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Spouse-Visa Germany

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All information about applying for a spouse visa in Germany (2024)

... under which conditions you can apply for a visa to join your spouse

... how to obtain the necessary approval from the immigration authority to join your spouse

... which documents are required to apply for a spouse visa

... how the application process for a spouse visa works (incl. deadlines and processing time)

HERE YOU LEARN ...

Requirements spouse visa

The reunification of spouses (also known as "spouse visas") is the most common case of family reunification, together with the reunification of children, and accounts for around 60% of all residence permits issued for family reasons. Depending on the year, a total of around 60,000 residence permits are issued to married partners (approx. 46% to wives and approx. 14% to husbands). Many visas for family reunification are issued to holders of an EU Blue Card.

1. Effective Marriage

The first requirement for a visa to join a spouse is that the marriage is valid and recognized. Contrary to a widespread misconception, however, it is not necessary for the marriage to be valid in Germany. According to the Civil Status Act, a foreign marriage can be entered in the German marriage register. Whether the marriage is valid depends on the law of the country to which the respective fiancé belongs. According to case law, this even includes cases in which the marriage would obviously be invalid according to German standards. For example, the Higher Regional Court of Zweibrücken had to decide on a Pakistani "glove marriage" and came to the conclusion that this would constitute a valid marriage in Germany, although such a glove marriage would not be valid in Germany (OLG Zweibrücken, decision of 08.12.2010 - 3 W 175/10).

2. Spouse has a residence permit

In order to apply for a visa or residence permit for spouse reunification, it is also necessary for the person living in Germany to have a valid residence permit.  It should be noted in particular that not every residence title allows family reunification. In this respect, the law lists a number of residence permits that make it possible for spouses to join their spouse. Initially, the permanent residence permits (settlement permit and EU long-term residence permit) and the employment-based migration permits (EU Blue Card and ICT Card) are not problematic. If you are a foreigner living in Germany and have one of these titles, you can apply to join your spouse without further ado. For all other residence permits, the special requirement is that the residence permit must either have existed for at least two years or that the marriage already existed when the residence permit was issued and the duration of the stay in Germany is expected to be more than one year.

 

For family reunification with foreigners, it is generally not necessary for the foreigner living in Germany to actually already have the residence permit or settlement permit or the corresponding electronic residence permit (eAT) or ID card. From a purely legal point of view, family reunification is therefore also possible in many cases on the basis of a visa or a fictitious certificate. In practice, however, this procedure leads to formal problems. In this respect, the embassies assume that the residence status is then not "sustainably" secured. This often leads to the embassy not processing the application any further. It can help here if, for example, a lawyer confirms to the embassy that the foreigner living in Germany will actually receive the residence permit (Letter of Attorney).

3. German language skills

It is also a basic requirement that the spouse joining the family must be able to communicate in German in a simple manner (A 1 language skills according to the Common European Framework of Reference). However, the legislator has created more and more exceptions to this basic rule through the continuous development of the Skilled Immigration Act. In particular, it is now no longer necessary to prove German language skills if the foreigner living in Germany has an employment migration title (i.e. in particular EU Blue Card, ICT Card, residence permit for self-employment, self-employment, employment as a manager, executive, company specialist, researcher, §§ 18a, 18b AufenthG, etc.). Family reunification from certain countries also generally does not require German language skills. There are numerous other statutory exceptions and exceptions based on case law, on which a specialist lawyer for migration law can advise you in case of doubt.

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4. Secured livelihood

4.1 Probationary period passed

Furthermore, the livelihood must be secured if you wish to apply for a visa or a residence permit for family reunification. As a rule, this means that, as a foreigner living in Germany, you must provide proof of an employment contract with a sufficient salary. The authorities often also require that the probationary period has already expired (so-called "sustainably" secured livelihood) and that the employment relationship has not yet been terminated. From a lawyer's perspective, it is doubtful whether such strict requirements can be found in the law. A so-called employer's certificate must regularly be submitted as proof of a "sustainably" secured livelihood. In this document, the employer of the foreigner living in Germany must confirm that the information provided by the foreigner in the visa process is correct, that the probationary period has already expired and that the employment relationship has not yet been terminated. The employer's certificate can usually be downloaded from the website of the respective foreigners authority (see e.g. here for the foreigners authority in Frankfurt am Main, here for the district administration department (KVR) in Munich (Munich Foreigners Authority) and here for the foreigners authorities in Hamburg (Hamburg Welcome Center)).

4.2 Sufficient living space

Another requirement for family reunification with a foreigner is that you can prove that you have "sufficient" living space. This requirement is also checked very strictly by the authorities. What exactly constitutes "sufficient" living space is quite controversial in the legal world, as neither the size of the apartment nor a specific duration of the tenancy agreement can be found in the law. This point therefore repeatedly leads to disputes with the authorities and also in court. The "Housing Supervision Act" of the state of Berlin, according to which at least 9 m² must be available for each adult person and at least 6 m² for each child, provides an initial point of reference for determining the size of the apartment. However, the Housing Supervision Act is a social law law (i.e. does not directly refer to the Residence Act) and is only relevant for the state of Berlin (so-called state legislation). This law therefore does not apply in other German federal states. However, similar standards have emerged in case law. According to a much-cited ruling by the OVG Berlin-Brandenburg, living space is sufficient in any case if "12 sqm of living space is available for each family member over the age of six and 10 sqm for each family member under the age of six and ancillary rooms (kitchen, bathroom, WC) can be shared to a reasonable extent" (OVG Berlin-Brandenburg, ruling of 31.07.2015 - 7 B 39.14). According to another ruling by the OVG Berlin-Brandenburg, falling short of these values by 10% is not harmful (OVG Berlin-Brandenburg, ruling of March 25, 2010 - OVG 3 B 9.08).

 

Sufficient living space must often be proven to the foreigners authority by submitting a corresponding certificate of residence. You can usually download this accommodation certificate from the website of the Foreigners' Registration Office (e.g. here for the Foreigners' Registration Office in Frankfurt am Main and here for the District Administration Department (KVR) in Munich (Munich Foreigners' Registration Office)), otherwise it will be sent or handed to you by your responsible case officer. The certificate of residence should not be confused with the landlord's confirmation (which is sent to you by your landlord) or the registration certificate (which is issued to you by the citizens' office, district office or town hall ).

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5. Consent of the foreigners authority

Another prerequisite for family reunification is that the immigration authority agrees to the visa being issued by the embassy. Although you must apply for the visa at the embassy, the embassy will then contact the immigration authority of the specified place of residence internally in order to obtain the necessary approval there. This approval procedure causes many difficulties in practice, as the internal coordination between the authorities takes a very long time and often does not work. Sometimes it can even happen that the authorities have different opinions. This happens, for example, if the embassy believes that all requirements for issuing a visa have been met, but the foreigners authority disagrees. The procedure is then "frozen", as both authorities no longer see themselves as responsible and therefore do not process the case any further. The only way to "resolve" such situations is usually to instruct a lawyer to apply for access to the files[2] and then settle the conflict between the authorities.

Guide to applying for a spouse visa

The spouse visa for family reunification is applied for at the embassy in the same way as any other visa. The above-mentioned requirements must be proven by presenting the relevant documents to the embassy at the visa appointment. As family reunion visas have often been abused in the past (e.g. by creating a sham marriage), the embassies are often overly cautious when processing applications (especially in countries with dysfunctional document systems in some places (e.g. Pakistan and Nigeria)), which makes the process very complicated and lengthy. Even minor errors in the documents or in the appointment often lead to a blockade by the embassies, as they very quickly sense fraud and refuse to process the application any further. In order to avoid this, it is advisable to commission a lawyer specializing in migration law to carry out a document check ("lawyer verification") and provide legal support during the visa process before the application is submitted.

 

To apply for spouse reunification at your embassy, you must proceed as follows:

Step 1: Determining responsibility and booking an appointment

First of all, you need to find out which embassy is responsible for you. The responsibility generally depends on the place of residence and can be looked up on the website of the respective embassy (see e.g. here list of the different embassies in India and here the joint website of the embassies in the USA). Once you have found out the correct embassy, you need to book an appointment in the embassy appointment booking system (RK-Visa) at your respective embassy. Due to embassy overload, appointments are often not available and you can only register a place on the waiting list. Further details on how to find the relevant embassy and register for an appointment can be found in our Visa Application Guide.

Step 2: Collect the necessary documents

Once you have determined the responsible embassy, you can find out on the website which documents will be required for your application for a spouse visa for family reunification.

 

The following documents are generally required:

 

  • Apply for a spouse visa from India: Checklist for spouse visa Germany from India

  • Applying for a spouse visa from Turkey: Checklist for a spouse visa Germany from Turkey

  • Apply for a spouse visa from Russia: Checklist spouse visa Germany from Russia

  • Apply for a spouse visa from Iran: Checklist spouse visa Germany from Iran
    Apply for a spouse visa from Pakistan: Checklist spouse visa Germany from Pakistan

  • Applying for a spouse visa from the USA: Checklist spouse visa Germany for US citizens

  • Apply for a spouse visa from the Philippines: Checklist spouse visa Germany from the Philippines

Step 3: Interview and costs

Once you have received an appointment, you must attend it to present the relevant documents. If necessary, the embassy employee will also conduct a short interview with you to check the "plausibility" of the application and (if necessary) your language skills

Step 4: Entering Germany

Once the visa has been issued, you can enter Germany. You can find further details on the necessary steps in our Visa Application Guide.

FAQ Spouse visa

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