According to me, instead of going and applying for visa through consultancies if we do it by our self we will get lots of experience and we will be able to learn a lot.
I have never applied for visa before. I don’t know anything about German visa. I did lots of search to understand about German visa. Now I am here to share my experience in applying German family visit visa.
My husband was doing Masters in Germany when we got married. He was about to complete his masters when I was planning to apply for visa to Germany. Since he was doing his masters we can’t show the proof of income so I can’t apply for family reunion visa. I would like to apply for long term stay (>90 days) in Germany. So I was thinking about alternative ideas. Since I have already completed A1 German language level I taught of going and studying A2 level in Germany. But then in application I will be specifying my marital status as married during the interview they might ask where is your husband staying at that time I have to say he is in Germany which might make them to think. In websites they have clearly specified that know your visa type before applying. So, I rejected that idea. I was blinking what I should do. Another idea for long term stay in Germany is Pursuing degree over there. But at that point I don’t have any idea of doing another degree. So, I planned to apply for short term Family visit visa (<90days).
According to my knowledge all short term German visa should be applied at VFS Global service and long term German visa should be applied at Consulate Of Germany.
You can find all the details regarding short term Family visit visa in the below website:
The lists of documents needed for applying family visit visa are:
You can find the checklist for Family visit visa from the below link:
Getting Verpflichtungserklärung (formal obligation letter):
I have specified my sponsor as my Husband. So he got and gave me this formal obligation letter from local ausländerbehörde(Foreigners office) in Germany. Initially he went to ausländerbehörde(Foreigners office) there they said he need to create blocked account . So he created an blocked account with 1,382 Euros in the bank where he is already holding an account and then he showed the proof of blocked account in ausländerbehörde(Foreigners office). After which they asked all his details and my details to specify in Verpflichtungserklärung (formal obligation letter) and handed over the original formal obligation letter to my husband. He sent me the scanned of that letter and I took the copy of that letter.
Sample Verpflichtungserklärung (formal obligation letter)
Cover letter:
In the cover letter you should clearly specify the purpose of visit to Germany also you should specify how many days are you going to stay in Germany and were are you going to stay and who is going to sponsor you.
Invitation letter:
In the invitation letter the person who invites you should confirm that he is willing to invite you. If the person who is inviting you is your sponsor then he must enclose his proof of income and proof of accommodation in the invitation letter.
Booking flight ticket:
I have booked my departure flight ticket after 20 days from the date of appointment. I have booked both the tickets from Chennai to Germany and German to Chennai. I booked the return ticket after 87 days from the date of departure.
Proof of accommodation:
If you’re planning to stay along with your husband/relatives you can submit the house contract were you’re husband /relatives staying at present. But make sure you have minimum living space(minimum of 12m² per person). You need to submit proof of accommodation (House contract) or if you’re staying somewhere out you need to submit hotel booking confirmation.
Booking appointment:
We can book appointment either by calling VFS help line Number(022-67866013) or through online at the below website link:
Before booking appointment check whether you have all the documents in your hand and also DD of specified amount. You can pay the visa fee in cash,DD(Demand draft) or using debit or credit card. Before getting DD check in the VFS website whether there is any update in the DD amount.
Since I have all the documents in my hand I booked my appointment on 09.12.2016 at VFS Global Chennai. Once after you book your appointment your will receive an e-mail stating to bring the copy of appointment confirmation.
sample confirmation mail:
I prepared everything and I went to VFS Global Chennai on 9.12.2016. After showing the E-mail confirmation and passport watch man allowed me inside. If you carry your mobile and bag along with you they might provide locker and ask you to keep everything inside it. After complete checking they will provide you the token. Once after you got the token you have to go and wait until the token number is displayed on the monitor. After my token number displayed on the monitor I took and went all the documents to the specified counter. The officer in the counter cross checked all the documents based on check list. When he was checking, suddenly he asked me original Verpflichtungserklärung (formal obligation letter).
If you check in the checklist they have not specified that we need to submit original Verpflichtungserklärung (formal obligation letter). I said I don’t have original. He said you need to submit original Verpflichtungserklärung (formal obligation letter). He said this and he continued to check remaining documents. I asked him what I should do now since I don’t have the original. He said to me “we will submit your application but we don’t know whether you will get visa or not”. After saying this he continued to check remaining documents. I asked him whether is there any other alternative way ? he said the same what he said before. So I said to him I will get another appointment and come with original. So he stopped the process and returned back all the documents to me and i left VFS .
I informed what happened in VFS to my husband.After hearing all these my husband sent me the original Verpflichtungserklärung (formal obligation letter) through DHL Express which will be delivered within 2 to 3 days.
Once after I received the courier I booked another appointment on 13.12.2016. I went to VFS Global Service Chennai on 13.12.2016 but due to cyclone vardah VFS was closed on that day. But there were few officers who were standing outside the VFS. So i went towards them to enquire regarding visa. The same officer who handled my application on 09.12.2016 was also over there. After seeing me he came forward to answer my queries. I asked him whether i should book another appointment tomorrow.For that he told me don’t want you can come with the same appointment that you have booked today. I thanked him and left VFS.
I went to VFS Global Chennai again on 14.12.2016. After complete check they gave me the token. I went inside and i was waiting in the waiting hall. After my token number displayed on the monitor I took and went all the documents to the specified counter.On that day everything went well. Officer at the counter collected my visa application to check for completion and my photograph are checked to ensure whether it meets the required specifications. My passport has been checked for validity, empty pages and previous travel information. Then i was directed to another counter to pay the visa fee after paying the visa fee I was asked to wait until my token number displayed on the monitor for collecting bio-metric information. After collecting Bio-metric information they issued a receipt for the fees paid and given an acknowledgement for the submission of passport. After collecting receipt and acknowledgement I came out and took all my things in locker and left VFS global Chennai.
The processing time for Schengen visa is 15 calendar days. You can track you application on the below website link:
On the very next day 15.12.2016 evening around 5.30 pm I got a call from VFS Global saying your application is been processed you can come and collect your passport. Immediately I asked them whether I got visa or not. They replied me that it’s been sealed we can’t open it you only have to come and check it out.
The processing time for visa is 15 days I got call on the very next itself I got scared whether anything went wrong. I can’t go and collect on the same day because they called me at the end of the day. I have to wait until the next day.
Next day I went to VFS Global Chennai and collected my passport. After coming out I opened the cover and checked my passport. In the last before page my visa was stamped. After seeing that if felt very happy. This was my experience in applying family visit visa.
I hope this will be helpful for some one.
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