More than 500 Indian students at IU International University of Applied Sciences in Berlin say they are facing visa revocations and possible deportation after local immigration officers rejected the school’s hybrid study model as failing Germany’s 2025 requirement for full-time, in-person attendance. Students say they invested €20,000–€30,000 each in tuition, housing deposits, and blocked-account funds.
Students described receiving abrupt emails telling them to leave Germany within days, a shock that has spread fast through Indian student networks and online groups.
“We sold family assets for this dream, arrived for campus life, only to pack bags from hostels while fees vanish without refunds,” a student from Mumbai wrote in a message shared among affected students.
Several students said they were pushed into remote learning from outside Germany even though their residence permits were tied to being physically present. They fear that a missed deadline, a lease penalty, or a canceled course could trigger further immigration trouble.
How the dispute began
The dispute traces back to early 2025, when Berlin’s Local Enforcement Agency (LEA) began taking a closer look at IU Berlin after what the source material describes as anonymous complaints about low attendance and weak oversight.
- Students and education agents said IU’s hybrid format had been “long-approved”, and they arrived expecting a mix of online work and on-campus sessions.
- The LEA later concluded that many of those sessions did not count as “on-campus” in the way the agency now interprets the rules, which meant the study program no longer supported the visa status students held.
Institutional and legal responses
IU is Germany’s largest private university, with more than 100,000 enrollees, and the clash has quickly become a test of how far German authorities will go in tightening student migration rules even as the country courts skilled workers.
IU’s actions and communications included:
- Pausing new international admissions at its Berlin campus.
- Promising free visa support for affected students.
- Announcing a shift in Berlin to full in-person teaching from October 2025.
- Offering transfers to other IU campuses that run fully in-person courses.
Students noted practical difficulties with transfers, including:
- New rent contracts
- Fresh deposits
- Travel costs
- The risk that immigration offices will still challenge whether the change solves their individual case
The university said it regretted students must leave and argued it had been following federal standards, while blaming what it sees as an abrupt policy reversal by the Berlin LEA.
At the same time, a court ruling cited in the source material backed the LEA’s stricter reading of what counts as acceptable attendance, wiping away earlier approvals that students and recruiters relied on. With that decision in place, student appeals that were already in progress stalled, leaving many students stuck between class schedules and immigration deadlines.
Changes to appeal processes and timing challenges
Timing has made it harder for students to contest decisions quickly. The source material says Germany abolished the informal “remonstration procedure” for visa disputes in July 2025, removing a fast, low-cost way for applicants to ask an authority to review a refusal.
- This change has pushed more cases into longer legal routes, which can be expensive and slow.
- Young people whose right to stay depends on a current residence permit face particular pressure.
- During the prolonged uncertainty, landlords, employers, and even health insurers may ask for proof of lawful stay.
Social reaction and practical consequences
On social media, the reaction has been fierce. Student groups on Facebook and Reddit discussed a class-action lawsuit and posted warnings telling others to avoid IU. Some students described feeling trapped after paying large sums up front.
Complaints extend beyond immigration outcomes and include:
- Refund concerns
- Cost of emergency travel
- What happens to academic progress if forced to study remotely from India while trying to protect German credentials
Wider context: reforms and enrollment trends
IU’s Berlin case is landing amid wider German reforms in 2025 that tighten student entry and stay rules over concerns about integration and compliance. The source material points to measures such as:
- Higher blocked-account requirements
- Increased language expectations
Enrollment context:
- There are now over 50,000 Indian students at German universities.
- The number of Indian nationals in Germany rose from 86,000 in 2015 to 280,000 in 2025.
The mismatch between that growth and uneven enforcement has left many Indian families unsure how to judge risk when committing savings, taking loans, or selling property to fund a child’s study plan.
Private vs public providers and visa outcomes
The IU case highlights a long-running debate in Germany over private providers. The source material says private universities like IU face closer scrutiny than public universities, which report higher student visa success rates.
- Education agents in India often market hybrid programs as flexible and work-friendly.
- Immigration offices may view the same flexibility as a sign that students are not really attending.
That gap matters because a student residence permit is not simply tied to paying fees; it depends on the student meeting the rules of stay, including attendance and steady progress.
Immediate personal impacts for students
For students, the practical impact is immediate and personal:
- A revoked residence permit can mean losing housing and part-time work.
- Students may be unable to return if they depart and later win a legal fight.
- Overstaying can lead to entry bans in the Schengen area.
For official guidance on Germany’s study visa rules, students can start with the German Federal Foreign Office information page on student visas: German Federal Foreign Office — Visa for the purpose of studying
Legal questions and limits of available information
Some lawyers following Berlin’s enforcement trend say the key question in cases like IU’s is how the authority defines “in-person” study and how much discretion it has when a school’s delivery model shifts between online and campus sessions.
- The source material does not name the judge, the court, or any LEA officials involved.
- It does not identify a specific lawyer speaking on the record.
- Those missing details make it hard for outsiders to test the legal reasoning, even as students say the court outcome has become a wall they cannot climb.
Current status and outlook
The public record around the situation has grown through student testimony and university statements. IU’s plan to move to full-time in-person teaching from October 2025 may reduce future risk, but it does little for those already told to leave—especially if their permits were linked to the earlier hybrid structure.
As of late December 2025, the source material says students were still waiting for a clear resolution. Many remained unsure whether they should:
- Spend more money on lawyers
- Accept a transfer
- Leave Germany to avoid penalties
Analysis and broader lesson
According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the Berlin dispute is being watched closely because it shows how fast a local office’s interpretation can change outcomes for international students, even when a program has operated for years.
Key takeaway:
– A course label like “hybrid” can carry different meanings for a university, a recruiter, and an immigration office.
– Those differences can decide whether a student gets to stay and finish the degree they came for.
More than 500 Indian students at IU Berlin face potential deportation after German authorities disqualified their hybrid study programs. Despite prior approvals, the Berlin LEA now requires full-time on-campus presence. With students losing thousands of euros and facing immediate exit orders, the university is shifting to 100% in-person teaching by late 2025, but the immediate legal pathway for current students remains uncertain following strict court rulings.
