Dear Federal Foreign Office of Federal republic of Germany,

On the date that this letter is written, if an applicant applies for a visa appointment (including student and scientist visas, Job seeker visa, etc.) in the embassy of Germany in Tehran, she can, hopefully, get an appointment to start her visa application process after 28 to 30 months. Virtually 3 years of gap can have lasting and irreversible impacts on the educational, occupational and personal lives of applicants.

Initially, due to this long waiting time, admission and registration deadlines of universities are not usually met and the positions and admissions will be invalid for the following semesters. Even in rare situations that universities accept to defer the admission to the next semester, the long visa process again prevents students from getting their visa on time which finally leads to the cancellation of their admission. We should also point out that this waiting time (2 to 3 years) is almost equal to doing a Master’s program at university and is a great loss for a young student in her 20s. The same is also true for other types of visa.

We are all young students who are counting the seconds to start our studies in Germany, as one of the most advanced countries in the world and the pioneer of modern technologies, in the hope of improving our scientific and academic resources to serve the world. In the current international situation that is negatively affecting the Iranian young population, we have already tolerated great deal of difficulties and complications and such problems will further add to our disappointment and ruins all our tremendous efforts to reach our dreams. Additionally, current economic situations in our country is making studying abroad more and more difficult and would some day make it an impossible dream.

However, we believe that these problems can be easily solved by making some changes in the reservation system. Firstly, no doubt, the number of applicants is by far more than the capacity of the visa department. However, probably increasing the capacity of the visa department, even for a short period of time, or offering appointments in the neighboring countries could solve the problem to a great extent. Secondly, many applicants reserve an appointment even before they decide to apply to a university, so if a copy of the application form ,or any other information that proves they have started the university application process, was one of the required information at the time of reservation, this problem could be solved to a large extent. Thirdly, the long waiting time has brought about a highly stressful atmosphere and had led to various difficulties. Then, offering a number of urgent appointments in the current or the following month only to the applicants who have already their admission or invitation letters can help the students meet their deadlines and start their studies on time.

We are all aware that deciding about the visa is an absolute right of the German government and we do not aim to interfere in this matter but by signing this petition, we would like to ask you help us in reaching our goals as the youngest educated generation in our country who has already been under incredible stress and pressure. We hope you kindly take our request into consideration and in the near future we witness positive changes in the visa process of embassy of Germany in Tehran.

Our kindest regards,

A group of Iranian students