Bangladeshi students hoping to start the winter semester in Germany this October are facing an average 26- to 27-month wait for a national (D-category) visa, according to dozens of first-hand accounts posted on 3 August 2026 in expatriate forums. One applicant who lodged an online appointment request at the German embassy in Dhaka in February 2024 finally received his passport back with a visa sticker only this morning—31 months later. The record delays come even though the Federal Foreign Office moved Dhaka and Islamabad onto the Consular Services Portal (CSP) in July with the stated aim of speeding up student-visa processing. Applicants say the new digital queue has improved document transparency but that embassies must still clear a massive “legacy” waiting list before the promised efficiencies kick in. Universities have begun to adjust. Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, for example, told prospective students on Monday that late arrival up to four weeks after classes begin will be tolerated if they can show proof their visa is still being processed. Other institutions are issuing conditional enrolment letters valid for two semesters to avoid students losing offers. For multinational employers in Germany, the queue creates knock-on effects: fewer part-time student workers, tighter graduate-talent pipelines and additional onboarding uncertainty. Immigration advisers recommend that corporates planning internships or trainee intakes from South Asia factor in visa lead times of up to two years and explore remote-work options until travel is possible. In the medium term, experts expect some relief when the Skilled-Immigration Act reforms—especially the new Chancenkarte points system—come fully into force on 1 November 2026, allowing qualified graduates to enter visa-free to search for work. But without extra consular staffing in high-demand countries like Bangladesh, the bottleneck is likely to persist through at least the 2027 summer semester.
