Current News

Immediate Suspension of Interview Waiver for Certain Nationalities

Effective immediately, nationals and citizens of the following countries applying for nonimmigrant visas, including those who previously held visas and are renewing, will be required to attend an in-person interview with a consular officer:
 
Afghanistan, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Cuba, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Haiti, Iran, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The Ghana Premium Application Centre in Berlin remains permanently closed.

The submission and collection of documents will again only take place directly via the Embassy from Monday to Thursday (Friday generally closed).

The current waiting time for an interview appointment for a B1/B2 visa at the US consulates in Germany is 6-8 weeks.

Due to technical problems, the appointment booking page for the USA is currently only available to a very limited extent.
Delays in appointment booking are currently to be expected.

The regular processing times of the consular section at the Embassy of Niger in Berlin are currently longer than 14 days.
The embassy cannot give an indication of how long a visa application will actually take.
All visa applications require approval directly from the authorities in Niger and the embassy is currently waiting several weeks for this.
Accordingly, express processing is currently not possible.

Please bear this in mind when planning your trip.

Due to the current events and following feedback from individual customers, we would like to inform you via news:

USA ESTA: Please check in good time before departure to or via the USA whether your current USA ESTA is still valid. 
We have received information that existing ESTAs have been cancelled by the USA without giving reasons. 
In such cases, please apply to us for a new ESTA.

USA passport visa: If you apply for a passport visa for the USA and are invited to a personal interview, be prepared for more specific questions from the consulate employee so that you can answer accordingly and, if necessary, present the required additional documents.

In both cases (USA ESTA & USA passport visa), we recommend that you always carry at least the following documents with you: 

• detailed letter of assignment from the German company
• detailed letter of invitation from the USA
• curriculum vitae
• copy of purchase contract for so-called ‘after sales activities’ if a machine, system, service or similar has been sold to the USA.

For further information, please contact our branch office in Düsseldorf duesseldorf[at]business-visum.de 

An Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) has already been introduced for certain nationalities, who were previously able to enter the United Kingdom without a visa. Now other nationalities are gradually being added, who can apply for an ETA from March 5th, 2025, for travels to the UK from April 2nd, 2025 onward.

You can find out which nationalities this affects here.

Find further information here.

The exemption from the K-ETA requirement for travelers of selected nationalities (including Germany), which was originally limited until 31.12.2024, has now been extended for another year until 31.12.2025.

The Korean authorities point out that it is still possible to apply for a K-ETA and that this will speed up the entry procedure.

Due to technical problems with the US pages for online applications (DS160) and appointment bookings, processing times are currently longer.

The Chinese Visa Application Service Centre announces:

From 30 November 2024 to 31 December 2025, German citizens with a valid ordinary passport can enter China without a visa for business and tourism travel, academic and cultural exchanges, as well as for visiting trips and transit, and stay for a maximum of 30 days.