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I am currently living in Chennai (India). I intend to visit Germany as an international exchange student from April - June 2015.

I applied for Schengen visa and provided my bank account details as the proof of subsistence. My bank account had Rs. 150,000 which as per the current exchange rate for euro translates to around 2200 euros. My stay in Germany is gonna be for 89 days.

My visa application has been rejected saying the inadequate means of subsistence. So I up my balance amount to 5500 Euros (I came to know for schengen visa to germany one should have 45euros/day). I want to know

  1. Procedure for reapplication
  2. What all should be submitted as the proof of subsistence
  3. No. of days in would take to get the visa under these circumstances.

PS: I would be paying rent (250Euros/month) from my account balance. Also the account balance i mentioned is what i have i booked the return flight tickets.

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    2200 Euros is not very much for a stay of 89 days. How were you actually intending to pay for it? Mar 13, 2015 at 21:25
  • Please edit your question to add if the EUR 2,200 is meant as an all-in budget including air fare; also your plans for accommodation. Is accommodation being provided outside of you EUR 2,000 budget?
    – Gayot Fow
    Mar 13, 2015 at 22:25
  • Have you read the guidelines for applying for a German Schengen Visa? If you had, it would have been obvious that your documentation does not suffice and what you are required to do to fulfil the requirements. Mar 13, 2015 at 23:10
  • When you say "exchange student" are you actually enrolled in a program at a German university (through your Indian university or otherwise) or are you just an Indian student wanting to visit Germany? If you are going to be studying at a German university they, or your Indian university, should be the people to help you with this. Mar 14, 2015 at 18:20
  • Increase the money on your bank account and apply again...
    – MmM
    Mar 15, 2015 at 10:07

2 Answers 2

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Unfortunately, your chances of getting a visa do not look very good. The reference amount for Germany is €45 per day. For 89 days, it's more than €4000. That's without counting the price of the flight. It does not even matter whether you could actually get by on less than that.

Beyond that, you also need to show you have a stable situation in India, which is why a work contract/pay stubs/past bank statements showing a regular income would help a lot, even if you had enough cash on hand.

Right now, you can either appeal the decision (more complex but in principle free) or reapply (which means paying €60 again, with no guarantees) but you need to submit additional documentation in any case to have any chance of success and if you only have €2000, you won't get a visa for 89 days. Alternatively, you could try to go for a shorter stay in Germany (although I would expect any new application to receive an additional amount of scrutiny, now that you have had one refusal).

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  • +1 and wonderful to have included the controlling reference point for this question!
    – Gayot Fow
    Mar 14, 2015 at 12:27
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As an exchange student my guess is that accommodation is taken care of and perhaps even food? If so, did you file letters from the host stating so? If not then it's understandable that the authorities doubt that less than 25 EUR a day is enough. So: re-apply with the host stating these two are taken care of.

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    Yes. EUR 700 / month is not enough money for a stay in Germany unless you've got a very very very cheap accomodation. The recommendation would be to add a small budget from which it were clear how are you going to manage with that little amount of money.
    – yo'
    Mar 13, 2015 at 22:54
  • @yo' it really depends on the location. I agree with you in big cities like Munich, Hamburg etc. where living costs can easily exceed 700EUR when the rent is already 500EUR/month. But smaller villages or cities espacially in the east part of Germany are much cheaper. 500EUR/month there could be enough just for living.
    – s1x
    Mar 19, 2015 at 17:25

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