Your passport should be valid for at least 3 month after your departure from the Schengen Area.

Schengen Visa applications can be handed in up to 6 months in advance of the intended date of travel, while seaman may hand in their application up to 9 months in advance.

The Embassy does not entertain passport retrieval during the visa process, due to logistical reasons. If someone wishes to receive their passport, they will have to submit a written (and signed) request to cancel their visa application. The passport will then be released and they would have to hand in a new visa application if they wish to travel in the future.

It is only possible to extend the validity of visas in certain exceptional cases. This can only be done by the local Aliens Authority (“Ausländerbehörde”) in Germany covering the place of (temporary) residence of the visa holder. This is the only authority that can decide on an extension of a visa during a visit to Germany. Neither the Federal Foreign Office nor its missions abroad can do so.

The Embassy decides what type of visa to issue (period of validity, number of days covered) on the basis of the documents submitted. If necessary, it may issue a visa that entitles the holder to enter the Schengen area on multiple occasions within the given period of validity. Schengen Visa which are valid for one or more years, are as a general rule only issued to persons who have already been to Germany or other Schengen states several times in the past and whom the mission abroad considers to be particularly trustworthy (e.g. because of their position in the host country). Please note that regardless of the length of validity, visas only entitle the holder to a maximum stay of 90 days in any period of 180 days.

First of all an invitation proves the purpose of the intended journey. Therefore, no special formalities are required. If, however, the host intends to cover the expenses associated with the trip, a formal pledge to cover all costs (declaration of commitment) has to be presented with the visa application. In this case the host can sign the relevant form (“Verpflichtungserklaerung”) at his/her residency's local authorities (usually Ordnungsamt or Ausländerbehörde). A formal obligation letter is valid for 6 months from the date it was issued.

You must apply for the visa at the Embassy of the Schengen country that is your main travel destination. For example: a visit to a fair in Munich for 3 days followed by a holiday in France lasting 2 weeks: you are requested to submit your application at the French Embassy.

Airport transit visas are only valid for short stopovers while you are waiting a few hours for your onward flight in the airport’s international transit area. However, if a hotel accommodation is only available outside the transit area then please apply for a regular tourist visa if you wish to stay at the airport overnight.

A Schengen Visa allows you free travel within the Schengen Territory. You can, for example, fly to Amsterdam and enter the Netherlands with a German Schengen Visa, so that you can then visit friends in Oldenburg, Germany, by train, as long as Germany is your main travel destination. You can, of course, also travel to Munich, Germany, with a Schengen Visa issued from France, and then travel on to France, as long as France is your main travel destination.

Changes of visa validity dates are not possible after the visa has been issued. You will have to hand in a new visa application. Your current visa will be cancelled and a new visa will be issued.

If you do not have a confirmed onward flight from Germany, you must apply for a regular tourist visa.

Depending on the purpose of your travel to Germany, you would have to apply for a Schengen visa to visit friends/relatives or even a regular tourist visa. The visa application of the minor child has to be signed and to be submitted by the legal guardian. According to Bangladesh law the father is the legal guarding of a minor child. However, in case of death or divorce, somebody else might have been appointed by a Court Oder as legal guardian. In this case the legal guardian has to provide the Court Order and to sign the visa application. However, in case the father or the person being appointed as legal guardian is not available to sign the visa application he/she might authorize a third person to submit the application by a power of attorney, which has to be certified stamped and signed by a lawyer. In this power of attorney the legal guardian clearly has to announce his agreement for the travel of the minor.