Deutschland Kompass
↰ Invitation
STEP

Visa required: who pays for the trip and how to prove it

The formal obligation is only one of three routes. If your guest has means of their own, it is redundant — and you are liable for nothing.

✓ Verified: 17/08/2026

WHAT TO DO

AUTHORITY

Deutsche Auslandsvertretung (Botschaft / Generalkonsulat)

federal

The visa is issued by the German embassy or consulate general in the GUEST's country of residence, not by an authority inside Germany. Appointments only, waiting times can run to months.

COSTS

Your guest needs a visa. That is still a long way from meaning you must sign anything.

The visa section wants one question answered: is the stay financially secured? There are three ways to answer it, and they do not cost you the same.

Route 1 — the guest evidences their own means

Bank statements, income records, savings. If that satisfies the mission, the matter is closed and you are liable for nothing. This is the most common and the best case — and the one least often checked, because everybody thinks of the invitation first.

Route 2 — an informal invitation letter

A private letter: whom you expect, when, where they will stay. It supports the purpose of travel and the accommodation question but creates no liability. No form, no authority, no fee.

Route 3 — the formal obligation under § 68 AufenthG

The heaviest route, and needed only when the guest’s own means do not convince. It runs through the immigration office, a solvency check and an enforceable money debt. The remaining steps of this route describe it.

Whichever route: the insurance

For the visa, travel health insurance with cover of at least €30,000 is mandatory, valid across the Schengen area, for the whole trip, and including repatriation. Without it nothing is issued — not even with a flawless formal obligation.

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Details and tips
👨🏻‍💻
Max recommends:

The first time round I rushed to the immigration office with my payslips before reading the embassy's page. It said the guest's own bank statements were enough. The appointment, the €29 and five years of liability were all for nothing.

👩🏼‍💼
Lea recommends:

I arrange the insurance before the visa appointment, not after: without a policy for €30,000 the mission will not even accept the file as complete, and a second appointment costs weeks again.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the difference between an invitation letter and a formal obligation?

They are two entirely different things and are confused constantly. The invitation letter is a private letter with no form and no authority: it explains who expects whom, when, and where the guest will stay. It creates no liability. The formal obligation under § 68 AufenthG is an official procedure at the immigration office with a solvency check, a fee and an enforceable money debt. People say invitation and end up signing the second.

Do I as the host have to pay at all?

No. All that is required is that funding of the stay is secured and evidenced — by whom is open. Bank statements, income records or savings belonging to your guest suffice if they convince the mission. The formal obligation substitutes for that evidence, it is not an addition to it.

Do we have to be related for me to invite someone?

No. § 68 AufenthG attaches to nobody's kinship but to the solvency of the person declaring. Friends, colleagues and acquaintances can invite just as family can. Kinship helps indirectly: it makes the purpose of travel more plausible to the visa section.

Where is the visa actually applied for?

At the German embassy or consulate general in your GUEST's country of residence, not at an authority inside Germany. Appointments are by arrangement only, and at some missions the wait for one is the longest part of the whole procedure — which is why it is looked for first rather than last.

OFFICIAL SOURCES