Before Your Application

What is an invitation letter?

An invitation letter is issued in favor of a third-country citizen to guarantee for his/her living expenses, and serves as proof in administrative proceedings that the economic conditions required for obtaining a residence permit are fulfilled, as stated in § 5 paragraph 1 of the Residence Act.
By writing an invitation letter, the inviter accept his/her duty to bear all the costs related to the applicant's living and travelling expenses. This role can be performed by an individual or a legal entity.

I received an invitation letter valid for 90 days / six months, but I would like to apply for a two-year visa. Is that possible?

Yes, but according to the invitation letter, the financial guarantee only covers the first 90 days. You will have to provide other proof of solvency for the remaining term of the visa you are applying for, such as bank account statements of the last 3-6 months, which can show your monthly income source as well as your financial capacity to support yourself while abroad.

Can I apply for a visa with a long validity (many years) with an invitation letter?

Yes. Your host should report the intended duration of your stay (from one to four years) to the Authority for Foreigners and include a specific remark about this in the invitation letter.
By doing so, the financial guarantee will cover the entire period of your stay in Germany.
If the Authority for Foreigners accepts the invitation letter only for a short period of time, then you (the applicant) should provide additional proof of solvency, such as bank account statements of the last three to six months, which can show your monthly income source as well as your financial capacity to support yourself while abroad.

Our company is known to you and has invited customers several times in the past. Why do we have to provide proof of our financial situation with each new  application?

According to the current regulations, the Embassy cannot store information about the the inviter. The documents you provided for previous applications are stored in the Embassy with each single visa application, and are not grouped according to the inviting company. For this reason, you are required to provide documents separately for each application. The Embassy would like to thank you for your understanding.

What should we do if we realise there is a mistakes in the invitation letter, for example if a name is not spelled correctly?

As long as the identity of the inviter and that of the applicant can be ascertained unambiguously, differences in the spelling of the names between the invitation letter and the passport will not cause the rejection of an invitation letter.

What is an informal invitation letter and what does it look like?

When submitting an application for a visa to visit your family or friends, you should provide an informal invitation letter written by the person who is inviting you.
An informal invitation letter has to be written in German and must include information about the purpose and duration of your trip. It can be written by hand or using a computer and must be signed by the inviter (a family member or a friend). It is not required to get the signature authenticated.

Where can I find the application form, and how much is it?

Application forms are available for free at our application centers or can also be downloaded from our website.

What should I do if I am a single parent / divorced / widowed mother/father?

Please, submit proof of custody with the application.

Permission to travel for minors

In case a minor is travelling alone or with only one of his/her legal guardians (usually the parents) a permission to expatriate, signed by both parents or legal guardians, must be submitted with the application. This letter must be notarized.
The permission to expatriate must state that the parent/legal guardian agrees to let the child travel and as a rule, it must also state the dates and purpose of journey, as well as details of the person accompanying the child during the trip.
This permission safeguards the rights of the legal guardian for a designated period of time in order to perform the requested journey.
For this reason, only permission to expatriates issued no longer than 6 months ago will be taken into consideration. Permission to expatriate written more than six months before the application cannot be accepted. In this case, please provide a new notarized permission to expatriate.

Can I obtain the visa without an invitation letter?

It is possible to obtain a visa without invitation letter, if you are able to prove that you have the financial capacity of paying for your trip, by providing for example:
- bank certificates or bank account statements
OR
- credit card (s) and credit card statements.
In addition to this, you also have to for your health insurance.

Where can I submit an official invitation letter for a guest, and how much does it cost?

You can submit an official invitation letter to the Authority for Foreigners competent for your place of residence in Germany. Here you wil also have to prove your financial standing. In addition, you have to state the name, surname, date of birth, address and passport number of your guest(s). Usually a fee of EUR 29 applies.

How long is an invitation letter valid for?

The Embassy usually accepts invitation letters no older than six months.

We are a company and would like to issue an official invitation letter for a business partner. How can we do it?

Please include the following sentence in your invitation letter: "... assume the responsability to bear the costs according to §§ 66 - 68 of the Residence Law of..."
As proof of financial means of your company, please submit an excertpt from the Commercial Register of Companies. Please, make sure that the invitation letter is signed by the person, who has the right to represent the company in legal matters in foreign affairs, as stated in the Commercial Register of Companies and provide a copy of the passport or ID of this person.
If the invitation is signed by a person, who does not have the right to represent the company in legal matters in foreign affairs, he/she should be authorized by the person with such authority dto do so. In this case, please provide the required power of attorney as well as copies of the passport or ID document of both people.

I am a citizen of a foreign country but I live in ..... Can I submit the application to the VisaMetric application center in .... ?

Yes - the most important thing is not your citizenship, but the country of your permanent residence. If you are legally staying in ... and you can provide a residence card, then the VisaMetric application center is the competent office for you.

I am a citizen of... but I live in another country. I am staying in ... for a short time and I would like to apply for a visa to Germany. Am I allowed to do so?

No – because your country of residence in this case is not ..., so you cannot apply for a visa at the VisaMetric application center in .... Please submit your application to the German Embassy in your country of residence.

I would like to visit different Schengen countries during my trip. Can I submit the application to the German Embassy?

You can submit the application to the German Embassy if you are planning to spend more time in Germany than in the other Schengen countries. If you plan to spend the same amount of time in two different Schengen countries, then you should apply for the visa at the Embassy of the country that you will visit first.

When can I submit my application?

The submission of the application is only possible at the time and date you reserved. The appointment can be booked online through our online appointment system. On the day of your appointment, please arrive on time, otherwise your appointment will be cancelled and you will not be allowed into the visa office.

What should I bring along when submitting an application?

Please bring all the required documents listed in the checklist related to the specific purporse of your journey. Please note that only complete applications can be accepted. It is impossible to add any required document at a later stage.

Should I come to the Embassy in person?

Schengen visa:
The European Union Visa Information System (VIS) will be implemented in Azerbaijan on June 23, 2015. From that date on, each applicant will be required to have their fingerprints recorded in order to apply for a Schengen visa.
Personal attendance is therefore necessary for applicants who submit their application for the first time because their fingerprints have to be recorded, unless one of the following exceptions applies.
If you have already had your fingerprints recorded for a Schengen visa application within the last 59 months, personal attendance is not mandatory. It does not matter which Schengen country collected your fingerprints. Please note that the fingerprints recorded at the French embassy in Baku before June 23, 2015 were not saved in the Visa Information System and it is therefore necessary to collect fingerprints again.

Personal attendance is not required for applicants, who:
- have already obtained and used according to the laws at least two Schengen visas (category C) during the 24 months before the submission of this new application.
or
- received a one-year or multiple-year Schengen visa in the past and have used it according to the laws during the 24 months before the submission of this new application.
Proof of previous visas and of their appropriate usage should be provided with the relevant passport copies.
If a married couple travels together, the application can be submitted by one of the spouses, providing that the other applicant has already had his/her fingerprints recorded by a Schengen country in the last 59 months.
The same applies to children under 18 years of age, providing that their fingerprints (of those children aged 12 and above) have previously been recorded by a Schengen country in the last 59 months.

If I do not have to be personally present, what should I pay attention to when booking an appointment?

A reservation is necessary even if a personal interview is not required. Reserve an appointment using the applicant’s name, not that of the person who will submit his/her documents to the VisaMetric application center. In case of several applicants, one appointment for each person must be booked. Only one application will be accepted, if only one appointment was booked, even if several people inted to apply.
The person who submits the application on your behalf needs to have your power of attorney in written in order to submit the application and answer questions at the Embassy. Please provide this person with all information required to answer all questions related to the purpose of your journey.

Will my application be accepted, if it is not complete?

If you submit an incomplete application, our employees will inform you and present you with the following options:
- The documents can be returned to you and you can book a new appointment on our website
- You can decide to submit an incomplete application. However, the missing documents might be cause for refusal of your application and in this case you should sign a statement when submitting your application.

A document is missing in in my application. Should I still submit my application as it is or would it be refused?

Always submit a complete application with all your documents. It is impossible to predict if your application will result in an approval in spite of the missing documents.

Passport of a minor: what should I pay attention to?

Minor children can only apply for a visa if they have their own passport or if they are registered in the passport of one of their parents or legal guardians. If the minor is registered in the passport of a grandparent, sibling or teacher, the application can not be accepted. A separate passport is required in any case if the minor travels alone or unaccompanied by his/her legal guardian(s).

What should I keep in mind regarding the application form for a minor?

The application form must be filled for minor applicants too, and has to be signed by both parents or legal guardians. If one of the legal guardians cannot sign it, then a notarized permission to travel to the Schengen area must be provided.
Applicants who are 16 or older should sign the form on their own.
You can check a sample of a completed application form for minors here.

I obtained a one-year visa and within the last six months I spent 50 days in Germany for work. I would like to travel to Spain for a holiday for 14 days. Am I allowed to do so?

Yes. A Schengen visa is valid in all the Schengen member countries. You should make sure to spend most of the time in the Schengen country that issued your visa. The rest of the days can be spent in any of the other Schengen member countries.

I obtained a Schengen visa for 10 days and I am in Germany now, but need to stay longer. What should I do?

You should immediately contact the Authority for Foreigners competent for the area you are staying and apply for an extension of your visa. Staying in Germnay with an expired visa is in breach of the German Residence Rights and can result in a fine or travel ban.
You should contact the relevant Authority for Foreigners also if your visa was not issued by the German Embassy or if you are in another Schengen country.

My minor child was registered in my passport up until recently. His visa was in that passport as well. Now he has his own passport. What will happen to the visa?

You can transfer the child's visa from your passport to the child’s new passport. Please come to the visa office during consultation hours and bring both the old and the new passport. The transfer procedure is free.