A large number of Bangladeshi students enrolled with different German universities have been in a state of frustration, anger, anxiety and dilemma because of student visa delays for over two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over a thousand Bangladeshi students enrolled in public and private German universities have been attending classes online since the summer 2020 due to visa delays.
Usually, it takes an average of 17 to 18 months to get a German visa for graduate or undergrad students, but the long delay not only threatens the mental health of students but also is putting them at risk of financial loss as well.
Jilani Hossain, a second-semester student of the computer science and artificial intelligence program at The Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, a German public research-oriented university of applied sciences, said physical classes have begun at German universities after the Covid-19 pandemic, but Bangladeshi students are failing to join their classes due to visa delays.
“My admission will be canceled for my failure to join classes physically within October,” he said, quoting information received from the university.
Due to the delays, over 700 Bangladeshi students who took part in higher education activities after receiving offer letters from different German universities after July 2, 2021, are on the verge of collapse, he claimed.
Zahidul Islam, a postgraduate student of the Chemistry Faculty of The University of Bonn, alleged that students studying in German universities have to deposit a block amount of 10,521 euros or about Tk 11 lakh for their stay and food.
“Apart from this, tuition fees have to be paid for semester contribution or field. If the admission is canceled due to visa complications, we will suffer a huge financial loss. If this continues, a large number of meritorious students will be caught in a storm,” he feared.
Many students who have continued online classes for almost a year or more are in fear of a cancellation of their studentship even after paying fees for 2-3 semesters and remitting about 11 lakh rupees to the block account.
Although some universities are offering online courses for a few courses, that opportunity will stop from next semester, some students told the Dhaka Tribune.
Regretting the current situation regarding visa issuance delays, the German Embassy in Dhaka said the delay continues to put a strain on applicants as well as the local and expatriate staff at the Consular and Visa sections of the embassy.
“We have constantly seen waiting times for visas over the last few years. However, due to a marked uptick in applications after travel restrictions into Europe were lifted, the waiting times have again risen sharply in the last months,” said the German Embassy in Dhaka in an email response last week.
While the number of student visa applications is constantly high and rising, applications from government and business delegations have also seen massive increases as a direct effect of increased political and economic exchanges between Bangladesh and Germany, the embassy statement said, adding that more than 10,000 applications are pending with the embassy right now.
“Visas are of course issued daily, but with the current capacity only around 10 student visas per day can be issued by the Embassy, while we receive around 50 new applications per day, thus increasing the backlog further,” it said.
While the embassy staff are doing everything they can to process as many visas as possible, special attention is needed for each application due to a high number of erroneous or forged documents, said the embassy.
The embassy officers also perform different duties, including providing consular services to German citizens in need and distress which are also important functions of an embassy, it said.
Like Bangladesh, German embassies in many other countries are also suffering from personnel shortages. Unfortunately no personnel increase is to be expected at the embassy for the time being, it said.