Germany Digitalizes Visa Application Process for International Students

Germany has always been a well-respected international education hub, without hogging the limelight, it went about its business, delivering quality education and attracting good number of international students. Germany is falling short of skilled professionals in their workforce, they as a nation recognize this issue and are in action fora solution. One of the major steps they have taken is the digitalization of the visa application process, to make the cumbersome process faster, easier and much more accessible. Germany is facing acute labor shortages in fields such as Healthcare, IT and Engineering, they want as many skilled professionals on their shores as possible to make up for the shortages and this step of digitalization of the visa process is seen as a part of a major positive shift in its workforce.

The cumbersome visa application process greatly affects the student numbers of a nation. Particularly this generation wants everything to be faster and transparent, and that is why this digitalization of the visa application process could be a significant game changer, put in place by the Consular Services Portal in Germany. A more accessible, transparent and user-friendly visa application process could fulfill Germany’s long-term aspiration of attracting skilled labor in abundance.

Germany has about 400,000 international students studying there currently, while it shows an increase of 7% from the last year, they see massive gaps in the skilled labor sector in all the fields that are essential to the economy. This step of digitalizing the visa process, coupled with uncomplicated laws for international students, and a willingness to have them over will go a long way in solving Germany’s labor crisis.

Germany would be able to increase its influence in the global study abroad sector by having more and more representation of its institutions in growing sender markets. The range of counselling and mentoring programs, undertaken to make students more comfortable with the surroundings and help them with language instruction too. All these steps will help Germany retain more students to strengthen the workforce.

At a time when visa processing is at its slowest across major centers, this step of digitalization of the visa process could be a huge game changer for Germany and help them attract way more students than they ever have. While other major destinations are offering aspiring international students with uncertainty, with so many new rules and regulations in place, Germany’s welcoming stance is something an aspiring international student will take with both hands, at a time where uncertainty is spreading more than ever, regarding enrollment caps and work rights in the major countries.

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