German tuition is free at most public universities, and that is the part everybody knows. The number that actually decides whether a family can afford Germany is the other one: the money you must show before a visa is issued.
The figure, and where it comes from
The German Embassy in India states that a blocked account needs enough funds for the first year of study, currently amounting to €11,904, with a blocking confirmation that no more than €992 per month can be withdrawn.
Twelve months at €992 is where the annual figure comes from. It is not a deposit you hand over and it is not a fee — it is your own money, held in a German account, released to you in monthly instalments once you arrive. You spend it. It is simply proof that you can live for a year without working.
It changes, and it has already changed
This is the part worth internalising rather than the number itself. The requirement before this one was €934 per month, in force from 1 October 2022. It was raised to the present figure, and it will be raised again.
So treat any amount you read — here, in a forum, in an agency brochure — as the figure on the day it was written. The Federal Foreign Office says plainly that the amount can be found on the website of the competent mission abroad or in the Consular Services Portal. For Indian applicants that means the German Mission in India's own site, checked at the time you open the account, not at the time you started planning.
A family that budgets off a two-year-old blog is short by roughly €700 and finds out at the visa stage.
The two alternatives nobody mentions
Almost every guide treats the blocked account as the only way through. The Federal Foreign Office lists others, and for some families one of them is simpler.
- A declaration of commitment. A formal undertaking made by a person with sufficient assets or income to cover your costs. If you have a relative settled in Germany, this can replace the blocked account entirely — no transfer, no exchange-rate loss, no provider fee.
- A bank guarantee. An annually renewable guarantee at a bank in Germany. Useful where money is available but tying up ₹11 lakh for a year is awkward.
Neither is a loophole. Both are listed by the authority that decides your visa. Whether either suits you depends entirely on your circumstances, and it is worth asking before you assume the blocked account is compulsory — because for most people it is simply the default, not the rule.
What the blocked account is not
- It is not a fee. The money stays yours and you live on it.
- It is not tuition. Tuition is separate, and at most German public universities there is none — though Baden-Württemberg charges non-EU students and some Bavarian universities do too. We set out exactly where "free" is true and where it is not.
- It is not proof you will be admitted. Funds and admission are decided by different people on different grounds.
- It is not usually more than a year. The account is normally opened for a year, unless the planned stay is shorter.
Where it sits in the timeline
The blocked account is near the end of the sequence and it is also the step most sensitive to delay, because it involves an international transfer, a provider's verification, and then a visa appointment that has its own queue.
- APS first. Indian applicants verify their documents before applying at all — and there is now a test attached to it for some master's fields.
- Applications, often through uni-assist — which charges per course choice.
- Admission.
- Funds — blocked account, declaration of commitment or bank guarantee.
- Visa appointment, with the funds evidence in the file.
Opening the account before you hold an offer is usually premature. Leaving it until the week before your appointment is where people lose an intake.
Funding it
Most Indian families fund the blocked account from an education loan, and lenders are used to this: the sanction letter and the blocked account are a standard pairing. Two things to settle with the lender early — whether they will remit directly to the blocked-account provider, and how the transfer interacts with tax collected at source. Forex and TCS are covered here, and how to pick the loan itself here.
What we have deliberately not listed
- Which blocked-account provider to use. Several are recognised, their fees differ, and we are not going to recommend one in an article that cannot be updated when those fees change.
- The exact amount, as a permanent fact. We have given the current one with its source and its date, and shown you the previous one so you can see the pattern. Check the mission's site before you transfer.
- Processing times. They vary by provider and by season.
The €11,904 and €992 figures, the superseded €934, the mission-specific rule and the two alternatives above are from the German Mission in India and the Federal Foreign Office, read on 16 October 2026. Confirm the current amount on the mission's own site at the time you apply — it is the single number on this page most likely to have moved.
If you want help working out whether a declaration of commitment is open to you, or how a loan sanction lines up with the visa appointment, ask us. We charge students nothing for any of it.