Detailed Guide to filling the VIDEX form for VFS German Student Visa
I had a lot of doubts about how to fill the VIDEX application form so I put everything I know including the mistake that I made that a VFS agent corrected in my form during the appointment in this article. Also includes common mistakes and things you should be very careful while filling!
Hopefully this article will help clear up any doubts and confusions about how to fill this form —
MOST IMPORTANT THING — make sure your filling the form for LONG TERM STAY if you’re applying for a Master’s program. This is mentioned on the top left corner of the form.
Applicant’s personal data — this is pretty standard and you can fill this without any issues.
Parents of the applicant — same for this. But keep in mind, the Father and Mother’s Place of Birth Field should be the same as mentioned in their passports i.e. it is the city they are born in.
Occupation — Unless you’re working and have a job you can just fill student,trainee here and leave the rest blank since it’s optional.
Current Address and Contact Details — Also self explanatory
Identification papers — Here you need to select Ordinary Passport if that is what you have like most students. Travel Document number is the passport number. You can leave the Issued by and Issued In boxes blank and enter the rest of the info as on the passport.
Travel data and purpose — This section is very important and needs to be filled carefully. For purpose obviously pick Study and for intendend travel date pick the SAME DATE AS ON YOUR TRAVEL INSURANCE which should ideally be at least 2 weeks before the start of your semester. So if your semester starts on October 7th, set your travel insurance start date as 15th September on the safe side and also put that as your intended travel date. You are not bound by this date in any way so if your flight is for October 1st your travel insurance and visa will still cover you without any issues. Just make sure to leave some buffer days before your actual flight date and that the travel insurance start date matches this date entered here.
The VFS counter where you pay checks the VIDEX form and they do ask what your intended date of travel is just for verification so its better to have it the same. If you already have flight tickets booked and your submitting that as additional documents then maybe enter a day or 2 before just to be safe.
Depending on the duration of your program — usually 2 years enter a date 2 years after for the TO section eg: From 15th September 2024 to 14th September 2026
Checkbox — ANOTHER very important box that might seem random at first. Please pay careful attention here.
If you have a one year program ONLY THEN do you need to check this. If you like most students have a 2 year program leave this box unchecked.
Reference — This section is quite tricky because its not always obvious what you’re supposed to fill so I filled in what the boxes mean below. The rest can be left blank.
The contact person can be the person you emailed at the department for doubts i.e. someone in the administration or ideally even better if there is an issuer mentioned on the admit letter. In my case I didnt have anyone mentioned on my admit letter so I wrote the name of the person I had contacted at my department. Just their name is enough information.
For the second half….
This is where I made the mistake. I added the office address/department location information instead of THE ADDRESS FOR THE UNIVERSITY mentioned on the ADMIT LETTER. This VFS official corrected this for me in my form directly on the computer. For email you can provide the administration or contact persons number usually mentioned in the sign off part of their emails.
The next section can be filled as shown below. Again this will hold for most students who are using the blocked account option.
You can fill in the address information if you already have your accomodation.
Arguably one of the most important sections… You need to tick YES for retaining your permanent residency in India. This is one of the main places where students get visa rejections. If you mention in your SOP (guide here) that you intend on returning to India after your Master’s but don’t tick this box it can be seen as a discrepancy and your visa can be rejected. You need to make it clear you will return after your Masters (irrespective of your plans after that) because they do not want to grant visas to people who will turn into liabilities for them/stay beyond their visa duration.
Also if you have insurance already check that box as well.
The rest of the boxes are all easy enough to understand.
If you want to fill parts of the form first and leave some for later you can save the data by pressing SAVE. This will create a JSON format file that basically has all the info that you entered stored. When you want to continue the form filling just press the import button on the top right side of the form and select this JSON file and it will automatically fill everything again thus saving you time.
While printing the PDF make sure you have the very last page of the form. It may look like random black boxes but its a type of QR code that they will scan during your appointment to automatically import your data into their system. It will save you time and prevent any mistakes because the VFS personnel will check it before its submitted.
I hope this article helps some of you out! I learned a lot of this after going for my own appointment and doing hours of scrolling online. So maybe this will save some of you time and clear up any doubts.
Consider sharing it with other students who might also benefit! All the best!
