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I am a software engineer from Lahore, Pakistan with a job offer from a Munich based German company. I full-fill the requirements of an EU Blue-card which requires an initial work visa from my country to travel to Germany. Upon initial inquiry, German Embassy in Pakistan has asked me to get an equivalence certificate from ZAB. I applied to ZAB more than a month ago, paid the fee and they told me to expect two weeks for processing but since then they have not responded to my emails. Now the appointment with Embassy is just around the corner and it does not look like I will get any news from ZAB before that.

My degree is categorized as 'Entspricht' and the university is listed as H+ in Anabin database.

I guess my options are limited in the sense that I can tell Embassy staff that I have applied for a ZAB certificate but I am still waiting. Would this be reason enough for them to turn down my application? The appointment cycle at German Embassy is very long and next attempt may not be available before a couple of months.

Are there other any options available? Appreciate response from people who have been in similar situation before.

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Since I have come back from German Embassy and no one else has posted an answer yet, I would try to summarize my findings in case it helps someone.

  1. So basically German Embassy needs the equivalence certificate from ZAB even if one's degree is listed as 'Entspricht' on Anabin database. This may be true for only a selected set of Embassies but for the commission in Islamabad, Pakistan that is surely the case.
  2. Second point is that one can go to the Embassy without equivalence certificate, they would not reject the application but they will wait until the certificate arrives.

So not the worst situation but still a waiting state. If only ZAB was more responsive, Sigh!

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  • Hi @fsheikh - let me know what happened, I am curious to know how things went for you.
    – Filipe Miranda
    Commented Apr 29, 2017 at 18:56
  • Hi @FilipeMiranda I received ZAB certificate a couple of days ago. My employer helped by writing to ZAB in German. Overall it took a little over two months since I paid the ZAB fee.
    – fsheikh
    Commented Apr 30, 2017 at 9:11
  • :) Great! Good luck then in your German Experience! Did you get the Blue Card?
    – Filipe Miranda
    Commented Apr 30, 2017 at 9:12
  • No :) first the German embassy needs to issue me a visa, then I can travel to Germany and apply for a blue card. I have been told that with ZAB out of the way it should arrive quickly after application.
    – fsheikh
    Commented Apr 30, 2017 at 9:14
  • @fsheikh : Mine case is same, my bad i did not see equivalence certificate as requirement on German Embassy Islamabad website until they asked me in interview. Now they have accepted my application and asked me to email them. I applied for equivalence certificate today. Now lets see how early i can get that. I hope embassy don't delay my visa due to this because i am already one month late from my joining date :(
    – Adeel Ahmad
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 16:06

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