Consulate General of Germany

Before visa interview I was stuck in elevator for 15min. Staff told me there were no stairs available .
Then I got my visa. My entire name was printed twice. Tried to call them. First time they say they were having lunch and I should call 1hr later. I did. Then they said «That’s the way your name should be printed. That’s already correct.»
Lucky that I got into Germany eventually with this mistake on my visa…

The German consulate is unfriendly, inefficient and they work perhaps 1 minute every other day and sadly I say this as a German citizen!!!
Realizing that my passport was going to expire in February 2016 I knew I needed to take action well in advance since I have seen skyscrapers planned and erected in a faster timeline. The new rule requires making an appointment online which I happily obliged. Sadly the earliest appointment I was given was 5 months later! Yes 5 MONTHS! I took the date having no alternative and figureing my passport would still be valid at the time although cutting it very close. In the meantime I had an urgent and unexpected work trip come up requiring a VISA to another country. The VISA required that my passport needed to be vaild for 6 months and they asked that I apply for an extension at the German consulate. I called the German Consulate on a Friday at 1:30pm and was told they were all gone for the day and I needed to call Monday morning. Online it states the passport office is only open from noon to 2pm on Friday. Isn’t 1:30pm in this limited time frame? I was also given an email address to try but ofcourse anything you send there seemingly goes to the North Pole so I never expect to hear back. Anyways, I was told I needed to call Monday morning. Monday morning I called and I was told they could try to put me in as an emergency appointment but I needed to call at 2pm. Friday I was told Monday morning and Monday morning I was told 2pm… do they have one person working there? I called at 2pm and am finally told nothing can be done since expedited service still takes 3 to 4 weeks. How is 3 to 4 weeks expedited? 3 to 4 weeks does not really work in emergencies and why did it take so many phone calls and days to be finally told this? If they had just told me this to begin with I could have still canceled the flight instead of losing money on it! To top it off they are rude, kurt and unhelpful. As a citizen I hate saying this but unfortunately this consulate is filled with slow paper pushers who work perhaps 1 hour a week.

I went here recently to apply for a visa. The place was nice and organized, the process fairly fast (they called me 30 after my appointment time, but I’ve experienced much, MUCH worse in another consulate), and the staff very friendly and helpful. You should come with everything in order of course, but if for some reason you are missing something you didn’t know about, they’ll let you email/​fax the stuff before your pick up date.

Consulate process is poorly managed especially pickup. They don’t care about anyone’s time. They call you at 9am for a pickup, then make you wait 2 hours before they talk to you. Three hours later on a working day, I am still waiting for my passport. Goto Italian or Spanish consulates if you can get the appt. this german consulate is by far the worst experience I have ever had and that includes Moroccan, Indian, Etc