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Visa: Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have questions regarding your visa application? You might be able to already find an answer here.
FAQ
The following countries have joined the Schengen Agreement and are therefore called “Schengen states”: Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Czechia and Hungary.
On the homepage of the Federal Foreign Office, it is explained that nationals of certain countries need a visa if they want to stay in Germany and the other Schengen states for up to 90 days. The list of the countries in questions can be found here.
Foreigners who want to either stay in Germany for longer than 90 days, work in Germany or study in Germany would require a visa.
The exception to this rule applies to citizens of the following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Spain, Czechia, Hungary and Cyprus.
Citizens of these countries are not required to apply for a residence permit after having entered Germany. After their arrival and settling down, they simply have to register with the competent residents’ registration office.
Citizens of Australia, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States of America may also apply for the necessary residence permit after their arrival in Germany. This also applies to citizens of Andorra, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, Monaco and San Marino if they do not intend to take up employment.
Citizens of countries that are not listed here have to apply for a visa at the competent German diplomatic mission before arriving in Germany.
A valid Schengen visa allows you to stay in the whole Schengen Area for a duration of up to 90 days per time period of 180 days. They can be issued for a maximum of five years. The European Commission provides a Short Stay Calculator on their homepage. Here, you can enter the dates of your previous stays to check when and for how long you may travel to the Schengen Area the next time.
A national visa (also called “D visa”) allows you to stay in Germany for more than 90 days, for instance in the cases of family reunification, taking up an employment or studying in Germany.
A Schengen visa has to be applied for at the diplomatic mission of the country which is the main travel destination. If it is not possible to define a main destination, you may apply for the visa at the diplomatic mission of the country that is the point of entry into the Schengen area.
The German Embassy in Manila can only accept your visa application if your permanent residence is in the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Guam, Wake or the Northern Mariana Islands.
If you are a Filipino citizen or a citizen of one of the other countries listed above and you live outside the Philippines or the other countries listed above and only temporarily reside in the Philippines or in one of the other countries listed above, you will have to apply for your visa at the German Embassy or Consulate General whose consular district covers your place of residence.
You may already apply for your Schengen visa 6 months before the intended start of the trip and should have applied several weeks before your trip at the latest. Applications submitted less than 15 days before departure will normally not be processed in time (see Art. 23 Visa Code).
As early as possible. In most cases, the competent immigration office in Germany has to approve of your application. Therefore, processing your application may take some time.
Your passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the planned end of your stay in the Schengen area. For the visa as well as the entry and exit stamps, there must be two blank pages in your passport. The passport must have the original signature of the passport holder and cannot be damaged. If your passport expires within 6 months, the visa application should be submitted with a new passport.
For the visa application, you will have to provide a recent passport photo which must not be older than 6 months.
Further requirements are:
- Measurements of 45 x 35 mm, with high resolution and a white background.
- Front view of your face, including the chin and neck, the face and eyes must not be covered, the face must cover 70 to 80 % of the photo.
- The passport photo must not be edited after and must reflect the applicant’s actual appearance.
Please do not use old passport photos from previous visa applications.
Kindly contact the competent immigration authority (Ausländerbehörde) for your place of residence or location.
Where can I get a formal obligation and which obligations does it entail?
In case the invited guest is unable to finance the stay on their own, you can declare that you will pay all the costs that may arise during the stay of the foreigner in Germany. This includes the costs of a possible medical treatment and the repatriation to the home country.
According to §§ 66 – 68 Residence Act, the competent office responsible for such a formal obligation is the German immigration authority (Ausländerbehörde) with jurisdiction over the place of residence of the inviting person. There, you will receive the necessary forms. Signing the Formal Obligation also entails a credit check of the inviting person and the certification of their signature.
For more information, please refer to the above-mentioned paragraphs. In particular, § 66, Section 2, § 67 provide the framework for the scope of the costs, while § 68 Residence Act defines the liability for the living expenses. The term “living expenses” covers all costs stemming from food, housing, clothing and other basic needs as well as healthcare in the event of illness and care dependency.
For how long is a formal obligation valid?
The time period between the signing of a formal obligation and the issuance of the visa should generally not exceed more than 6 months, as the financial situation of the person making the formal obligation might have changed in the meantime.
After this time period, it is generally required to submit a new formal obligation.
What can I do if the person inviting me does not reside in Germany?
If there is no place of residence registered in Germany anymore and the usual place of residence (meaning the person has been staying in this place for at least 6 months) lies in the consular district of the German Embassy in Manila, the formal obligation can also be finalized at the Embassy.
Kindly come to the Embassy during our service hours from Tuesday to Friday, between 8:00 am and 9:30 am. An appointment is not necessary. For the formal obligation, you will have to submit the following documents:
- Valid passport of the person signing the formal obligation
- Proof that your usual place of residence is in the Philippines (e.g. visa extensions, ACR-Card)
- Bank statements of a German bank account from the previous 3 months AND
- German tax assessment note of the previous year OR
- Employment contract with salary details
- Passport copy of the person for whom you will cover the costs
The documents will be handed back to you after signing the formal obligation. The fee is EUR 29.00, payable in cash (PHP) or by credit card (Visa/MasterCard).
The Embassy reserves the right to request additional documents.
Visa appointments for short-term stays in Germany are offered by our external service provider VFS. Visa appointments for long-term stays in Germany (for example for family reunification, study and language course) are offered by the German Embassy.
In order to submit a visa application for a long-term stay that falls under the categories accepted by the Embassy, kindly book an appointment online on our homepage. New appointments become available daily.
Upon receiving a rejection, you have the following options:
- You may submit a new visa application with complete convincing and verifiable supporting documents OR
- You can file a lawsuit against the rejection with the Administrative Court in Berlin
To receive information regarding an entry in the Central Register of Foreign Nationals and to have it deleted, if applicable, kindly contact the Federal Office of Administration. The contact details are as follows:
Bundesverwaltungsamt
Ausländerzentralregister
50728 Köln
Tel.: +49-1888-358-1351 oder 358-3351
Fax: +49-1888-358-2831
E-Mail: poststelle@bva.bund.de
Homepage: https://www.bva.bund.de/EN/Home/home_node.html
Applicants for a Schengen visa may lodge a complaint about the behavior of the Embassy staff, the external service provider VFS or the visa application process via the contact form. In the form, please choose “Complaints about Schengen-Visa Application Process” as the topic. Kindly note that complaints can only be lodged in German or English; complaints in other languages cannot be processed. For the subject line, please indicate one of the following:
- Complaint about the behavior of the Embassy staff
- Complaint about the behavior of the external service provider VFS
- Complaint about the visa application process
We will investigate the complaint upon receiving it.
The Embassy decides on a visa on a case-by-case basis.
The information sheet can only provide a general basis which covers the majority, but not all possible scenarios. Therefore, it may be possible that we require you to hand in, for example, an additional document that is not listed in the information sheet.
A pre-check of the documents by the visa section is not possible. The documents can only be checked when an application is submitted. Information regarding the required documents can be found on our homepage. Kindly study them and submit your application with complete documentation.