Top 5 German employment visa interview questions

As of Nov 2023, the Employment visa documentation is handled by VFS Global in most cities of India. Because of this, there are no more interviews conducted by the consulate of Germany in India. This is different in othe countries where the documentation and appointments are still managed by the consulate or the embassy of Germany.

04.11.2023

Congratulations if you already got your job contract or the offer letter from a German company. If not, then do read my post – Jobs in Germany for Indians. 4 proven ways.

The next step after you get a job offer is to get an appointment at the consulate based in the city where you live in your home country.

You can get a visa appointment at the consulate by checking the details mentioned on the official German consulate website (India) or the VFS global website (Third-party service provider in India).

Once you get an appointment, you have to prepare the documents based on the checklist provided here.

On the day of your visa appointment, you have to be available personally for an interview with all the required documents and the visa application fees.

Here are the top 5 interview questions asked at the consulate for an Employment visa or a Blue card application.

Q1. Which platform did you use to find a job in Germany?

Here, the interviewer intends to check if you found the job using a genuine platform like LinkedIn, StackOverflow, Xing, Glassdoor, etc.

If the platform you used is a well-known and reputed platform, then everything is fine. If not, they might ask you some follow-up questions to clarify it further.

When I appeared for the interview back in 2019, my answer was LinkedIn and the interviewer was immediately convinced as the platform was pretty famous.

Q2. What was the job interview process?

To answer this question, you should recall all the steps that you were following throughout the interview process.

This is what I answered when I was asked this same question:

1. I applied for the job using LinkedIn.
2. I was contacted by the HR person and scheduled a Skype interview.
3. Had a technical round where I wrote code and documentation for the same.
4. Finally, I had my HR round and signed the contract

If you explain the steps a bit further in your own words, it would be an added advantage.

I feel that the motive of this question is to check whether your interview process was genuine or not.

Q3. Where will you stay in Germany?

As per my understanding, the motive behind this question is to understand the level of preparation you have done for the new job.

A simple answer to this question could be something like:

1. My job location is Berlin
2. For the first month, I have booked an Airbnb near my office.
3. I will find an apartment within the first month and move there.

The important thing here is to provide only the true information.

If you have booked an Airbnb, you should mention that and, if you have booked a hotel, say that you booked a hotel and not an Airbnb.

Ideally, you should book a temporary stay for at least the first 2 weeks.

Finding an apartment where you can stay long-term is not that easy in Germany.

Do your research about the city where you are going to work and connect with people already staying there on social media.

You can join Facebook groups like – Indians in Germany and ask questions before moving to a particular city.

It helps if you have some contacts already living in the city where you are planning to travel.

You can also join our Discord community to get all the relevant information that you need before moving to Germany.

Q4. What is your employment duration?

To answer this question, make sure you read your employment contract well before you appear for the consulate interview.

You need to double-check both your joining date and the end date (if mentioned).

If there is no end date mentioned on the job contract, then it is an indefinite job offer from the employer.

Here is an example of a possible answer to this question:

It is an indefinite contract starting from 1st February 2024. (indefinite contract)
or
It starts on 1st February 2024 and ends on 31 December 2026. (Contract that has end date mentioned on it)

Q5. When are you traveling to Germany?

This is an important question and you must answer this question based on your employment start date.

Ideally, you should travel at least 1-2 days before your joining date.

e.g.: If your job contract has a joining date of 01-March-2024, then you can say that you are traveling on the 27th of February 2024 and will join the office on the 1st of March 2024.

There are a few things to consider while answering this question:

1. If you have already booked a flight, just stick to the date mentioned on the ticket.
2. Your travel insurance should be effective from or before the date of travel.
3. The travel date should be 1-2 days before the joining date mentioned on the job contract.

These were the major questions that I faced when I was being interviewed back in 2019.

I also talked to several other Indians who appeared for the employment visa interview at the consulate and the questions were almost the same for them as well.

The key here is to answer these questions to the best of your knowledge and with confidence.

I hope these questions and their possible answers mentioned above will help you during your interview at the consulate.

You can also watch the whole discussion around this topic we had in our first group meetup.

Good luck and welcome to Germany 🙂