APS Certificate for Nepali Students: Who Needs It and What Replaces It

If your school and university certificates were issued in Nepal, you do not need an APS certificate to study in Germany. The German Embassy in Kathmandu lists APS as mandatory only for Chinese and Indian school or university degrees, and uni-assist notes that APS offices exist in only three countries: China, Vietnam and India. Nepal is not one of them.

Agents and older guides still tell Nepali applicants to "register with APS India". If every certificate you hold is Nepali, that advice costs you money and weeks for nothing. There is one group of Nepali students it does apply to, and we cover it below.

What APS actually is

APS stands for Akademische Pruefstelle, an academic evaluation centre attached to the German missions in those three countries. The Indian office describes its job on the APS India FAQ as verifying "academic documents and educational qualifications issued by Indian educational institutions". It confirms that certificates are genuine and that the academic record holds up, before the applicant reaches a German university or a visa counter.

Nepal has no APS office and no APS procedure. Your documents still get checked, just by different people at different stages.

The exception: Nepali citizens with Indian certificates

APS India is explicit that your passport does not decide the question: "The applicant's nationality is not the decisive factor. What matters is whether the relevant academic documents were issued by Indian educational institutions." A lot of Nepali students study in India, so this catches more people than you might expect.

• Nepali +2, then a bachelor's from an Indian university (a B.Tech from Bengaluru or a BSc from Delhi, for example): you need APS India.
• Indian Class 12 from CBSE or a state board, then a Nepali bachelor's: the Embassy rule names Indian school degrees as well, so do not assume you are exempt. Take the eligibility quiz on the APS India website and confirm with the Embassy before you pay anyone.
• Holders of a German or European public scholarship, such as a DAAD scholarship, are exempt from the Embassy's APS requirement even with Indian degrees.

If you are in the APS India group, budget for it. The June 2026 APS India leaflet for graduates sets the verification fee at INR 18,000, and the FAQ says the fee is non-refundable "regardless of the outcome". Selected master's applicants whose degree falls in fields published by APS India must also sit the Digital Master Test (dMAT), run by g.a.s.t. APS India gives no fixed processing time, so apply well before your first university deadline.

Who checks your Nepali documents instead

Skipping APS does not mean nobody looks at your papers. They are checked at two stages instead: when you apply for admission, and again when you apply for the visa.

The university, often through uni-assist

For Nepal, uni-assist asks for your Class XII school leaving certificate with subjects and grades and, if you have one, your university degree with its marks (uni-assist country page for Nepal). The application is fully digital: you upload scans of official certificates, meaning documents with the issuing institution's stamp and signature or a verification code. Handling costs EUR 75 for the first programme and EUR 30 for each additional one per semester, and uni-assist currently quotes 4 to 5 weeks for applications from Asia. Some universities ask for a VPD instead, a uni-assist evaluation that you then forward to the university yourself. Our uni-assist guide for Nepali students covers both routes.

The visa section in Kathmandu

You submit a study visa application online through the Consular Services Portal and then bring your original documents to the appointment at the Embassy. The Embassy reserves the right to have submitted documents checked by specialised lawyers, and it states that fake documents will be forwarded to the police. Make sure your name and date of birth are spelled identically on your passport, SEE, NEB and university records, because mismatches are exactly what invite questions. The full document list sits in our student visa guide, and booking and appointment practice is in the German Embassy Kathmandu guide.

Certified copies

If a German university or authority wants certified copies, the Embassy certifies them on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 08:30 to 10:30 without an appointment. The fee ranges from EUR 20 to EUR 250, payable in NPR or by credit card.

Quick check: which group are you in?

Before you pay anyone for "APS processing"

If an agent quotes an APS fee and all your certificates are Nepali, ask which APS office they mean and which rule requires it. There is no good answer. The Embassy also says that no visa agent can influence the outcome, speed up processing or guarantee a visa. If you are unsure what your particular mix of certificates needs, send it to us for a free profile evaluation.