Opening a Blocked Account

A blocked account (Sperrkonto) is a special type of bank account, where access to the funds is restricted or frozen (“blocked”), usually due to legal or regulatory reasons. You, the account holder, cannot withdraw money until the block is lifted.

It ensures that the account holder has sufficient financial means to cover living expenses while staying in Germany.

The account holder can only withdraw a fixed monthly amount, as regulated by authorities. This is commonly used by international students and job seekers.

Blocked account providers.

Under normal circumstances, it isn’t enough to show proof of financial means through bank statements, a blocked account must be presented.

Some blocked account providers, bundle their packages with other benefits, such as:

  • German health insurance membership, linked to your blocked account. (Payments automatically get paid through the blocked account itself).

  • Travel insurance.

  • SIM cards and data plans.

  • etc.

Two of the most highly acclaimed blocked account providers are:

  • Fintiba

  • Expatrio

NOTE !

Some blocked account providers require you to open the account from within Germany.

e.g You might come across Deutsche Bank offering blocked accounts, however, they require you to be in Germany and have a residence permit to do so.

Therefore it is always important to research if you are able to open the account without a German residence permit.

Blocked account application and funding.

Initial blocked account application.

Once you have decided which provider you’d like to use, the next step is to make an account profile.

To do this you typically need just to upload a picture of your passport.

This is subject to change and it is always within your best interest to familiarise yourself with what is required from you.

Funding your blocked account.

Once you have created your account profile, you should receive the account number and details for your blocked account. 

What you receive:

  • German IBAN number

Now, using the IBAN you can transfer the money into your blocked account.

South Africa grey listing and how it affects your blocked account application.

South Africa being greylisted means that the country has been placed under increased monitoring by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), due to deficiencies in its measures to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and financial crimes.

The two main points on how this affects you are:

  • Harder and More Expensive International Transactions – Sending or receiving money from abroad (e.g., remittances, online purchases, travel expenses) may take longer and involve higher fees due to stricter financial checks.

  • Stricter Bank Regulations – Banks will likely introduce more paperwork and verification steps for everyday transactions like opening accounts, applying for loans, or making large deposits, making banking more inconvenient.

Relation to blocked account applications:

The latter of the points mentioned is where the effects of the grey listing start to show.

Once you’ve transferred the money into your blocked account, your blocked account provider will notify you saying that they require additional documents, for the verification on where the money originated from. e.g.:

  • If you or your parents are the ones who transferred the funds into the blocked account, bank statements will need to be provided.

  • If the funds were acquired by means of a loan or lending from a third party (e.g. a family friend), a loan agreement must be drafted and sent to the blocked account provider.

Your account has been successfully funded? Here’s what’s next.

What to do in South Africa.

Once your blocked account has been funded and all the bureaucracies have been settled, your blocked account provider should issue documents for your visa application.

That’s about it for South Africa, as you have just crossed one of the biggest hurdles for getting yourself into Germany.

What to do in Germany.

It’s important to keep the following in mind:

  1. Your blocked account only begins the monthly payouts at the visa start date.

  2. You need a German Girokonto for the blocked account to make those payments into.

What this means is that in order to receive your money from the blocked account, you must first complete your Anmeldung. Which in turn requires you to first find a place to stay and complete the city registration. This in itself can take a long time, which is why you cannot solely rely on your blocked account money for the first few weeks (or months) for your stay in Germany. You need to take hotel and food costs in mind for when you first land in Germany.

This is one of the harsh realities of wanting to study abroad and there is sadly no way of getting around this. With that being said, always budget more funds additional to your blocked account.

However, once you arrive in Germany, the following steps can be followed to gain access to your blocked account:

  • Find accommodation (Apartments, shared flats, etc.)

  • Do you Anmeldung (City registration)

  • Receive your Steuer-ID.

  • Open a German Girokonto.

  • Provide your Girokonto IBAN to your blocked account provider (This is mainly done through their app)

FAQ’s

  • Making the account profile, transferring the money and having it cleared, it should come out to 2 working weeks processing time.

    However this all varies on how swiftly you can get provide the additional documentation because of the grey listing, just to name but one factor.

  • Typically there is no way of getting around the blocked account.

    However, if you are able to obtain and produce a work contract at your visa application, you can indeed use this as a substitute to the blocked account (provided that the salary stated in the work contract is equal to or more than the required monthly payouts a blocked account would have provided)

    An example is the Duales Studium.

  • If you find yourself in this situation, all your money from the previous months should be paid out in full, in addition to the current month you find yourself in.

    e.g. If your visa start date is set for September and your Anmeldung (Opening your Girokonto) happens during December, you will receive the monthly payouts for September, October, November and December in one payment.

    Thereafter, your payouts should go back to a monthly basis.