An epic guide: German Language Visa application to learn German in Germany*

*For Malaysians

For the life of me, if I don’t know why you’d want to learn German in the first place. It’s difficult (trust me, it is), it takes forever to master and it’ll take you a lifetime before you could pass off as a German native speaker. However, if you’re doing it out of love, for a university programme, or if you’re just plain masochistic, well then, where else would you rather learn German but in Germany? I don’t need to extol here the benefits of learning the language at the country of its origin and embracing the experience of living abroad so I’ll just get on right to how to go about applying for the German Language Visa.

First of all, if you find a programme that could be completed in three months, you could just sign up and learn it on a regular “tourist visa”. For Malaysians, we could enter and stay within the EU/Schengen zone for 90 days within 180 days without a visa. Which means, you have 90 days to remain and travel freely within the Schengen area.

However, once you’ve used up your 90 days, you’d need to LEAVE the Schengen area and stay away for 90 days before you’re allowed to enter again. Now if you fancy beating the system, be my guest. But if you do get caught, you could be deported, blacklisted, be fined or be jailed; hence in my opinion–not worth the risk.

This blog post won’t tell you which German course to take up since that’s personal and it highly depends on your goals and needs. Neither would I tell you which city to do it in, because almost every large enough town or city would have organisations, schools and language institutes that offer German courses, with a wide range of teaching methods, program goals, and prices.

However, if you’re like me, andended up in a small village, you might have to look to the next bigger city to see if they’ve got something there.

Getting Started: The German Language Visa

If you’re planning for a German course that will last more than 3 months (and without the intention of being prepped up for further tertiary studies in Germany), you are then obligated to apply for the German Language Visa.

Now unfortunately, this visa was more complicated than I’d imagined. It took more documents and effort than applying for a 3-year Australian student visa. But don’t let that get you down.

As long as you meet all their requirements and file the application accordingly, there is no reason for a rejection.

I insist that you look at the checklist before coming back to read this blog post further. Once you’re done, you might have questions, which I will try to address within this post and at the end, some FAQs.

Do also note that, this is guide stems from my personal experience for the visa and am not an agent, nor an expert nor the Immigration Officer.

Next Steps:

1. Research where you’d like to study and apply for the course. The course must be at least 20 hours a week to meet visa requirements. Those twice-a-week courses don’t count so don’t apply for them!

For me, I’d applied for an Intensive 25-hour a week Integration Course which lasted about 11 months. The IIK Language & Cultural Institute that I was studying at, had intensive German language programmes to help integrate migrants and refugees, but because I wasn’t a refugee I had to pay about € 254 per month.

I started from A1.2 and completed the B2 level. I’d initially did a quick 4 week programme in the Volkshochschule of Jena but it was more of a 2 x 90 minute lesson a week in the weekends. This course was done when I was still on a tourist visa.

2. Once you get a Letter of Acceptance from the course, you can now fill out the Residence Form. Make sure you fill out 2 of the same forms. Get the form here: Residence Permit Forms

Scholarship

If you have a scholarship, then you could photocopy your scholarship forms to prove that your financial means are taken care of. However, chances are, your choices are narrowed down to these two: Blocked Bank Account or Formal Obligation.

Blocked Bank Account

I didn’t do a Blocked Bank Account, so I’ve no personal experiences to share with you.

But it’s basically the opening of a German bank account, where you’ve to bank in min. €8640 ( for studies up to a year.) You’re only allowed to withdraw €720 a month from that account to support your living and study expenses. It’s ‘blocked’ so that they’re certain that you are going to be supported financially within your time here in Germany.

Formal Obligation

Formal Obligation means, you have someone in Germany or abroad to financially sponsor you or at least obliged to take care of all your needs. So it isn’t going to be a German traveller that you met while travelling because he or she is legally obliged to care for you.

However, it could be anyone, living in Germany or abroad. They’d then need to get this Formal Obligation (Verpliftungserklärung) document from a German consulate or Ausländerbehörde (a Foreigner’s Office found in every town/municipality in Germany) by showing them an ID/passport, the latest 3 months of pay slips (salary has to be more than €1200, after rental deduction) apartment lease and a work contract.

Now these documents could change based on the demands of each consulate or Ausländerbehörde.

5. Once you’ve all your documents and passport ready, find out the opening and closing times of the German Embassy and make an online appointment!

FAQs (Everything Else)

Once you get the visa from the German embassy, is that it?

No, that isn’t all. You’ll see that your visa will expire within 3 months. When you get into Germany, and once you know where you’ll be staying, you’ll need to go to the Ausländerbehörde to get an extension of your visa. This extension will be largely based on the duration of your enrollment in a language institute of your choice. Say for example, if your course is till June 2017, then you’ll be allowed to stay till June 2017. You won’t get another visa sticker on your passport but rather in a form of an identification card called the Aufenthaltstitel .

How do I find a place a stay?

I didn’t have to find one since I was living with my partner but if you do need a room, you’ll probably be looking at a shared home (Wohngemeinschaft, in short–WG). Check these links out for more information:

As a matter of fact, you do. Everyone needs health insurance in Germany, including the Germans! I’m not sure why it’s not written on the checklist but I remember it was mandatory when I applied for it. I got CareConcept which seemed fine.

Everything was applied and dealt with online. However, I didn’t get sick or injured so I can’t comment if it was any good! But application was fast and without hassle.

Can I stay for 2 years?

No, the visa requirements stipulated that you can only have a maximum of one-year stay.

Can I get a one-way ticket to Germany?

Yes, you can!

Which language institute should I attend?

Any, as long as the course that you’re enrolled in, offers 20hrs of German lessons a week. Volkshochschule (a sort of community college) in bigger cities are usually cheaper than private institutes. Some language institutes, for example, IIK Jena, the one that I attended is subsidised by the government. You could also check out language courses in universities, and so on.

Can I apply for this visa in Germany itself?

No. You have to do this at the Malaysian embassy (if you’re a Malaysian, that is).

Ying Tey (Piccola Ying) is a Malaysian freelance writer based in Germany. She's always in the pursuit of adventures and tales; so far, she's chalked up 68 countries to date. She'd previously funded her travels by teaching English on Costa Cruise Ships (yes–including the one that sank!), by making caffè lattes in London and Melbourne, and by writing copy for a Singaporean advertising agency, that persuades you to buy a Mini Cooper instead of a Toyota.

Today, she just wants to inspire you with stories that will make you take the path less travelled.

18 comments

Hi admin, i understand that we need health insurance, but my concern is before the appointment with the embassy in kL, i need to show them that i have health insurance in germany? And i have to apply that online first of all?

Yes, that’s right. You’ll need to have applied for the health insurance online, print out those documents and then include them with your visa application. The application for the health insurance on the Internet is pretty simple. Some health insurance companies include Fintiba Bank, Mawista, CareConcept, etc.

Hi Ying Tey,
Such a amazing information and many thanks for blogging it. It cleared out my doubts and question for the visa application.

My questions are
1. Do we have to submit the original passport for visa processing (Language Visa)? Or only copies?
2. Since Malaysian can enter freely upto 90 days and I already got the visa, can I enter Germany as Tourist Visa before the Language Visa date? Which is before the course starts?

Thanks for stopping by. Glad I could help clarify your doubts. First of all, yes you’d need to give up your passport and copies of it for the application. However you can tell them that you might need to travel in between and they’ll give it back to you. But you’ll still need to bring it on the day of application. Yes, you can. The visa at the end of the day is really just a 3 month special visa. Once you enter, you’ll still need to go to the Foreigner’s Office and apply for your Aufenthaltstitel (Residence Permit). This ID card is technically the real ‘visa’ in a form of ID card.

Student visa and language student visas are two different things. Unfortunately I’ve only experienced the latter. But if you’re learning German for the sake of uni, then you should be getting a proper student visa instead of a language visa

Hello there !
I thank you so much for your posts. It helps me so much on preparing to apply for the Language course visa. But I still have some questions in my head. And I hope you could do me a favor to answer it.
1. As far as I know that the embassy would give us 3 months visa for this, and also could be extended up to 9 months. So 1 year in total. Right? One of the requirements is that I have to attach acceptance letter from the Language course and the receipt of fully paid course fee. I am planning to do a year long course, from A1.2 till maybe C1 if I could. Now the problem is, do I need to enroll all the course completely to get 12 months visa. Or can I just apply courses from A1.2 to B1.2 first, that makes up around 3 months, and then enroll for the next level like B2-C1 while I’m in Germany, and get the extension there?
2. You mentioned that you were living with your partner, right? So when you were applying visa, how did you obtain a letter stating about your accommodation there? Did your partner make a letter that stated you would be living with him during your Language course? Because I will also be accommodated by my friend and want to know if we need such letter.
3. Last but not least, will you get like residence card? Or just visa sticker? And also is it restricted to go out and come in the country during your Language course? Like I mean you’re supposed to study the Language intensively. But is it possible if you go back to your home country for like once per 3 months for a week or something. And also do you have breaks for every level? Or you just continuously go to the courses.
Thank you so much for reading all my questions. I hope you’ll reply it soon.

Hi Panca, that’s a long list of questions so I’ll start with the answers right away.

1. You could just apply for a couple of months and eventually get an extension up till a year on your residency. Or the other way is enrol with the school for a year but then pay as you go. That’s what I did basically. I asked for a letter that stated that I’d like to do a year long course but I only paid for the first month. I guess it depends on the schools.

2. The letter I got wasn’t a letter stating accommodation but rather the fact that my partner is legally responsible for me. It’s called a Verpflichtungserklärung document. It was issued by the local Immigration Office in my area. I don’t think they care much about where you stay to be honest.

3. First you’ll get a sticker. Then you need to register at the local Immigration Office to get a residence pass. It’s a multi-entry until the expiry date on your temporary residency pass.Usually there aren’t any breaks. There are 1 or 2 week holidays but not summer holidays like in uni. Every school is different. You’ll have to enquire with ya school. Hope that helps!

Did you have your original acceptance letters from IIK mailed all the way from Germany to Malaysia or could the PDF files sent by IIK suffice for the visa application? I’m worried about whether the true originals (with stamp and signature) will be needed – it takes 80 euros to mail it to my home 🙁 thank you!

Hi Angela, you’ll have to email the embassy to clarify with them. In my case I had the originals as I enrolled with the school while I was having a vacation here. But I’m not sure if originals are a must or would a pdf copy would suffice.

Hi Kavi, I’m not sure what you mean. Anyway I didn’t extend the visa. I applied for the max time which is one year (proven by acceptance letter from the language school). The visa is non-extendable as 1 yr is the max

CIAO! I’M PICCOLA YING

My Italian friends thought I was so little that they called me Piccola Ying. I was raised in the dusty sunshine of Kuala Lumpur, left the safe shores of my home for the world at 18 and have never looked back since.

In between, I've created my own charmed kind of life where I'd relied on intuition, kindness of strangers and the magic of serendipity. I have backpacked, lived a jet set lifestyle and had worked on Italian cruise ships for 5 years. When I'm not wandering, I write.