Germany: a student visa, where it is applied for and what to check

What you need to do

The distinction that costs the most: study longer than three months goes on a national visa, not a Schengen one. A Schengen visa cannot be turned into a study visa after arrival, and travelling on one intending to stay and study is a refusal, not a shortcut.

The national visa is applied for at the German mission responsible for your place of residence. For Moldova that is the embassy in Chișinău: it has its own appointment procedure, its own list of documents and its own timings, and its page matters more than any general instruction.

Before applying you normally already need the university's decision on admission, proof of funding and health insurance. Which document counts as proof of funding, and in what form, is for the mission to decide, and its list can be longer than the general one.

Where the official answers live

• The Federal Foreign Office — the visa service: types of visa, general requirements, procedure.
• The German Embassy in Chișinău — appointments and documents for people living in Moldova.
• The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees — what happens after arrival: residence, extension, change of status.

How to check that the requirement has not changed

Check the list of documents on the page of the mission you are applying to, on the day you apply rather than the day you assembled the folder. Where the general portal and the consulate differ, the consulate's requirement is the one to satisfy — it is the one deciding your case.

One word about paid "fast-tracking" and agents: fees and the appointment procedure are published by the mission itself. Anything promised outside the published procedure was promised by people who do not make the decision.

Processing times, fees and amounts for Germany are kept in the facts on the country page, each with a link to its primary source and the date it was checked.