Schengen short-stay visa for Indian seafarers joining ships at German ports — requires CDC, shipping company invitation, and Indian agent documentation.
Professional filing · fee back if refused
Not included in our fee: a flight reservation (from ₹708) and a confirmed hotel booking (₹590 per hotel). Book them separately, only if your visa needs them:
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What you get
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Visa refused — 100% of our fee back, initiated within 7 days. Embassy and visa-centre fees are collected by the authority and are not refundable by anyone. Refund policy
Pro Lifeset Overseas Pvt Ltd · Licence 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024. The visa decision is the embassy's.
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✓ The ₹499 report is fully refundable · our refund promise
Check the official requirements
Guide last reviewed 2026-04-20. Fees, documents and appointment rules can change.
Jurisdiction Notice — Germany Schengen Visa
All Germany Schengen visa applications accepted in India are forwarded to the German Consulate General, Mumbai, for decision — but you must apply at the VFS Application Centre that matches your place of habitual residence. Choosing the wrong jurisdiction means your appointment is cancelled and the application is refused at the counter.
Covered States (New Delhi jurisdiction)
Covered UTs (New Delhi jurisdiction)
Germany splits Schengen applications across Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru consulates by residence. We can still guide you end-to-end — document checklist, appointment slot at the right VAC, and submission support. Contact us first before booking anything.
The Germany Seamen Visa (Schengen Type C) is for Indian seafarers joining a ship at a German port. Requires Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC / Seamansbook), covering letter from the employer, Indian shipping agent's letter, and invitation from the Schengen shipping company/maritime agency.
What it costs
Paid directly to Germany / VFS — these are not our service fee, and we never mark them up.
Figures per VFS Global, last verified 20 Apr 2026. Fees change without notice — the official page is final.
Embassy fees are set in EUR by the German Consulate General, Mumbai — the INR charged at VFS varies with the daily exchange rate. The Schengen visa fee is €90 per adult (€45 for children aged 6–12, free under 6), charged in INR — INR 10,100 per adult from 27 August 2026 for all cities. VFS service charge of ₹2,022 (inclusive of CGST 9% + SGST 9%) is fixed. Fees are payable in Cash / Visa / Mastercard / Amex / Rupay / Demand Draft (in favour of VFS Global Services Pvt. Ltd) / UPI. All visa fees, VFS service charges, and value-added service fees are non-refundable regardless of visa outcome.
Flights · Hotels · Insurance · Itinerary
Germany applies the Schengen rules, so travel insurance is not a nice-to-have — it is a legal condition of the visa.
2 of 4 are compulsory for Germany
Where people slip: Flying into one city and out of another with nothing showing how you travel between them. Officers read the whole route, and an unexplained gap reads as a plan that does not hold together.
Book for ₹708 (+₹472 per family member)Where people slip: Free-cancellation bookings are accepted, but if the entire file is free-cancellation the officer sees a trip nobody has committed to. Some of it should be real spend.
Confirmed hotel booking, ₹590 per hotel: message us firstWhere people slip: Buying cover for the adults and forgetting the children. Every traveller needs their own EUR 30,000, infants included — a real refusal we have seen on a family of four.
What a Schengen policy must showWhere people slip: Spending more nights in another Schengen country than in Germany. That gets a file rejected before it is even assessed.
The letter your itinerary attaches toWe can arrange the flight reservation, the hotel and the itinerary for your Germany file — each sold separately.
We are a B2B travel agency as well as a visa consultancy, working with partners including Riya Travel — so the flight reservation and the confirmed hotel booking both come from us, and you deal with one team. Every booking is a real one under your own name. We do not sell travel insurance: buy the policy directly from an insurer.
None of them is part of our visa fee: each is bought on its own, at the price below, with or without our visa service.
Flight reservation ₹708 (+₹472 per extra family member) · Confirmed hotel booking ₹590 per hotel · Travel itinerary ₹1,499. GST included.
Delivery. Usually within 30 minutes during office hours, Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00 IST. Confirmed hotel bookings are not bought online: message us first on WhatsApp or email info@sureshotvisa.com with the city, dates and travellers.
Tell us your dates — we will say which of these you actually need
What to gather
Having a document isn't the same as presenting it right — that's the part we handle.
Showing duration of employment.
Indicating name and rank of the seaman.
Indicating the ship.
Must include: name and family name of seafarer; place/date of birth, passport + CDC numbers; passport/CDC validity dates; position on vessel (or crew list); name and flag of the boat; port and date of boarding/disembarking; itinerary to Member State + entry point (airport); name/address of Indian agency; confirmation that the shipping company bears ALL responsibility for the seafarer including repatriation.
To the port city or entry airport.
Required · optional / if applicable
6 steps from intake to approval — never as linear as government sites pretend.
Get Indian agent's covering letter
Your Indian shipping agent must issue a letter indicating the ship you're joining.
Get Schengen shipping company invitation
The German/Schengen shipping company must issue detailed invitation (crew position, boarding port, itinerary, responsibility declaration).
Gather CDC + employment contract
CDC (Seamansbook), employment contract, employer's covering letter with name and rank.
Fill VIDEX + sign declarations
Print with barcodes, sign.
Book VFS appointment
At visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/deu matching your jurisdiction.
Submit + biometrics
Pay €90 + ₹2,022. Processing 15 working days.
Biometrics and the visit to the visa centre are yours to attend in person — no consultancy can do those for you. How we work
What works
4 levers that flip a borderline case.
What kills cases
Top 3 refusal triggers we see.
Each link opens the official page that issues the form (we never host third-party forms) — download or fill the current version there.
We're actively building per-visa quizzes. For now, the best way to assess your eligibility for Seamen Visa (Schengen Type C) is a 1-on-1 consultation with our team.
A consultant at our licensed firm replies today
Frequently asked
No — each applicant files separately. Family members accompanying you need to apply under Tourist / Visit Visa with separate documentation.
Contact the Schengen shipping company immediately — they need to issue an updated invitation. The Consulate is generally flexible with port changes but wants current documentation.
Yes — if you frequently sign on/off with the same shipping company at Schengen ports, multiple-entry can be granted at Consulate discretion. Include letter from shipping company explaining the pattern.
Yes — the Schengen shipping company/maritime agency MUST confirm in writing that it bears all responsibility for the seafarer upon arrival (including repatriation) and will ensure boarding. Missing this clause is a common rejection cause.
Less than other categories — your employment contract + shipping company responsibility clause is usually enough. However, your own bank statements may still be requested if the Consulate has doubts.
Renew before applying. The Consulate requires valid CDC covering the full travel period — applying with a pending renewal application is not accepted.
A consultant at our licensed firm replies today
Reviewed by Sherbir Singh Grewal, SureshotVisa — a government-licensed consultancy (Licence 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024). Verify us.
A strong Germany file clearly explains your travel purpose, funds, and ties to India. We structure and submit everything properly — so your case is presented clearly and professionally.
Our professional fee · GST included
₹4,999GST included
File-ready in 3–5 working days after documents
5★ · 110+ reviews · reply in 5 min
Everything below — included, nothing extra
Not included in our fee: a flight reservation (from ₹708) and a confirmed hotel booking (₹590 per hotel). Book them separately, only if your visa needs them:
Not sure you qualify? Start with a refundable ₹499 possibility report — an honest Yes / Maybe / No, credited to this fee.
Price is for our consultancy service only and includes 18% GST. No agency can guarantee a visa — the final decision rests with the visa authority.
Your fee, in one glance
Government, VFS, insurance, ticket and hotel costs are separate and charged at cost. Read what each item means, in full.
Before you file
Filed on a guessed checklist, the government fee is gone on a refusal and the refusal follows every future application. Filed after a consultant at our licensed firm has read the papers against each other, the file answers the officer's questions before they are asked. Same Germany rules, different outcome. How we do that is written once, in full, on the method page rather than repeated here.
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Source & Disclaimer
Data on this page is sourced from the official VFS Global Germany website and Embassy of Germany. Last verified 2026-04-20. Always verify with the official embassy before applying — fees and requirements change without notice.
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