The Visa Warning File (VWD) is intended to prevent the misuse of visas when entering Germany. It primarily supports the authorities responsible for issuing visas. This includes the German missions abroad.

If you would like to know whether and what information the Visa Warning File stores about you, the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) will provide you with information. To do this, you must submit an application.

The Visa Warning File stores information about persons (and organizations) if you have been

• have been convicted of a specific criminal offense by a final court decision.
  • Relevant criminal offenses include human trafficking, forced prostitution, narcotics offenses and moonlighting.

• have presented, procured or produced forged or falsified documents or have obtained authentic documents by making false statements as an applicant for a visa.
• acted as an inviting person, obligating person or reference person in the visa procedure and thereby
  • have made false statements, or
  • have not fulfilled your obligations when making a claim, or

• voluntarily allowed your data to be stored, for example, if there is suspicion that statements have been made under your name without permission in visa procedures.

The data that the Visa Warning File stores on individuals includes:

• Personal data:
  • Family name, first name
  • different name spellings
  • other names and former names
  • gender
  • date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Nationality

• the reason for the storage
• the visa warning file number of the Federal Office of Administration

The application data is stored for up to 10 years, depending on the decision (positive, negative).