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I'm in Germany at the moment with a 90 day tourist visa and my question is very simple, can I sign up to a German Language Course and get the visa changed so I can start right away? Or I have to go back to my home country and apply there.

Gala
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XAE
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  • If you really have a Schengen visa, then you cannot. If you mean you entered for a 90-days visa-free tourist stay then you might. It all depends on your citizenship, what's your home country? – Gala Jul 12 '15 at 12:47
  • I have a Schengen visa and I'm from Colombia, so I have to go back then? – XAE Jul 12 '15 at 12:51
  • Yes unfortunately I'm afraid you do, you can add this information to your question and I will write an answer with all the details. – Gala Jul 12 '15 at 12:52
  • Sure! I will also add some other questions if that is okay. – XAE Jul 12 '15 at 12:55
  • Yes, of course, keeping questions short and focused on a single problem is the best approach! – Gala Jul 12 '15 at 12:57
  • Oops, sorry, we misunderstood each other, if you have a completely different question, then you should ask it separately (click on “Ask question” again). – Gala Jul 12 '15 at 13:04
  • Oops, but I think is a related question in some way. – XAE Jul 12 '15 at 13:13
  • Yes, arguably it is but since the first one has already been asked and answered, I still think it's better to create a new question. It's useful because it will be easier to search and might help someone else in the future (e.g. someone who is looking for info about work visas and is not interested in a student visa). If you do it, I would answer it and upvote your question (on this site, you get reputation points for good questions too). In any case, there are some small differences but for you the answer is unfortunately mostly the same: you probably need to go back to Colombia. – Gala Jul 12 '15 at 13:16
  • @NicolásArévalo What ended happening? Would you update on this in a comment, I am planning to do something similar but I'd like to know if there is some sort of exception. – Hans Apr 02 '18 at 18:13

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Generally speaking, it is necessary to apply for a student visa before entering Germany in a country where you have your usual place of residence (not necessarily your country of citizenship but definitely not a country where you are staying with a short-stay Schengen visa). A switch is not possible.

There is an exception for citizens of a small number of countries (USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, South Korea and, with some restrictions, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras and some European micro-states…) who can in fact apply for a residence permit even if they entered the country without long-stay visa but those are countries whose citizens do not need a Schengen visa for short stays either.

Colombian citizens definitely need to apply for a student visa from outside Germany. And I am not sure a “language course” is necessarily enough to get such a visa (it seems mainly intended for a full programme at a university).

Gala
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  • How about if he is a non-EU family member? Will he be able to apply student visa within Germany? – Sayed A. Apr 11 '17 at 12:04
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    @SayedA. You mean the Colombian spouse of an EU citizen residing in Germany for example? Usually, they should not need or want a student visa, they should get a permit as members of the family of an EU citizen and can use that to study or even work. This is something you can do after entering, at least in some cases. – Gala Apr 12 '17 at 10:14