionnaire in about 10 mins time, it took her around five mins more to be done with her typing. Then all of a sudden, she asked" Can u speak German?".
I replied " yes, ma'am. I have successfully competed A2 deutschkurs from Goethe Delhi. Then as expected I was asked few very basic questions in German. The questions were as follows;
what is your name?
what is your favorite food
when were u born?
where do u stay?
how is the weather today?
(obviously in German)
Then it was all done she handed me my passport back, asked me for biomatric scans, and said that I will get an email from embassy in three weeks time.
She did not stamp my passport with D stamp, she said that the embassy has discontinued the practice.
I asked her about my Blocked account, she replied that I should email the confirmation once I have it.
On 28th April, I received confirmation from DB, Hamburg about opening of my account, after four weeks to five as claimed by them earlier. On 2nd may I transferred funds to my blocked account. Got an email from DB stating funds blocked on 3rd May. I sent the email to the embassy on 3rd May itself.
Surprisingly on the 9th May, I got an email from the embassy. It read that I should submit my passport, along with print out of the email, travel itinerary and travel insurance for one month, for visa sticker.
Went to the embassy on 19th-May for submission and got it back on the 26th.
In all my communications with the embassy, I found them very respectful and motivated to help the applicants.
So that's all folks.
If in my capacity, I am open to answering queries. Thanks!!!