With regard to the statement of motivation:

Should this address why the student wants to study this particular program at this particular university or should the statement be more broad in terms of other more cultural aspects?

As a followup to this post, Einbeck was correct, there was more to the story than what I had originally been told.  It transpires that the student had some issues with completing their bachelors degree.  The student applied to and was accepted into another program but during that time period of 1 year was in Germany without a valid visa.  When he tried to reapply within Germany it was clear he had overstayed his visa and he was luckily given the opportunity to leave voluntarily rather than being deported/expelled.  The student has no other criminal history, as far as I know.   

The student returned home and reapplied and explained the situation in his statement of motivation.  This was sent to the ABH about 4 weeks ago. 

I know that it is difficult to say how long the ABH might take to decide upon the visa but is there a recommended way that an update can be requested by the embassy, or will that simply make the ABH officer's irritated and possibly negatively impact the decision.  The ABH is Hamburg.  Could it be implied that because the ABH didn't reject the application immediately and with the length of time passed that the odds for the visa being approved are good?

The reason for the now urgency is the student will need to start applying for other schools if his German visa is denied but there are monetary costs so he would rather not spend the money until he knows for sure.

Any of ABH officers/workers who frequent this board, I'd greatly appreciate your help.  Feel free to PM me if that would be better.

Thanks.