ISLAMABAD – The German embassy in Islamabad has confirmed that it is likely to process the student visa applications of only those Pakistani students who are ‘most deserving’.
The embassy has cited the enormous volume of student visa applications for the winter semester as a reason for not being able to process the applications of all the students.
The response comes as scores of students had complained that they were facing delays in securing visa interview appointments at the German Embassy despite being granted admission to German universities.
In response to the query, the German embassy has confirmed Dawn News that those applicants who have availed of a public scholarship would be able to be processed by the embassy.
“Regrettably, during the current academic year, it will therefore most likely only be possible to process the visa applications of the most deserving students, generally those who have been granted a public scholarship and those with the best school or undergraduate results,” the embassy’s communications sections stated on Monday.
The embassy recognized the tremendous interest among Pakistani students in pursuing education in Germany while admitting that the volume of visa applications for Germany far exceeds the embassy’s capacity.
Highlighting that the number of visas processed at the German Embassy in Islamabad is steadily rising, the embassy stated it is exploring ways to enhance its capabilities to address this limitation.
“We hope to further improve the situation in the coming academic years,” the embassy stated.
It is to be highlighted that with the latest announcement, scores of students would not be able to join the German universities, dealing a severe blow to their finances as some of the students had also placed funds in the blocked accounts in Germany.
This is the second time that the embassy has admitted its failure to process all the applications. In May this year, the embassy confirmed that it had not fulfilled all appointment requests for the summer semester due to the enormous interest of potential students which far exceeded the capacities of the embassy.
The embassy had noted that because of the high demand for student visas, applicants in the Bachelor’s and Master’s categories who possess an unconditional admission letter from a German university should anticipate longer wait times for an appointment.
The embassy emphasized that priority would be given to scholarship recipients and PhD candidates.
Additionally, the embassy mentioned that an exclusive online registration category for students with a cumulative GPA of 3.7 or higher would also receive priority.
