Note: The procedure given happened to me, I do not guarantee you the same, may be I was lucky or you will be.
I leave the details of the trip (tiring but exciting) for my next post, and will try to outline the procedure to get the Schengen Student Visa for Internship from German Consulate at Kolkata. I specifically mentioned Kolkata because my friends faced quite a lot of problems at the Delhi Embassy.
So you start with your documents, here is the list:
- Schengen Application form filled correctly.
- Original Invitation letter from German Host, same must be faxed to the consulate by your university.
- International Health Insurance, only if it is not mentioned on your invitation letter that host will take care of it.
- No Objection Certificate from your home university for the whole period of intern.
- Valid Passport of course!!
- Photocopy of your air-tickets. They issue the Visa only between your dates of arrival and departure.
- Covering letter (see below), a formal request letter for the visa addressed to Consulate General.
- ZAV – mail them before leaving to check if you require this or not. In my case I did not need it.
- Details of the sponsor of the trip and the supporting documents.
That’s all. Once you have all documents with you, call them to make an appointment for the day convenient to you. ofcourse, the next step will be to reach the consulate. You can reach there by Rail or Airplane. Howrah station is just 20 minutes away from the consulate whereas Airport is 35-40 minutes away. You can hire a taxi from the station/Airport to reach the consulate (Do ask them to down their meter, so that they don’t fool you). Reach there at around 8:30 a.m. and collect your token. Then, you will have to wait inside for your Roll call 
.
Note: I see that a lot of people come here looking for the covering letter. I believe that if you have the internship/job and the above required documents, then you can just state the facts in your letter, eg. “I have been accepted by … company/university for the post of … , so I need visa for a period of … months. Kindly grant it”. That’s it. I myself wrote it within two minutes while waiting at the embassy as I forgot to write one before leaving.
It takes no more than 10 minutes to submit the application, even less if you filled the application form online. Request them to give you the visa asap and they will readily agree to give you the visa the next day. Collect the Visa the very next day and you are done. You can even catch the evening flight on the same day as I did.
You can find cheap and good accommodation in the near-by area. We stayed at Hotel Asha (unfortunately, there was no asha there) which had both AC (Rs.850/day) and Non-AC (Rs.500/day) rooms and all other basic amenities (TV, shower, room service, etc). The best thing about it was that there was a cyber-cafe right in front of the hotel, so no communication problems 
. Also, be prepared for a very hot, humid climate and pack some extra t-shirts to sweat out.
I wish you luck for your visa application. For more inquiry, call the consulate or leave a comment. Click here to move to the website of German consulate, Kolkata.
Dude, congratulations!!! Finally you had cleared last hurdle also and now you are ready to be a foreigner….
I have some FAQs:
2.Original Invitation letter from German Host, same must be faxed to the consulate by your university—–>Does they demand it in German language or English one will also work…
which had both AC (Rs.500/day) and Non-AC (Rs.850/day)—–>Bro I think you had swapped the rates of two!!…
thanks,
yes the invitation letter has to be in german only (this is specifically mentioned on their website).
yup, you are right, I will correct it.
@sikka
FYI: the visa is being issued only between the dates of departure and arrival (as written on your air-ticket), so fill the form appropriately. I am sure of this because I myself filled the dates as 1 May to 25 July but got the visa for only between 13 May to 25 July.
hi, I process my german visa documents.
Enclosing the bank statement for 12 months.
but current balance is satisfactory!
Do i submit a statement only after maintaing sufficient balance?
I am already late.
What is your suggestion?
Regards
Raja
I am not an expert in this field, you should rather contact some agent or the consulate himself to clarify more. I just shared my experience with my visa process.
• Go to VFS Office
• Take the token number
• Take the yellow chit issued by security guard
• Go to the office( please don’t carry any laptop with you, they wont allow at any cost and wont take responsibility too)
• They will called for your number (yellow chit number)
• Signed the declaration certificate.
• After checking all the documents they will issue you a barcode
• Pay the visa fee with vfs fee (4066/-) write down your name and phone number on the back of the D/D issued by them on the spot
• Please enquire the interview date if it suits you then it is o.k. otherwise request them to give possible date.
• They will issue you the slip.
• Reach at German Embassy at the mentioned date.
• After successful interview they will keep your passport and will gave you the date of collection of the passport. If you are sending someone then please give the authority letter with your passport number, name and duly signatured document.
@RajA
you don’t need to panic. Last 6 month sufficient balance works! Prefer to give statement of your salary account.
Regards
Jaspreet
Do I need a transit visa to visit other country via Frankfurt or Munich ?
Nopes, you do not..but you can not step out of the international airport without a transit visa.
You can also confirm this with your airlines, because different countries have different laws, but I am sure about Germany that you don’t need it.
any idea whr i can get a standard format for NOC for application for schengen visa??
Do they reply to e-mails regarding queries about ZAV? I’m wondering because I am admitted to a summer school in Germany as a student, and the visa officer has asked me to provide a ZAV, which is absurd. As I’m only going to be studying there for a month.
YMMV, but they sure did in my case. I am not the right person to consult about this but if you are not employed, most probably you won’t require ZAV.
Cheers,
Schengen air transit visa rules changed. There was many countries in countries that requires air transit visa. But now there are just around 10 countries.
Yeah.. Sent them a long letter explaining why I shouldn’t be eligible for a ZAV. They understood and granted the visa. I guess they’re not so bad after all