The reason why most people choose Germany for education is because of its very low tuition fees, good
quality of education and higher availability of student jobs as compared to other countries.
There are a lot of English language programs being offered by German universities. These are very easy
to search using the Course Finder by DAAD:
http://www.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/internationalprogrammes/07535.en.html
Note: English language programs are often referred to as International programs by European
universities.
A database of study programs is also available at:
http://www.studyineurope.org/index.cfm?objectid=E79FEF223FFFAEA23C3CD817AD912F46
German Student Visa Process
The visa application process starts only after you have received your admission letter. The only thing
you can do before getting the admission letter is to arrange finances. As of now (2nd August, 2009), you
need to deposit €7,716 in a bank account in Germany in your name.
As soon as you get your admission letter, the first thing you should do is to go to Deutsche Bank branch
in your city with the admission letter, your passport and NIC. Make sure to know the timings for
student account dealings. They will ask you to fill in a form and this form is to be sent to the branch of
Deutsche Bank in Hamburg which deals with all student accounts. Previously, the bank used to send
this form itself but I heard from someone that the student has to send this form himself/herself now.
After this step, when your account has been created, a letter containing your account details will be sent
to the Deutsche Bank branch of your city from Hamburg. This takes about 1.5 to 2 weeks. It is a good
idea to call after few days and inquire if your letter has arrived.
Take a look at the relevant link for you:
German Consulate in Karachi (for Sindh and Baluchistan residents)
http://www.karachi.diplo.de/Vertretung/karachi/en/01/Visabestimmungen/seite__visa__student.html
German Embassy in Islamabad (for Punjab and NWFP residents)
http://www.islamabad.diplo.de/Vertretung/islamabad/en/01/Visabestimmungen/Arten__von__visa__un
d__voraussetzungen.html
Check out the visa requirements. Download the visa form, fill it in. Make sure that you fulfill all
requirements. There is no appointment system at the German Consulate (I don't know about the
Embassy). They take 20 applications per day (including other visa applications than student visa). So
get there early to make sure you get a number.
The student visa fees if €60. This can be paid in Pakistani Rupees. There are some strict payment
rules listed on the German Embassy's website (in terms of the currency denominations in which you
can pay. Please check the website).
The interview is usually held the same day. The interview is not at all difficult. Just a few general
questions like why did you choose Germany, why this particular university, what your family members
do, German language skills etc.
You may collect back your passport after about 12 days if you need it (or just leave it there). It might
take about a 1.5 months or more for your visa clearance. The consulate/embassy should call you up
when that has been done or you may call yourself and inquire.
When the clearance has been done, they will ask you to bring back your passport (if you had taken it
back earlier) along with a ticket and travel insurance. This insurance is just for your travel period and
different than the health insurance which you have to get here in Germany after your arrival. Usually
they ask for one months travel insurance. The insurance can be had from one of the companies listed on
the consulate's/embassy's website:
ACE
Adamjee
AIG
New Hampshire
EFU
IGI
PICIC
UIC
Takaful Pakistan
Caution: Book your ticket well in advance since it is sometimes difficult to get a seat later on your
desired date and you might have to buy a more expensive ticket or might not even get a seat!
After you have provided them with the travel insurance and the ticket, they will call you or give you a
date to collect your passport with the visa stamped (after a week or more).
Congratulations! You have completed the German student visa process!
The whole visa process may take upto 68 weeks. However, if your classes are starting earlier, you may
request the consulate/embassy to speed up your process and they are usually very cooperative.
The student visa granted is for 3 months. After coming to Germany, you have to apply for residence
permit which is given for either the whole period of study at once or maybe for an year or so and you
might have to get it renewed later.
The rejection ratio of student visas is very low for Germany and if you fulfill all the requirements, you
can be pretty sure you will get the visa.
Best of luck for your studies in Germany.
Student Jobs in Germany
One other thing most students are interested in knowing about are student jobs. These are called
Hilfswissenschaftler (HiWi) here which literally means Assistant Scientist but is commonly used for
parttime working students as student assistants or research assistants.
Students are allowed to work upto 20 hrs/week in Germany. Also, there is a condition on the number of
days you may work during an year. This is limited to 90 full days or 180 half days.
Almost all student jobs available in Germany are related to programming. So if you intend to work here
to bear your expenses, you should be good in atleast one programming language like C/C++, Java,
Python etc. There are some jobs for VHDL as well (Verilog is not used here).
University notice boards usually host student job postings. Almost all notices are in German. But this is
not that big an issue even if you don't know German. With a little bit help from the internet, you can
understand them. Note the requirements and email addresses of the contact person(s) and send them
your CV by email. Try to keep the length of the CV restricted to one page. Include only relevant
information.
Student job advertisements are also there on university institutes' websites. You may also contact people
by email before arriving to Germany and meet them when you are here so that you may have a job as
quickly as possible (although this is not possible in all cases). If you intend to start your job as soon as
possible, you should apply for residence permit as soon as you can since this is one of the requirements
for student jobs.
Finding a student job may take some time. It also depends on their availability on the German city
where you are coming for studies. In some cities, students find jobs quickly within the first few months
while in others, it might take more than one semester. Availability of student jobs is one factor to
consider when choosing a university if you cannot fulfill your expenses without them.
Estimate of Monthly Expenses
Monthly expenses vary from city to city. Large cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Munich etc are more
expensive than smaller cities. The major expense is of accommodation. In big cities, the cost for a room
starts generally above €250. The other major expense is health insurance which costs about €65 a
month. Transport is expensive in bigger cities (about €40 50) whereas in smaller cities, it might be
included in the fees and does not cost anything extra. Food and other items cost less than a €100. To
sum it up, monthly expenses may range from €350 – 400 for smaller cities and €400 – 500 for larger
cities. I would like to mention that this is an estimate and the actual expenses might be lesser or higher
according to your living style but some expenses are fixed and you cannot cut down on those.
About the Author:
The author, Farish Kagalwala, is currently (August, 2009) a graduate student of the Masters of Science
in Communications Engineering program at Technische Universität München. He completed his
Bachelor of Electronic Engineering degree from NED University of Engineering & Technology in
December, 2007.
Important notes:
The author of this document is not responsible for any loss caused to anyone from information
contained in this document. The student visa process might change and it is the responsibility of the
applicant to be aware of the most recent requirements. For this, consult the website of the German
consulate/embassy when applying for student visa.
The document does not have any copyrights and maybe copied and used by anyone but the above
disclaimer statement must be included.
Questions & suggestions are welcome at farkagal@yahoo.com