Study track · Financing proof
Why the Blocked Account Amount Rises, and Why It Has Not Since 2024
It does not rise every year. It has moved twice in the last seven, and both moves had the same single cause. That cause is not inflation, not German rents, and not a decision by any embassy.
The number today
For a student with an admission letter applying under § 16b AufenthG, the Sperrkonto (blocked account) must hold 11,904 EUR for the first year, released at 992 EUR per month. That figure has been unchanged since autumn 2024.
For a Studienbewerber, meaning an applicant who does not yet hold an admission letter and travels on a § 17 Abs. 2 AufenthG visa to look for a place or sit a Studienkolleg entrance examination, the requirement is higher: 1,091 EUR per month, 13,092 EUR for the year.
Two different numbers for the same person, decided by which document is in the file. That is worth holding on to, because it is the second half of this article.
Where the number actually comes from
The blocked account amount is not set by the Auswärtiges Amt as a migration policy figure. It is borrowed. Under § 2 Abs. 3 AufenthG, a student's means of subsistence count as secured when the monthly amount available corresponds to the BAföG-Förderungshöchstsatz, the maximum rate of German federal student financial aid. The Auswärtiges Amt states this plainly: the amount to be deposited is based on the BAföG maximum rates.
So the figure in your visa file is a copy of a domestic social-benefit ceiling, calculated for a German student who receives state support. It is assembled from three statutory components:
- 475 EUR basic requirement, § 13 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 BAföG
- 380 EUR housing allowance for students not living with their parents, § 13 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 BAföG
- 137 EUR health and long-term care insurance supplement, § 13a Abs. 1 BAföG
475 plus 380 plus 137 is 992. There is no migration-specific reasoning anywhere in that sum. Nobody costed out what an Indian student in Munich actually needs. The number is what a German BAföG recipient is entitled to.
The threshold is the BAföG maximum rate, and BAföG rates do not adjust automatically. There is no index, no inflation clause, no annual review. They move only when the Bundestag passes an amending act.
That is the whole answer to the headline question. The blocked account amount rises when, and only when, German student aid law is amended. Between amendments it sits perfectly still, however fast rents rise.
What the movement actually looks like
Bars are drawn from zero, so the visual difference is the real difference. The point of the picture is how rarely the line moves, not how steeply.
The 29th BAföG-Änderungsgesetz raised the rates by five percent from 1 August 2024 for new award periods and from 1 October 2024 for running ones, and lifted the housing allowance from 360 to 380 EUR. That is the event that produced today's 992 EUR. Nothing has happened since.
What is coming, and what is only announced
A further increase has been promised. The 2025 coalition agreement provides for the housing allowance to go from 380 to 440 EUR, which would lift the maximum rate to roughly 1,050 EUR and the yearly blocked amount to about 12,600 EUR, followed by two later steps raising the basic requirement towards the general subsistence level.
As at July 2026 that increase is not law. It was announced for the 2026/27 winter semester, the coalition agreed on its financing in April 2026, and by June 2026 the responsible federal ministry had signalled that swift implementation was not to be expected. There is no cabinet decision. Commentators now consider the 2027 summer semester or the 2027/28 winter semester the realistic window.
How to read that as an applicant. A promised BAföG increase is not a blocked account increase until it is in the Bundesgesetzblatt. Do not budget for a higher figure on the strength of a coalition agreement, and do not assume the current figure is safe for a semester either. Check the number again in the week you open the account.
The trap: which number applies, and when
The amount that binds you is the one in force when your application is decided, not the one you read when you started planning. Applications filed in the autumn and decided in the new year sit exactly across the line where a change would take effect.
There is a second, more common version of the same problem, and it is not caused by legislation at all. Consulate and embassy pages go stale. At the time of writing, official German mission pages still name 861 EUR and a yearly figure of 10,332 EUR, and other mission documents still name 934 EUR. Those are the pre-2022 and pre-2024 figures. They are on genuine diplo.de pages, and they are wrong today.
The practical rule that follows is unglamorous but reliable: treat any single page as unverified, and confirm the figure against the checklist of the mission that will actually decide your case, dated within the current year.
What makes an account count
The amount is only half of the requirement. The account itself has to have a particular legal shape, and a normal savings account holding 11,904 EUR is not a Sperrkonto no matter how much is in it.
- A Sperrbegünstigter (blocking beneficiary) must be named. Before the visa is issued that is the mission handling the application; afterwards it is the Ausländerbehörde.
- Only equal monthly amounts may be paid out. The point of the construction is that a year's money cannot be spent in the first term.
- The account may be closed only with the beneficiary's consent.
- You are free to choose the provider. German public authorities deliberately do not recommend one, and any page that tells you an authority endorses a particular provider is not describing official practice.
- Fees are payable on top. The blocked sum has to be complete by itself, so a provider charge deducted from the deposit leaves you short.
Which amount applies to you
This is where the same statutory gate produces different outcomes from the same person. What changes the number is not your finances. It is which residence purpose you declare and which document you attach.
| Situation | Legal basis | What must be shown |
|---|---|---|
| Admission letter in hand | § 16b AufenthG | 992 EUR per month, 11,904 EUR for the first year |
| No admission yet, applying or sitting a Studienkolleg entrance exam | § 17 Abs. 2 AufenthG | 1,091 EUR per month, 13,092 EUR, for a stay of up to nine months |
| Scholarship covering the full amount | § 2 Abs. 3 AufenthG | Award letter can replace the blocked account entirely |
| Scholarship below the amount | § 2 Abs. 3 AufenthG | Only the shortfall has to be covered by other means |
| Sponsor resident in Germany | § 68 AufenthG | Verpflichtungserklärung, with the sponsor proving their own capacity |
Combining these is expressly permitted. A scholarship of 600 EUR per month plus a blocked account covering the remaining 392 EUR meets the same threshold as a full deposit, and costs a great deal less to assemble.
The § 17 Abs. 2 figure deserves a second look, because 1,091 is 992 plus ten percent. The uplift is administrative practice from the visa handbook rather than a separate statutory rate, which is why you will occasionally still see 1,027 EUR quoted, the same ten percent applied to the old 934 EUR base. If you are choosing between applying with or without an admission letter, the difference is 1,188 EUR of blocked capital.
What this means for planning
- Check the figure in the week you open the account, against a mission checklist dated in the current year. Not a blog, not a provider page, and not this page alone.
- Deposit before you apply. The account has to exist and be funded before the visa application is filed, not afterwards.
- Decide your route before you deposit. The § 16b and § 17 Abs. 2 routes carry different amounts, and the deposit is the expensive part to redo.
- Add the fees to the plan, not to the deposit. Provider charges are payable on top of the blocked sum, and the blocked sum has to be complete on its own.
- Watch the Bundesgesetzblatt, not the news. An increase becomes real for you at publication, not at announcement.
Once you arrive, the monthly release is a ceiling and not a budget. 992 EUR is calibrated on a German student aid formula in which the housing component is 380 EUR. In Munich, Frankfurt or Hamburg that component is fiction, and the gap is closed by working, which is governed by its own separate threshold.
That threshold has its own logic, and it is the subject of the 140-day rule.
Two things that change independently of each other. The BAföG maximum rate sets the amount. The individual mission sets the evidence format, the acceptable providers and the wording it wants to see. A correct amount presented in an unacceptable format still fails, and the second half is not published centrally.
This page describes the structure of the German financing proof requirement as it stood in July 2026 and is intended to help you understand why the figure changes when it does. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for the checklist of the German mission responsible for your application. Confirm the current amount before you transfer any money.
