Deadlines and processing time
Here you will find important information on the universities' application deadlines and our current processing times. It is very important for your application that you keep to these deadlines.
Deadlines
General notes on deadlines
uni-assist’s deadline is that of the university. Your documents need to be with uni-assist in their entirety and in the required form before the application deadline passes. In addition, we must receive the payment of the handling fees before the deadline expires.
Apply as early as possible!
Our recommendation: Submit your documents and make your payment at least 8 weeks before the deadline expires.
This ensures that we can inform you in time if you need to submit further documents.
You can apply as soon as the university has activated its applications in My assist.
Deadlines for your chosen university
Usually, the following deadlines apply for university courses in Germany:
- The application deadline often is July 15th if the course starts during the winter semester.
- The application deadline often is January 15th if the course starts during the summer semester.
An increasing number of universities set earlier deadlines for specific courses, such as for master’s courses or the Studienkolleg (preparatory course).
You can find out about the specific deadlines for your chosen course from the university of your choice.
- Are there different deadlines for each type of course (for example, different deadlines for bachelor courses, Master's courses, courses with or without Numerus Clausus (NC)?)
- Is there an earlier deadline for the application to the Studienkolleg, Preparatory German language courses or introductory courses?
- Does the country in which you have acquired your certificates make a difference – Germany / EU member states / non-member states?
- Does your citizenship make a difference?
- Does the university require a VPD (preliminary review documentation) from uni-assist?
VPD Exceptions
If a university requires a preliminary review documentation (“Vorprüfungsdokumentation”, VPD) issued by uni-assist, you need to submit it to them directly yourself before the deadline. Therefore, please plan enough time for your application and apply for your VPD as early as possible. We will send you the VPD after your documents have been evaluated successfully.
Find out more about the VPD procedure.
Current processing times
You will usually receive your evaluation result in 4 to 6 weeks – counting from the day on which we received your application and payment. We evaluate all applications received in order of their arrival.
Have you already submitted your application? These are our current processing times:
- Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey: approximately 1 week
- Asia, North America and Oceania: approximately 2 weeks
- Western Europe and Latin America: approximately 2 weeks
- Africa, Middle East and Iran: approximately 2 weeks
In individual cases, processing may take longer.
(region = origin of your educational certificates)
(Last updated: 17 October 2024)
Confirmation of receipt of your documents
For each set of documents you send to uni-assist by post, you will receive a confirmation of receipt. For this purpose, we register your post in our system. This can take a few days, especially in the days leading up to important deadlines, when we receive thousands of letters each day.
Please do not worry if you do not hear from us immediately. Even if registration takes some time, it is backdated to the day the documents were received on.
We are currently registering letters received on 18 October 2024.
You will usually receive a confirmation of receipt within 24 hours after registration.
(Last updated: 18 October 2024)
