Germany’s digital consular overhaul reaches Central Asia this week: the embassy in Dushanbe has told applicants that, from 20 September 2026, a wide range of national-visa categories must be filed exclusively through the Federal Foreign Office’s Auslandsportal. The notice—posted on 17 September—covers study, vocational training, job-seeker ‘Chancenkarte’, EU Blue Card and standard skilled-worker visas under Sections 16a, 16b, 18a and 18b of the Residence Act. Until now, Tajik applicants queued on a manual waiting-list system notorious for resale scams and opaque slot allocations. The new approach lets users create an online account, upload documents and track status, with biometric capture scheduled later at the embassy. Early adopters report that the portal accepts PDFs up to 10 MB and produces a QR-coded confirmation useful for proving intent to study or work when crossing other borders en route to Germany. The rollout is part of Germany’s wider drive to digitalise all national-visa procedures by the end of 2026. Missions in India and Nigeria moved fully online in the spring; posts in the Western Balkans and South America are slated for Q4. For employers recruiting in Tajikistan, the change means they can review candidates’ uploads before submission and correct errors that typically cause refusals. However, HR teams should note that the embassy will no longer accept appointment-broker e-mails; all communication must go through the portal’s messaging system, which currently supports German, Russian and Tajik. Processing times are expected to drop once staff are retrained, but in the interim the embassy warns of possible delays as legacy files are migrated. Mobility managers should therefore file well before planned start dates and ensure that attached employment contracts meet the Skilled Immigration Act’s salary thresholds (€45,934.20 for shortage occupations in 2026). Germany’s digital visa push aligns with the EU’s forthcoming Visa Digitalisation Regulation, due to take effect in 2028. By acquainting themselves early with the Auslandsportal, employers and migration advisers gain a head-start on future EU-wide systems that will eventually merge Schengen short-stay and national applications into a single platform.
