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Bedex­change

We sup­port young inter­na­tion­al cli­mate activists in their par­tic­i­pa­tion in the annu­al UN Cli­mate Change Con­fer­ence in Bonn by organ­is­ing a free bed exchange between Bonn res­i­dents and the activists.

How to get a visa for the Bonn Climate Change Conference (SBs)?

This page is to share col­lec­tive knowl­edge on visa issues gath­ered by activists and UNFCCC con­fer­ence par­tic­i­pants. We are not pro­vid­ing offi­cial advi­so­ry or offi­cial visa sup­port and can’t proof if the infor­ma­tion on this web­site is cor­rect. All visa process­es are indi­vid­ual process­es and can have spe­cif­ic needs.

  • Inform your­selves about the visa process ear­ly in advance (Jan­u­ary of the year). Find all Ger­man rep­re­sen­ta­tion offices here.
  • If there is a long wait­ing peri­od, book an appoint­ment in advance (begin­ning of May is prob­a­bly the best time for your appointment)
  • try to set the appoint­ment to a time when you have all required documents
  • apply­ing more than 14 days before your visa should start is mandatory
  • Schen­gen Visa appli­ca­tion form
  • Con­fer­ence spe­cif­ic (if pos­si­ble, have at least 2 of the fol­low­ing 3 com­ing from one NGO) 
    • Accred­i­ta­tion for SBs (offi­cial let­ter from the UNFCCC)
    • Bank State­ment prov­ing suf­fi­cient funds (unclear how much), and/or a state­ment by an orga­ni­za­tion to cov­er costs incl. food, on-ground costs, flight, accommodation
    • Invi­ta­tion let­ter from a Ger­man (Euro­pean) Organization
  • Oth­er
    • appli­ca­tion form (see above)
    • Pass­port & Nation­al ID (valid more than 6 months)
    • Proof of accom­mo­da­tion (already paid for, for each night abroad). If you’re below 30, you can apply for the bedex­change
    • Proof of flight (already paid for)
    • pho­to
    • copies of pre­vi­ous visa (if possible)
    • trav­el health insur­ance for every trav­el day
    • employ­ment certificate
  • embassies use to look for suf­fi­cient rea­sons for you to return like: job at home, fam­i­ly (don’t men­tion fam­i­ly in Ger­many if you have), past jour­neys (with­out visa issues), clear rea­son for journey
  • doc­u­ments / invi­ta­tions of “estab­lished” orga­ni­za­tions can help
    • Accred­i­ta­tion by a UN body
    • let­ter of a mem­ber of parliament
    • offi­cial Ger­man organ­i­sa­tions like GIZ etc.
  • if Ger­man embassy can­not offer appoint­ments, it can be pos­si­ble to apply for entry into anoth­er Schen­gen coun­try instead (and then trav­el to Ger­many by train), but in that case, you would need an extra invi­ta­tion to trav­el there
  • The Legal and Con­sular Advice Cen­tre at the Fed­er­al For­eign Office is the only offi­cial office that con­tacts the Ger­man rep­re­sen­ta­tion offices on spe­cif­ic cas­es which can’t be con­tact­ed direct­ly (by telephone/mail); the Fed­er­al For­eign Office is respon­si­ble for visas. It depends on the spe­cif­ic case if pres­sure at the embassy (local) or from Ger­many (exter­nal) helps
  • all issues with ongo­ing cas­es for the SBs should be direct­ed to visas@unfccc.int with the fol­low­ing infor­ma­tion (they won’t write you back but for­ward your issue to the rep­re­sen­ta­tion office if all the nec­es­sary infor­ma­tion ar provided) 
    • Giv­en name and surname 
    • Pass num­ber
    • Place of appli­ca­tion (Rep­re­sen­ta­tion office)
    • book­ing number/ticket num­ber, barcode
  • visa fees
    • with an UNFCCC accred­i­ta­tion, there shouldn’t be fees for the visa application
    • nonethe­less: have the mon­ey for fees with you in order to be pre­pared to pay if request­ed as con­di­tion for visa, and then try to get them refund­ed (keep the receipt)
    • offi­cial guide­lines by the Fed­er­al For­eign Office

  • no short-term free dates after badge allo­ca­tion / visa request too late because cer­tain require­ments not safe yet
    • over­load­ing of the Ger­man embassies (e.g. Pakistan)
  • no finan­cial means to pay for visa
  • fund­ing retract­ed after long wait­ing times for visa
  • lack of expe­ri­ence for visa appli­ca­tion process: Reach out to oth­er peo­ple from you coun­try who have expe­ri­ences with the procedures
  • Embassy Com­mu­ni­ca­tion problems
    • long feed­back and there­fore wait­ing times
    • rejec­tion for unclear rea­sons like ‘doc­u­ments not suf­fi­cient / not credible’
    • intrans­par­ent / unclear com­mu­ni­ca­tion of the embassies
    • embassy didn’t know about UNFCCC accreditation
  • Visa appoint­ment issues:
    • may not be pos­si­ble apply offi­cial­ly / direct­ly → need a third par­ty / com­pa­ny (VFS / BLS / TLS) → cost­ly TLS ser­vice fees
    • extra fee for ear­ly appoint­ment / corruption
  • no embassy avail­able in war / con­flict regions
  • Different/Individual expe­ri­ences with the dif­fer­ent pre­req­ui­sites in the var­i­ous countries

  • Dis­trib­ute badges by 30 April at the lat­est to peo­ple who need visas (quo­ta for MAPA activists can help to ensure ear­ly funding)
  • Issue an invi­ta­tion let­ter to the rel­e­vant per­son togeth­er with the badge (send a sam­ple): Men­tion the fun­der to cre­ate coher­ence in the letter