Before coming to Germany

Medical Documents:

This list includes medical certificates one absolutely need to gather before coming to Germany to apply eventually for licence to practice medicine here. These are the documents one must translate in German. I would advice on doing the translations in Germany. Its convenient to also carry every other documents one find important for himself and translate if asked. Most of our documents are partly or entirely in English, which makes it easier to find an authorized translator here.

1. Degree Certificate
2. Licence to Practice medicine in India (State or MCI)
3. Internship Completion Certificate (University)
4. Internship Completion Certificate (Issued to me by my college as Annexure II with period of postings in individual department)
5. Passing Certificate
6. Transcript - (This document has detailed hours of attended lectures and clinics, marks obtained in all years and a page saying one was a bonafide student of given college etc., it is very important if one is planning to go for a "Gutachter/Gleichwertigkeit" instead of giving an exam for "deutsche Approbation", doctors most commonly need it for USMLE for which 7 copies are needed and sent directly from college to university and then to USA. Doctors going to Germany although must ask it in hand, 1 copy should suffice. I got it in a sealed envelope, something like that is been asked to me by my Regierung and can be accepted in English.

Learning German:

Its the single most important aspect of doing PG in Germany. When I came to Germany I had a B1-Certificate from Goethe. Classes I did in private. Then I attended a "B2-C1 Medizin Fachsprachkurs" in Germany. This and several other interactions eventually improved my language here. But I would seriously advice on going only to Goethe Institute to study German, preferably Pune. It would definitely appear in the beginning that its taking longer than in private or vice versa but on a long term its the best practice. One gets enough time and partners to master the language. With current trend its best that one has C1, specially in sprechen, already before coming here. Then some kind of Fachsprachkurs or Vorbereitungskurs für Fachsprachprüfung/Kenntnisprüfung would make language wise good sense and build up the CV too. Also, with allegemine Sprache already mastered one can focus on "Medizinische Fachwörter" and possibly other important aspects.

Some of such courses are:

1. Kulturakademie, Dresden- This is the best possible course in my opinion. They have a very good plan of language training along with possibility of a Praktikum, which also helps in applying for Approbation in that state. They are also very helpful about application of Visa and accommodation. This really helps in saving time and energy. I personally wanted to attend this course but couldn't as I missed the dates.
2. Fortbildungsakademie der Wirtschaft (FAW), Köln: (It was ok, just mentioning it at 2nd position while I attended it and they were also very very helpful regarding Visa-Application and other bureaucratic  procedures)
3. VIA,Nürnberg:  Having to have lived in Nuremberg for about 6 months I can say that the institute is well renowned in the area and apparently offers one of the few official preparatory courses for Kenntnisprüfung in Bayern. According to one of their Indian Student however the course and teaching staff is ok.

The specialty of these courses is that their duration is of 6 Months or more and they fulfill the necessary weekly teaching hours for Type-D/National Visa. This makes it possible to get Residence permit in Germany itself without having to go back to India if one eventually finds a job. These are of course my suggestions keeping many things in mind. In case one can't enroll in these courses, courses with similar structure should serve the same purpose.

Applying for Visa:

Another very important, complicated and most frustrating aspect. I'm mentioning this again that what I say under this topic is either my personal experience or that of people I talked with.

• Reason for Visa: Student Visa

I'm sharing here my own experience. Giving correct reason is very important to avoid rejection. The officers are less informed about the overall Medical PG in Germany topic. We have to be patient with them and explain things a bit. I applied for the Student Visa for B2-C1 Medizin Fachsprachkurs. Following 3 things I find important to mention regarding both my own application and regarding many queries of others.

1. They asked me to give in writing (on a plain paper) as to why I'm exactly visiting this particular course (FAW, Köln) and what would be my plan of action after finishing the course. I explained that I'm a doctor with UG from India and want to pursue Medical PG in Germany. For that I need to learn the Fachsprache/Fachwörter. This course would help me in this regard and no such course is available in India so I have to go to Germany. I also told them that I'm planning to return to India after this course is finished, which was my actual plan at that point. But I extended my residence permit during this stay without having to return. But I would still advice on telling the visa officer that returning after the course is the plan. I don't know how and why but it somehow matters (Thoughts of others).
2. I had been asked for a "Defizitbescheid". One of my friend who applied about a Month after me with exactly same course and same overall documentation hasn't been asked for it. But increasing number of people are being asked for it now a days. This document was prepared and sent to me by the class itself and I simply forwarded it to German Embassy in Mumbai, which somehow worked. But officially it should be provided by some local body (details I don't know) in Germany and now a days the Embassy expects the letter from this body too. Important thing to mention is that from experiences of people gone through it, Kulturakademie, Dresden gets the letter for you from this local body, eliminating the almost impossible looking task of applying it on our own from India. Many other people told me that their institutes have refused to get the letter for them.
3. Opening and managing any changes in the Block account in Deutsche Bank is another herculean looking and time consuming tast, with having to send the letters all the way to Germany for everything. But there's a way around it. Deutsche Bank has several branches located in India. If we open a savings account with any one of them then they do all the procedure of opening and making changes in block if any on their own, saving us again some time and possible mistakes. I did the same. Just that I needed to put ₹100000 in the account for 3 months. This was the scenario I experienced. Could be different now.