Beware of visa frauds(9/02/09)

THE Head of the Visa section of the German Embassy, Mrs Malchereck-Gassel, has cautioned Ghanaians against travel agents who demand huge sums of money as fees to secure them visas from the German Embassy.
She said these middlemen only provided fake documents which could lead innocent people into serious trouble and, therefore, urged all prospective applicants for German visas to go through the right procedure.
Speaking at a symposium for students who had interest to study and research in Germany in Accra at the weekend, she said information regarding visa procedures, requirements and individual applications could only be obtained from the visa officers of the embassy and not from security staff or any other third party.
Mrs Malchereck-Gassel encouraged visa applicants to process their applications well in advance of the enrolment deadline since all student visa applications were forwarded to responsible immigration authorities in Germany for approval within six to 10 weeks.
The Director of the German Academic Exchange service (DAAD), Dr. Heike Edelmann-Okinda also advised students to seek counselling and advice before applying for visas to study in Germany.
She said that was because most student visa applicants failed to meet the expectations and requirements of the embassy and that led to the rejection of their application for Visas.
Dr. Edelmann-Okinda said the symposium was to inform Ghanaian students of the free tertiary education opportunities in Germany and provide them with the appropriate information to apply for Visas.
She said DAAD was a non-profit organisation that sought to help Ghanaian students to attain a high level of education in English and German programs from degree to the PhD level.
She advised Ghanaians to take advantage of the free education opportunities Germany was offering by applying and seeking face-to-face advice’s at the Goethe Institute before applying to the universities.
According to her, students who were applying with Bachelors degrees could only apply with a second class upper in a relevant discipline which had been attained within six years with two years professional experience.
She said the applicants should also be able to afford 634 euros per month to cater for accommodation, food and other utilities since tuition fees was free and in most cases very moderate.