The German Federal Foreign Office confirmed in the early hours of 14 February 2026 that the visa section of its embassy in Tehran has been “temporarily closed until further notice.” According to the ministry, both the chancery’s own counters and those of its external service-provider TLS Contact have ceased accepting new applications. Only files that were already lodged are being processed, and even that work is progressing slowly because staffing levels were reduced last summer after repeated intimidation of locally engaged personnel by Iranian authorities.
Berlin points to a dramatic deterioration of the security and human-rights situation in Iran since nationwide protests were crushed in January. Embassy communications have been “massively restricted,” the Foreign Office said, making routine correspondence with applicants—or with German companies trying to bring technicians and managers to Europe—extremely difficult. In the first six weeks of 2026 the mission has issued just 1,300 visas, compared with more than 23,000 in the whole of 2025 and 46,600 in 2024.
At this juncture, travellers and employers alike may find value in partnering with a specialist such as VisaHQ. The firm’s portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/) tracks German consular updates in real time and can reroute applications to alternative embassies or consulates, arrange courier delivery of documents, and provide on-the-ground support at TLS Contact centres outside Iran—helping to mitigate delays and uncertainty triggered by the Tehran shutdown.
![German Embassy in Tehran Suspends All Visa Services Amid Security Concerns]()
The shutdown immediately affects family-reunion cases, student intakes for the summer semester, and hundreds of German employers who recruit skilled Iranian engineers and health-care professionals. HR departments are being advised to reroute candidates to German embassies in neighbouring Turkey, the United Arab Emirates or Armenia, but those posts already face heavy backlogs. Travel managers should expect multi-month delays and factor in additional costs for regional flights and accommodation.
For multinational companies the episode is another reminder of the geopolitical fragility of global mobility programmes. Corporate immigration teams are urged to audit assignment pipelines that involve Iran, update stakeholders on alternative processing venues, and alert assignees to heightened exit-controls at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport. Contingency plans should also address the risk of further diplomatic downsizing that could impact passport renewals and notarial services for German nationals in Iran.
Although the Foreign Office reiterated that the closure is “temporary,” insiders note that visa output had already fallen by almost 50 percent in 2025. Many observers therefore doubt that full operations will resume quickly. Companies with critical talent flows from Iran may need to consider long-term diversification of recruitment markets or expanded use of remote work solutions.
Berlin points to a dramatic deterioration of the security and human-rights situation in Iran since nationwide protests were crushed in January. Embassy communications have been “massively restricted,” the Foreign Office said, making routine correspondence with applicants—or with German companies trying to bring technicians and managers to Europe—extremely difficult. In the first six weeks of 2026 the mission has issued just 1,300 visas, compared with more than 23,000 in the whole of 2025 and 46,600 in 2024.
At this juncture, travellers and employers alike may find value in partnering with a specialist such as VisaHQ. The firm’s portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/) tracks German consular updates in real time and can reroute applications to alternative embassies or consulates, arrange courier delivery of documents, and provide on-the-ground support at TLS Contact centres outside Iran—helping to mitigate delays and uncertainty triggered by the Tehran shutdown.
The shutdown immediately affects family-reunion cases, student intakes for the summer semester, and hundreds of German employers who recruit skilled Iranian engineers and health-care professionals. HR departments are being advised to reroute candidates to German embassies in neighbouring Turkey, the United Arab Emirates or Armenia, but those posts already face heavy backlogs. Travel managers should expect multi-month delays and factor in additional costs for regional flights and accommodation.
For multinational companies the episode is another reminder of the geopolitical fragility of global mobility programmes. Corporate immigration teams are urged to audit assignment pipelines that involve Iran, update stakeholders on alternative processing venues, and alert assignees to heightened exit-controls at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport. Contingency plans should also address the risk of further diplomatic downsizing that could impact passport renewals and notarial services for German nationals in Iran.
Although the Foreign Office reiterated that the closure is “temporary,” insiders note that visa output had already fallen by almost 50 percent in 2025. Many observers therefore doubt that full operations will resume quickly. Companies with critical talent flows from Iran may need to consider long-term diversification of recruitment markets or expanded use of remote work solutions.
