I'm a simple emigrant and I love hosting guests

I especially love it when relatives or childhood friends make their way to my area. These days, it's not that easy. The Frankfurt airport has started acting like the residence of kings: tickets are now too expensive. German visas have never been the easiest, and now even more so. Nevertheless, visas for Russians are issued in 2025 as well, but only with an official invitation. Such an invitation is extremely easy to obtain; for this you need to sign up for the service Invitation for visitors from abroad. At the appointment you will need a passport, a residence permit, the last three pay slips, a questionnaire about yourself and the guest, and consent. The invitation costs 29 euros, you can pay in cash or with an EC card. When you apply for this procedure, in the confirmation letter it is written in bold: “if you do not speak German well enough, come with a translator.” This same instruction greets you on-site as well, if you choose English in the terminal with numbered tokens. I hoped this was only a formality and that it was written for people who can’t speak any language at all. And it turned out to be true: my visit was super pleasant. I arrived on time, and after a couple of minutes I was invited in. The very kind consultant spoke wonderfully, pointed out what needed to be written where I wasn’t sure. She had a sore throat, and I tried to remember if I had something in my bag I could offer her. In the next second she took a sucking candy from the edge of the table, then turned and offered me one too; I was taken aback, but it was very nice. Then she said: “Usually salary certificates list the office address; you don’t have one, but it’s not a big deal, I already googled it.” I was taken aback again. The whole time, while she was processing the documents, we chatted, joked, and laughed. I told her what the Armenian SSR was, and she told me that her parents moved from America when she was three years old and she is very happy about it now: “Every time I go on vacation to my family in America for six weeks, they think I’m unemployed here.” Moreover, all communication was indeed in German, but I am sure that if necessary I could switch to English. The invitation itself is issued on the spot. The physical original needs to be handed to the guests so that they attach this paper when applying for the visa. After that, there’s only to hope and wait. #useful