Foreign students wishing to come to Germany for their studies might soon have to fund their blocked account with 11,172 EUR. This amount at present is set at 10,332 EUR. This possible increase of 1040 EUR may be a direct result of the war that has come back to Europe. The war in Ukraine has held the EU in its clutches. Even more so as the European nations heavily depend on Russia for their energy. Furthermore, Putin’s wish to receive payments in Rubles has made the euro weaker.
What is a blocked account?
A blocked account is a set sum of money that you deposit into an account. The only differentiating factor is that you can never withdraw the money all at once. Here’s how the process works. At first, you open a blocked account with a German bank. Afterward, you transfer 10,332€ and now your blocked account is secure. In the next step, you move to Germany and open a normal savings account. Finally, you will now get back the blocked money in installments of 861€ per month.
Most developed countries follow a similar protocol, in Canada, they have something called GIC in which you have to put in 10,000 CAD as the proof of financial means. In general, these processes are set so that the governments of these nations have a guarantee that foreigners would be able to support their living and not become a liability to the taxpayers.
Possible Cause for the Increase
In Germany, most of these regulations change with a close arrangement of things with the German Federal Training Assistance Act. According to the Ministry of Education and Research, the planned changes to the BAföG are as follows:
- increasing the allowances on income by 20 percent per every student in a bid to expand the scope of the BAföG
- increasing the requirement rates, the childcare payments, and the housing payments so that the maximum allowance amount will increase from the current €861 to €931
- the age limit will increase from 35 years for the start of a master’s degree to a uniform 45 years
- the possibility to waive residual debt after twenty years to all borrowers will might see an extension
- an arrangement might come in place made to waive residual debt under simplified conditions and without a complicated application procedure
These proposed changes appear as a direct consequence of the war and the rising inflation. The changes will take place at the start of the 2022/2023 winter semester.
Although, nothing is for certain unless the German missions in the respective countries announce it on their websites. And upon taking a closer look right now, the 10,332 EUR requirement seems unchanged.
You can take a look at the official requirements by clicking here. This is the official website of the German Federal Foreign office.
Back in September 2021, the amount was increased from 8640 EUR to 10332 EUR thus marking one of the highest increases in the amount required for a blocked bank account in recent years.
Currently, the only thing that’s made this close to legit is this screenshot of living costs by TU Ilmenau.
