Visa Information for MIPLC Students

The information provided here is indicative only. The MIPLC is not in a position to provide
legally binding advice on visa matters. Such matters may change on short notice. Please refer
to the information provided by the German diplomatic mission in your country for details.

Admitted students from most countries outside of the EU must apply for a German national
visa for study purposes via the German diplomatic representation in their home country.
Without this visa, you will not be allowed to enter Germany. A country overview telling you
whether or not you need a visa is available at http://www.auswaertiges-
amt.de/EN/EinreiseUndAufenthalt/StaatenlisteVisumpflicht_node.html.

If You Need a Visa

It cannot be stressed often enough: apply for your visa as soon as possible.

Visas easily take three months or more to process and issue. If the MIPLC program starts in
early October, applying for your visa in mid-August may be too late. We recommend that you
commence the visa application process as soon as it is clear that you will definitely join our
program. If applicable, this might mean paying your tuition fee several weeks before
MIPLC’s deadline.

Please read the information provided by the German Embassy or Consulate and follow the
instructions. Make sure you submit all required documents with your application. You are not
the only visa applicant and the Embassy will not make any exceptions for you. You will have
to follow all the rules, and meet all the deadlines. Please don’t rely on MIPLC intervening and
speeding up the process for, as experience has shown that the influence even of the Max
Planck Society is rather limited.

You must not under any circumstances travel to Germany on a tourist visa and try to
convert it to a student visa. It is not possible to convert your tourist visa. Trying to do so will
give you a lot of trouble and may lead to deportation.

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In most cases, you will have to present the following documents:

Document Why? How to get it? Waived if

Proof of a To show that you Email Deutsche Bank at You have won a
blocked bank can financially db.student@db.com and ask monthly stipend
account support yourself them to send you the neces- scholarship (e.g.
(“Sperrkonto”) during your stud- sary forms from DAAD)
with a minimum ies
deposit

Proof of payment MIPLC charges Pay your first installment and You have a tui-
of the tuition fee/ tuition and re- ask us to send you a receipt tion waiver letter
first installment quires that 50% from MIPLC
be paid by August
1

Health insurance So your medical Usually, it is enough to take Waiver not pos-
(please refer to bills are covered out travel insurance to cover sible. However,
our separate in- if you fall ill after the period between your arri- you can use in-
formation docu- arrival in Germa- val in Germany and the start surance from
ment as well) ny of the program. Please con- your home coun-
firm this with the Embassy. try if coverage
Arrangements for full health- meets legal re-
insurance coverage will be quirements
made on the Welcome Day

Indian* appli- Required for visa Arrange for a test date well in Check with the
cants: English test advance. German Embas-
http://www.toefl.org sy already by the
http://www.ielts.org time you apply
to MIPLC

Chinese appli- Required for visa Contact APS for further in- Check with APS
cants only: APS formation (www.aps.org.cn) directly
certification

 Might also apply to applicants from other countries who are exempt from the requirement by MIPLC,
but whose native language is not necessarily English.

Please note: all of the above usually takes several weeks (months, in the case of the English
test!) to finalize. In your own interest, please make timely arrangements.

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