German Blocked Account Provider Worsens Int’l Student Situation

Key Takeaways:

• BAM Bundesweites Anlagenmanagement, a blocked account provider in Germany, stopped paying international students €861 per month.
• International students were left in dire straits because of the situation.
• The Federal Association of Foreign Students called on the members of parliament, the foreign affairs minister, and some organizations to act and prevent the situation from reoccurring.

International students in Germany were left in a difficult financial situation after BAM Bundesweites Anlagenmanagement, a Hamburg-based blocked account provider, stopped paying the amount of €861 per month to them in June. 

A group of 180 students, mostly coming from Lebanon, Senegal, South Korea, and the United States, who have not received payments from BAM, has calculated over €800,000 that should still be in their blocked accounts in mid-July for the group alone. Otherwise, more students could suffer and be burdened by not receiving their monthly payments.

According to information portal Studying-in-Germany.org, international students are compelled to open blocked accounts and deposit a total amount of €10,332 for one year when applying for a student visa as proof that they can cover their living expenses in Germany.

With this, the Federal Association of Foreign Students (Bundesverband ausländischer Studierender, BAS) guaranteed that the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority has the funds and will be repaid in full. More than 200 students should receive the amount of over €2 million in their bank accounts, the association added. 

BAS has also appealed to the members of the federal parliament (Bundestag), Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas, and other relevant organizations to assure that such a situation will not happen again and to demand that the money be paid out to all affected students, especially since they have to pay rent and cover other expenses.

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