Rejected applicants for visa to Germany: you have a right to information

Hallo everybody,

I would like to disseminate some information that does not seem to be widely known amongst applicants, which is mostly because this info is not easily accesible, especially to those who do not speak German.

In Germany we have a law called "Informationsfreiheitsgesetz" (Freedom to Information Act). This law allows you to access a particular file held by a government body, in this case, the embassy you applied to.

This law was very useful to me, when in August 2018 my girlfriend's Schengen visa was denied by the German embassy in Nairobi.

She was denied with the infamous resason "your intention to leave the territory of the member states could not be ascertained".

This was a problem for us. After all, she had submitted information proving her job, economic ties and familiar ties. With the standard form she was given by the embassy,

1. she did not know why the documentation she provided was deemed insufficient.
2. she did not know whether the documentation for professional status, economic status or familial status were deemed insufficient, or all three of them.

Consequently, it was very difficult for her to appeal against the rejection notice, because she simply did not know what she was up against.

This is where the Freedom to Information Act comes in. It allows you to access the file and thus obtain a draft written by the responsible officer, outlining the exact reasons for rejection.

The upside of this is that the draft is far more detailed than the EU standard form you receive upon rejection. The downside is that it is written in German. You will hence need somebody to translate for you.

The German embassies, meanwhile, know that this law exists, but are under no obligation to share this information with the applicants. If you can read German, google search the "Visumhandbuch" (visa hand book), which is a set of instructions given by the German Foreign Affairs Office to the embassies.

I have recently created a whole web page around this issue, which I would like to link to, however, I do not know whether I will be allowed to. To be honest, reading the forum rules on links left me a bit confused. If a mod could respond to me on this, I would be glad. I can guarantee that I do not provide commerical services and that my site is 100% non-profit.

Regards

Please do not post your weblink, it is not permitted.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:43 am

Please do not post your weblink, it is not permitted.

Alright then.

You could copy and paste text from the site you think might be relevant to members.