The following information is from the Visa department at the German Consulate, Mumbai.
The increasing number of business travellers from India is encouraging. The German Consulate is keen to give as many people as possible the opportunity to enter Germany. However, given the current large and growing number of applicants wishing to travel after the COVID-19 restrictions have begun to be eased, there is, unfortunately, demand for appointments that can only be met to a limited extent with the current processing capacity at the Consulate General.
The German Consulate has restructured internally and will be able to open more dates for next week (16th May 2022 onwards).
- Germany continues to be subject to entry restrictions that only allow entry if proof of a compelling reason for entry or otherwise if fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the EMA. The regulations are no doubt limiting and challenging. Therefore, please pay close attention to the requirements and procedures.
- Please note Covaxin is not yet recognized (https://india.diplo.de/in-en/service/-/2341256) and is only allowed under special exceptional reason/urgency. Further information on the exceptional reasons can be found here: https://india.diplo.de/in-en/-/2464164
- For the urgent reason for travel with Covaxin business travellers, the declaration of urgency prescribed by the BMI must be submitted https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/downloads/EN/themen/civil-protection/declaration-absolute-necessity-business-travel-of-short-duration.html;jsessionid=89B282504FFEF421DDC1E22908BECCF3.2_cid373, also as pdf in the appendix.
Please note that the Federal Police asks for this upon entry. The Federal Police has informed that even an urgent reason for entry at the border is regularly denied by the German inviting company if the BMI declaration of urgency is not presented, leading to rejections at the border. In the visa procedure, please check the template, and follow the instructions/procedure as this is a protection mechanism for all business travellers.
- In addition, the vaccination certificate must, in any case, be copied cleanly and presented readable: https://india.diplo.de/in-en/service/-/2341256. If it is not legible, unfortunately, it will be rejected, as it lacks clarity whether the applicant falls under the entry exemption regulations or not.
- Unfortunately, the German Consulate cannot request further documents except in exceptional cases, as pointed out in a disclaimer on every checklist, due to the high number of applications.
- Not always, but the issuance of long-term visas often fails because of 1. too short passport validity or 2. too short valid travel health insurance.Therefore, always submit travel health insurance with the longest possible validity – at least 6 months should be sufficient.
- For Visas, often applications are received in May, for example, where the invitation letter was issued in April and is scheduled for a trip at the beginning of April.
The invitation letter must cover the planned trip. However, if applications reach us as described, the reference is missing – the applications are rejected due to "lack of proof of travel purpose" since the invitation has already expired. Here it would help if the applicants would submit an e-mail confirmation in addition to the invitation, which promises a postponement of the travel period. Or the company names a flexible period for the business trip.
Finally, the German Consulate would like to assure you that it is doing its utmost under the given conditions to fulfil the mandate.
From the German Consulate, Mumbai
