Declaration of Commitment (Verpflichtungserklärung) for Studying in Germany: A Guide (2024)

If you are not from the European Union or a small number of other countries, you will need to apply for a German student visa. In fact, except for the EU countries, there are only 18 states whose citizens do not need a student visa to come and study in Germany. These countries are: Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the USA, the UK, Andorra, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, Monaco, and San Marino. The citizens of all of the other countries need a visa.

A student visa for Germany is a type of visa which you can get if you have applied to a study program at a German university and received a letter of admission (also known as a letter of acceptance) from that program. The study course that entitles you to a German student visa might be offered by various types of higher education institutions in Germany, like Universities, Universities of Applied Sciences and Academies of Arts, Music, and Film.

The application fee for the German student visa is 75 Euros (37.5 Euros for minors, i.e. those who are less than 18 years old). As long as the processing time is concerned, it might take around 12 weeks until your application for a German student visa is processed by the responsible authorities. The expected duration of the processing time depends on your local German Embassy/Consulate.

In order to apply for a German study visa, you will usually need the following documents:

You will not get a German visa if you do not manage to provide proof that you possess adequate financial resources to sustain your livelihood in Germany. By "adequate", the German government means that you must have at least 934 Euros per month, which amounts to 11.208 Euros per year. Keep in mind that this number often changes. Hence, we suggest you to keep an eye on the webpage of the local German Embassy/Consulate and the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

In other words, by providing proof of financial means, you demonstrate that you are able to cover all your living costs while in Germany (e.g., accommodation, health insurance etc.). There are various ways through which you can do that. The most popular ones are arguably blocked account, Declaration of Commitment from the German resident, and scholarship.

To be eligible to apply for the Declaration of Commitment (Verpflichtungserklärung), your sponsor needs to meet several requirements:

Maybe you are asking yourself, "what does 'enough money' mean?" This is a fair question. It is of utmost importance to underline that the amount of money needed to serve as proof of sufficient creditworthiness of your sponsor depends on various aspects. For example, the required monthly net income to submit a Declaration of Commitment for a student visa depends on your sponsor's marital status and maintenance obligations (for instance, the sponsor has a child who has no or insufficient income and hence is supported by your sponsor). German authorities require the least amount of net income if your sponsor is single without children and has no maintenance obligations. 

Moreover, the needed net income also depends on the purpose of your stay and on the city where your sponsor lives. Based on our research of the requirements in various German cities, to submit the Declaration of Commitment for the purpose of studies, your sponsor's net income should be at least circa 2.500 Euros. For instance, in Berlin, the sponsor needs to earn at least 2.450 Euros to provide a Declaration of Commitment for a person who wants to study in Germany.

It is also worth mentioning that your potential sponsor will not be able to apply for the Verpflichtungserklärung if this person:

• is receiving social benefits, including unemployment benefits;

• does not a have a relevant residence status (e.g., s/he has just a temporary residence permit like Fiktionsbescheinigung or Duldung);

• is an asylum seeker.

The procedure for applying for a Declaration of Commitment for a study purpose might vary slightly from city to city. However, we can inform you about some general steps that your sponsor should undertake if s/he is going to apply for a Declaration of Commitment for your German student visa.

After completing these three basic steps, your sponsor will be informed whether his application was successful or not. If the answer is positive, s/he will receive a two-pager document signed by the authorities, which your sponsor will also need to sign. Hence, usually, it takes several minutes to process the application for the Declaration of Commitment for a student visa.

Other than the signatures, the Verpflichtungserklärung document also contains information regarding your and your sponsor's personal details (e.g. names, addresses etc.), your relationship to the sponsor, the date when the document enters into force, the expiry date, the purpose of stay etc.

In order for the Foreigners' Authority to consider the application for a Declaration of Commitment, your sponsor needs to provide the following data and documents:

Below, we present an example of the Declaration of Commitment (Verpflichtungserklärung) so that you have an idea of what the document looks like. Besides, you can download the pdf template of the Declaration of Commitment (Verpflichtungserklärung) here.