Germany: Administrative Visa Rejection Appeal Pathway to Be Removed

Effective July 1, 2025, Germany's Federal Foreign Office will remove its so-called 'remonstration procedure', which allows visa refusals to be appealed administratively through an internal Federal Foreign Office process. Instead, from July 1, visa applicants will only be able to appeal visa rejections via a formal judicial appeal, which is a comparatively expensive and time-consuming alternative. For instance, an average judicial appeal can take up to two years from the date of filing; whereas the administrative review is often resolved within three months.