Study · APS Certificate · §16b AufenthG

APS Status Is Tracked in Your Profile - and Your Certificate's ID Is Its Digital Seal

Two different questions get bundled into one anxious search: where do I see progress, and what is my certificate's identity? They have separate answers. Progress is read in exactly one place - your APS account profile. Identity is carried by the certificate file itself: its digital seal, signature and QR code, not a tracking number you quote to anyone.

Status lives in your profile, not your inbox

After you register, pay and courier your documents, the only authoritative status is the one shown inside My Account on the APS India portal. The profile updates as your file moves through verification, and a notification is sent by email once verification completes. APS India states that it does not answer routine status queries and will contact an applicant directly only if something needs correcting. Checking the profile from around the three-week mark is the structural norm. The verification clock itself starts when APS physically opens your file, not when payment clears or the courier is delivered.

The identity is the seal, not a number

Since 24 April 2023 the APS certificate is issued only as a digitally signed PDF (the Digitales Zertifikat, DigZert), sent to the email address used at registration. Its identity is the embedded digital seal, the signature and the QR code that universities, uni-assist and the Visa Application Centre (VFS) can verify online. There is no separate reference number that functions as the document's identity. Because the signature is bound to the file, the file must reach every recipient exactly as received. Renaming it, merging it into another PDF or re-saving it can break signature verification - the gate that makes the certificate accepted - even though the verification behind it succeeded.

A signature warning is not an invalid certificate

In December 2025 the trust service provider (D-Trust / Bundesdruckerei) deactivated certain older sealing cards after a security issue in Infineon ECDSA chips (known as EUCLEAK). APS India moved to a new seal card. Certificates issued before the change remain fully verifiable. After the old card was deactivated, some PDF readers such as Adobe Acrobat may display a notice that there is a problem with at least one signature. That message refers only to the technical deactivation of the old sealing certificate. Opening the signature details still shows that the document has not changed since it was sealed and that the issuer's identity was valid at the time of sealing.

This article explains the structure of the APS procedure for general orientation. It is not legal advice and does not assess any individual case (no Rechtsdienstleistung under the RDG). For a binding decision on your documents, refer to APS India and the competent German authorities.