VHS courses as credit for a student visa

Hi all,

I've read the several posts regarding the Volkshochschule courses and I think I'm just gonna go ahead and try one out. My visa appointment is next Tuesday, at which I will present my case for an internship here, as well as -- hopefully -- a 20-hour German course!

I talked (in German, as best I could, sigh) on the phone with the Volkshochschule people about whether I have to be a German citizen, or at least have a visa already, to enroll in courses. I don't think we really understood each other, and I got off the phone after a long time and no great answer. Here are my two big questions:

1. Can I enroll in the Volkshochschule courses for classes beyond my 90-day tourist visa?
2. Can I use proof of these classes towards my visa appointment?

Thanks everyone!! Looking forward to your answers.

Jules

Firstly, a disclaimer: I don't know for certain the answers to your questions and so you shouldn't rely on them. However, since we don't seem to have anyone on Toytown who can provide professional information on immigration law, I'm going to shoot anyway:

1. I don't think the VHS give a shit one way or the other if you have a valid visa or not. You pay for the courses upfront, so whether you then actually turn up to the courses in three months' time or not is of little interest to them.

2. If you apply to study at a German university or research institute then you can frequently/usually get a visa for the duration of the course. I find it highly unlikely, however, that you can get a visa for studying at the VHS. They simply offer part-time courses for people who are vaguely interested. Even the language courses that are 10 to 20 hours a week are still intended for people doing something else, rather than as a raison d'etre for being here in the first place.

Seems to me (same disclaimer as STB) that you have a better case for a visa if someone wants to offer you an internship rather than taking a language course at the local VHS. Keep it simple and focus on the internship as your reason to get a visa.

I also think it would be unlikely that a VHS course would help you get a visa. The VHS is just a school for adults, where you can learn a whole range of stuff, almost always just for fun. You can take a VHS course in Indian cooking, or cross stitch. I don't think it would help your visa situation.

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for your answers. This is how it ended up turning out:

I went to the registration, and after some major hustling, ended up signing for a course with no real trouble. If you decide to un-enroll from the course before the date that it starts, the VHS gives you most of your €€€ back and keeps €15 or so. They didn't care at all whether I had a visa yet or not.

They promised that they would have the letter of enrollment ready for me on Monday (today) and that they would call my phone to confirm that I can come pick it up, but of course they didn't call or have anything ready, so I am just going to show up there tomorrow morning before my visa appointment and see if I can get anything out of them.

I think you're all right, that I can't really use this course as useful towards a student visa. I am applying for my work visa this coming Tuesday (tomorrow) at the Auslanderamt, on the basis that I'm wanted for a praktikum / internship at a gallery. Eek! I hope that since I won't be taking MUCH money from the Germans -- just a small stipend -- that they won't give me too much trouble. . . .

Thanks again!
Jules

Good luck... let us know how you get on.

Dear Jules:

I used a German course as the grounds for applying for a permit to stay. They approved me for the 11 months of the German Language and Integration Course at our local Volkshochschule. The course was delayed twice, so my Auftenhaltserlaubnis (staying permit) was lengthened to accomodate the delays, and was extended to a month beyond the end of the course in order to give me time to write my examination for the Zertifikat Deutsch, which I have now completed. You need 60% to pass.

It is 600 Sprachstunden and 30 or 60 hours German history and geography.

I am from two undesirable countries, Canada and USA, and came here without ANY German, so I had a very hard time at first at the Auslanderbehoerde. But once you show that you are committed to learning German, and that you are very polite and don't raise your voice and yell at them when you have to jump through hoops, they can become quite nice and warm up to you extraordinarily.

If you are very lucky, they will delay sending your application to stay for the German course until late in your 3 month visa-less period, giving you automatically, 3 months extra while they process your application in the head office in your Bundesland.

It was absolutely the only ground that I could use to stay in Germany.

Apart from the Russians taking the course who would not stop blabbing away in Russian the entire time that the poor teacher was trying to teach us, there were a lot of nice people in the course. Okay, one real nutcase who had to have a restraining order against him to keep him from harassing the teacher, but otherwise, really nice people.

Good luck.

I flew to Canada in October with my German sweetheart and got married. Just a tip - from the beginning, that was what the lady in the Auslanderbehoerde suggested doing. Finding a nice German man, falling in love, and getting married. Her second suggestion out of pity, was for me to register in the language and integration course at the VHS. In the meantime, 7 months after the course started, I found a company who was willing to go to bat for me at the Auslanderbehoerde for my English language skills and give me a part time job, but otherwise, at the end of my German course, without either a legal job or a real marriage, it was deportation for me.

And I learned more German from just living and socialising with Germans than in my course. Some of the people taking the course were totally illiterate in their first language. Most of them had been to school until about the age of 10. Comparing that with my 8 years post secondary education, and it was often a very frustrating environment. Then if the teacher wanted to clarify something about her English skills when I had finished my exercises before the other participants who were struggling with reading, some of the men in the course would start yelling very abusively and making threatening remarks about Americans and the English language.

Just glad that is behind me now,
CA

I'm thinking about using the intensive course at the VHS (which is 20 hours per week, 200 UE) in order to obtain a student visa. After many people from other schools telling me that it would be unlikely, and even the American consulate saying the same thing, I wrote the instructor for the intensive course and she stated it would be no problem, that for many countries Visas will be granted for taking the intensive course. So I guess I'll try my luck and if they won't let me go to the VHS I'll go to Hartnack and fork over the extra change every month. I'll of course update this post after I see whether or not I actually get the Visa.

It's the number of hours of this course that makes it likely to be approved.
Most VHS courses are not full programs like this one.

Yes, they count. I live in Frankfurt with my German boyfriend. I came here in September 2004. Near the end of my 3-month tourist visa, I enrolled in an intensive German language course at the VHS. I took the proof of enrollment, my boyfriend and other documnets to the Aliens office and applied for a one year student visa. About 6 weeks later, I picked up my passport with my student visa inside. That's it. The course must be min. of 19.5 hours per week to qualify. Oh, and I had to act as if I intended to go to German university after my language studies.

So the update is: yes, they allowed me to get a student visa with my VHS class. I did have to prove that the course was 20 hours per week (which I did with a letter from the instructor- they count some of the hours in homework time). I also had to show I had paid for the course and officially enrolled. As to the quality of the course, the school itself isn't the nicest but the teacher I had seemed to really know her stuff. I think I learned just as much as I would have at any of the private schools and met some nice people too. I would recommend enrolling well in advance as classes tend to fill up pretty quick.

Thanks for the update. How long does the course run for and how long is your visa valid for?