Germany Visa Refused? Your Options Now

The German Federal Foreign Office abolished the remonstration procedure worldwide on 1 July 2025, the objection lodged with the mission against a visa refusal. According to the Foreign Office, this was a remedy not provided for by law that had been granted voluntarily; the decision is based on a pilot procedure tested since 1 June 2023 for both Schengen and national visas.

According to the German Missions in Türkiye, this means in practice:

• Since 1 July 2025, you can no longer object to a refusal with the mission.
• Remonstrations sent to the mission have no legal effect and are not processed; no acknowledgements are sent and status enquiries are not answered.
• Remonstrations already received against refusal notices dated before 1 July 2025 are processed until completion.

The Foreign Office also states that the statutory legal route is not shortened by this change.

According to the official information from the German missions, there are two routes after a refusal:

1. A new visa application. You can submit a new application at any time, usually with a new fee. You must submit all relevant documents and evidence again, and the application is examined neutrally under the law in force.

2. A lawsuit at the Administrative Court of Berlin. You can file a lawsuit, at your own cost, against the refusal before the Administrative Court of Berlin (Verwaltungsgericht Berlin). Even though the decision was made by a mission in Türkiye, the competent court is in Berlin.

For how to read the refusal form and the EU-wide right of appeal, see our Schengen visa refusal and appeal guide.

German refusal notices end with binding information on legal remedies. It states the available remedy (a lawsuit), the competent body (the Administrative Court of Berlin) and the deadline. The missions' official page gives this deadline as one month from notification of the decision; what binds you is the deadline stated in your own refusal notice.

One more point: according to the missions, the administrative procedure is complete once the refusal has been sent. Documents submitted to the mission afterwards are therefore not considered, and messages to the mission generally go unanswered. If you want to add missing documents, you can only do so through a new application.

Keep the refusal notice and note the date it was notified to you.

A new application goes through Germany's normal application process in Türkiye. So:

• According to the missions, appointments are given in chronological order of registration on the waiting list; once you decide to reapply, register on the relevant waiting list early.
• Choose the correct purpose of travel: visiting a relative is a visit, not a tourist trip. The missions state that ticking the wrong purpose of travel can lead to a refusal.
• Complete the application form again in Videx, Germany's online visa application form.
• Add documents that answer each of the previous refusal reasons; do not resubmit the same file unchanged.

For the current document list, check the missions' checklists and our Schengen document checklist.