Germany Consulate General

if you I can give 0 i’ll give them. the women in the visa section is super rude. she doesn’t respect other. she tried it to make it hard for me to get the visa. she was yelling, and saying «do think I’m stupid.» this is the worst consulate if you want to get a visa. the best worker in the consulate is the security, she was very kind, not like the diplomatic worker.

Story cut short, I live in a different jurisdiction and only applied to the Houston Consulate because I was in the area and couldn’t get an earlier appointment in my jurisdiction. The Houston Consulate took my entire application, realized I didn’t live in the jurisdiction, and held on to my passport for 10 days before informing me to pick up my passports.
The weird thing about this all is that I was in contact with the rep who had sent me an email saying I had to apply in DC (my jurisdiction)…so why didn’t she just ask me to pick up my passport rather than hold on to it for 10 days??? Is it not possible that I could have been able to get an appointment in DC within those 10 days? Also, I paid about 65 USD for processing but it doesn’t seem like any processing occurred (and of course, no refund was issued). Not to talk of all the other money/​time spent on travel insurance, gathering documents, etc. I just don’t understand why the representative didn’t just have me pick up my passports once they realized I didn’t live in the area.
Then I called to speak with someone about the situation and provide some very polite feedback and the representative hung up on me. I’d hate to generalize, but if I had to judge based on this one experience with this one (or 2) individuals, Germany is probably not a place I’d like to visit.

German consulate review Houston, TX
Background —
I am writing this review in public interest as I want to make sure people are not wasting their time and money going to this consulate unless absolutely necessary.
Please keep in mind, that I have travelled to over 10 countries and have experience with visa applications and several consulates (France, UK, China, Egypt etc.) but never had such a horrible experience especially due to no fault of our own.
We planned an early trip to Europe and Frankfurt happened to be our port of entry. Hence we prepared put Schengen visa application for German consulate in Houston and took an appointment. We prepared everything exactly as per website requirements. Not a single document was missing. They didn’t accept our application as it was more than 5 months before our trip, despite the requirements not listing that criteria. We later found out that Schengen doesn’t allow issuing a visa earlier than 3 months before your trip.
Experience —
Location is easy to find and has visitor parking. At the entrance, minimal security, no issues. I asked about payment and the security officer told me they accept cash and money order only. I rushed downstairs and got cash. However, later I did hear people in other widows paying with credit cards. Oh well! I even heard the security guard (who was American) shouting at entering people for trying to get in before the door auto closed.
Interview–
We waited at the window for about 5 – 7 mins. An old German visa officer approached. She looked at our bank statements, application and photos.
Immediately she said, «are these photos per three months old?» We said no. Then she asked me, I said they are recent. Then she shouted, «are they or are they not? I am not an idiot here» I said no. We were taken aback by her rudeness especially since nowhere on their website did it say, photos need to be less than three months old. We had just gotten a Schengen from France with the same photos four months ago. They gave us the nearest Walgreens address to get new photos. Moving on.
Then she looked at our tickets, and said you are going in 6 months, we cannot give you visa in less than three months before your trip — and simply shoved our docs back and left. I requested to talk to her again. We said that we were traveling from Austin, had booked hotels and the requirements website doesn’t say anything about three month clause.
She checked the website herself and couldn’t find it. She said, my supervisor will talk to you and asked me to leave.
I waited and them a supervisor (didn’t look like one) came to the window. He simply said, «our website is controlled by Washington, we don’t have any influence (which was bs). Legally we’re not allowed to process visa six months in advance» keep in mind, it’s their mistake and I am getting no apologies. I requested making an exception, since we took a day of work, booked hotels and drive 4hrs. He said no.
I complained about their mistake, rudeness and how the visa officer humiliated us. The supervisor didn’t even show an ounce of empathy. We walked away.