I am looking for a house where should i look ? I have to extend my Visa as i have a longer Duration of my course. What do I do ? I am getting married. How to approach for a dependent Visa ? What are the rules ? Whom to contact ? How long does it take ? Congratulations. You donot need to approach anyone, but your wife needs to approach the nearest German Embassy. You need to just get your documents ready. Check out the latest rules from the German Embassy on their website. In case of any problem that you are unable to get the rules contact the Auslanderamt for the rules. They normally should answer your written letter or email. My recent experiences with regard to the visa for my wife after our marriage on 1st September 2007(the necessity for me to mention this date is because of the fact that the rules may vary for others/not freshly married, etc - i am not sure in this case). But this information should be helping the others. Documents required for spouse VISA application.
In reply i got some additional good comments I think the following docs out of Kiran's list should not be a MUST .... I believe you can do without them ......... 2. English version should be OK 3. florist bills ..marriage hall bills..... this is too much ... 5. I think not needed 7. what .., are we trying to do ... come on ..... 10. 9 will do 15. dont apply for dep visa for wife saying she is ur girl friend ...especially after attaching marriage certificate 17. Not required I think visa application, passport, marriage certificate in English (stamped by the competent central/state ministry office in India .. registrars stamp is not sufficient), house contract, work contract (showing period of work, and income), and your residence permit(on ur passport ....necessary copies of all these papers..... these are sufficient..... Also not to forget, the folowing ammendment rule was enforced from 28th August 2007. Under the amended Immigration Act which entered into force on 28 August 2007, foreign spouses have to prove they have at least a basic knowledge of German. For detailed information on this, please click on the link below to the website of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. You can also request further information directly from the German diplomatic missions in the respective country. http://www.integration-in-deutschland.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/DE/Integration/Publikationen/Sonstige/familiennachzug-flyer-de-en,templateId=raw,property=publicationFile.pdf/familiennachzug-flyer-de-en.pdf So please be aware of this also. Also there is a nice set of rules... etc but in high office-German at http://www.aufenthaltstitel.de/beschverfv.html#9 and also at this site http://www.aufenthaltstitel.de/aufenthaltsg.html Additionally another friend posted... Hi There, In
my case, the investigators came to my üplace in india and asked about
all kind of bills and fdretail that could be presented like marriage
hall bill, bill or details Jewellery given as presents. They also
personally enquired the manager of local temple where I got wed
according to Sikh rites. But all this happened mainly because I applied
for visa after more than 1year of my wedding as I planned to leave for
germany only after completing studies and this delay made the embassy
suspicious, but when I told them reason and showed my certificates, the
investigators who we visited me were quite staisfied and I got call for
visa after one month then. In total it took 6 months iun my case which
is quite long. so in case applies for dependent visa with a long delay,
be ready for such inquiry. This happens also when they find other
details suspicious. some others wrote the time it tookin our case it took about 4 months after applying in Delhi. applied in dec 2006 and visa got in April 07. Also there were other questions like Is there any apartment restrictions like area (in square meters) for spouse visa application?. If yes please let me know the minimum area required. The other problem is about attestation of the documents.Look at the excelent mail from Karthik with the complete details. This will be useful for everyone who is going to apply for spouse visa. This is the experience which i had recently (nov 2007) I got the attestation very recently. Its a big process unless and untill u know some person in the chennai secreteriat and the collector office in the area where you are residing. I did everything myself and it took to me around 8 weeks to get the attestation. Here is the process: 1. Take your marraige certificate to the secreteriat office and get a form and the fill in the details and paste a 2 rs stamp (which u get from secreteriat)in it. U have to wait in a queue. Submit it to the officer there.. n he will give u a reference no: and this no: isto track ur certificate. This is what u have to do in sec office. A copy of your cert will be sent to the collector office in the place where u r residing. 2. After a week go to the collector office and check whether the copy is there or not. Normally it shld be there. 3. the officer in the collector office will send the forms (which he recieved) to the registrar office where u registered the marraige. The office in the registrar office are the one who cld authorise that you have registered ur marraige.. and then they will make an entry in a book n then they will send ur cert copy and a letter along with that back to the collector office. 4. From the collector office it will be send to the secreteriat. ur ref no: will be entered in a book. u have to check for ur no: and when it is entered. you can go n ask for ur attested cert. they will make the red seal on the cert or on the copy. - you can make the process faster when the cert reaches the collector office. - at times the one working in the secr office forget to enter the ref no: in the book.. be careful. - there is also another possibility for point no: 4 which i mentioned. you can also personally collect the forms and then take it directly to the secr office n get the seal. This applies only to point no: 4 - the person who submitted the forms in point no: 1 shld recieve the form bcoz they have signed the form with stamp in it. if the person cldnt collect it..he/she may provide a letter stating that some other person will collect in favor.. get the red seal.. go and apply for visa. Many says that marraige cert attestation is a must n some say its not required. so its always better to have the seal which brings no doubt to the german consulate. Some say that if your spouse get the name changed in her passport (from her father name to ur name).. attestation is not required. i m not sure how far this is true. The other email which says similar is: Some 4 years ago I had to get this same thing done... that time somebody living in chennai and working in state govt office helped me personally by going to the secretariat. I belive the procedure is, one has to go to the office of the ministry of external affairs at the secretariat, chennnai, with the marriage certificate issued by the local registrar. In this office you should get an appropriate form which you have to fill up (this I belive is some kind of application / official requisition) and submit along with the mariage certificate. (I believe you get from the registrar, three identical copies of the certificate; you need to give only one piece at the secretariat). I dont remember but may be one requires to submit also copies of passport/ration card entries / voters ID card ... ( I did not have the later two but may be I submitted copies of passport). After a waiting period, you get the attested marriage certificate (a big red seal and signature on the copy you gave them) ..... As I pull this stuff from my memory it sounds like a story .... hope it might help you .... But finally i hope it helped you. Also there were some other questions like in the email below: I am working at Berlin, Germany from the past 6 months and I got married last month. Now I want to bring my wife in dependent visa to Germany. There are some queries which I need to get clarified, I hope I can get it resolved by someones real experience. I applied for my spouse visa process, but my documents are not accepted by the counslate becuase I have not submitted Register Marriage certificate but I have submitted Marriage certificate from my local place where I got married and Marriage certificate from Chief Kazi, Chennai who is appointed by the Govt. of Tamil Nadu. Also I have submitted Afidivate certificate from notary public. 1. Whether I need to do register marriage again for getting marriage certificate? IF u go with my experience which i had done for my baby & spouse. i used this trick 2 times. i live in munich & a management consultant. u just get register ur marriage with the registrar of marriage at the place where u got married. then apply for a visit visa for your wife. tell them that u are taking ur wife for honnymoon. write a good covering letter. if u need i will try to help u in that. then as soon as u land here u just go to foreign office in ur city & ask for residence permit. it will take not more then 30 min. & it will save ur expenditure too. else if u apply in india then they will send it for inquiry & all & charge additional fees. the other problem that it will take at least 3 months for ur wife to be here or might be more. plz feel free to ask any further query. Also, Before
that let me get something clear idea. Actually I went for my marriage
last month in one month vacation, in the last minute I came to know
that they are not accepting the marriage certificate from Kazi or
notary public. So immediately I went to registrar and applied for
register marriage but they told I have to appear after one month to put
signature in their register for getting register marriage certificate
:(((((( anyways I'm trying to get the certificate after one month or in
between by giving some *****. i need to know 2 things at the moment
from you. Firstly, I'm quite surpised that you've not read the information provided on the Chennai's German Consulate's website for the family reunion visa completely. Otherwise you wouldn't have sounded happy when you read Amit's post. Anyway it states "Simultaneous applications for visiting visa in order to "bridge" the processing time of the necessary visa cannot be entertained. Visa for tourist or visiting purposes cannot be converted into residence permits after arrival" Please go through the information in the link below. I know you've applied for your wife's visa from the Chennai Consulate. The information in the link is published on the Mumbai's German Consulate. Nevertheless, its the same rule. If the link is not working, read the information under Family Reunion visa. Once you application has been submitted at the consulate for family reunion visa, NO other Schengen member country Consulate will accept your application for a tourist visa. Here are the answers to your queries. 1. Whether I need to do register marriage again for getting marriage certificate? You don't have to do a register marriage, but have to "Register" your marriage at the local marriage registration office. As your marriage ceremony has already taken place, the Government office will issue the certificate in a day or two. In case the marriage has been performed according to Muslim marriage Act, do check with the Consulate if they require any other document. After the marriage certificate is issued, apply for the copies of the same for future. I'm not talking about Xerox copies. Get the marriage certificate attested by the State Home Ministry. Usually a stamp is put on the back side of the cerfiticate. Get a A4 size copy of the attested certificate done, if the size is too big. German Immigration authorities & Federal offices need all the documents in A4 size as it's a practice here. You should already know it. 2. Which is the better to apply either dependent visa or tourist visa? As suggested by Jatin 3. If tourist visa is applied then what is the duration which I will get for visa and is it possible to extend from germany itself. Refer to the first part of this e-mail. Extension not possible. 4. How long it will take for getting tourist visa and what are all documents required for applying tourist visa. Chennai Consulte usually takes 24 hours if you reside in Chennai else 48 hours to issue the tourist visa. 5. I don't know why the registar has called after a month to put your signatures. The marriage certificate is usually give in a day or two if the marriage has already taken place. 6. Visit visa & tourist visa are the same. The answer was:I didnt quite understand what the trick was..? Anyway, I am afraid... such tricks sometimes will not work and it will pay you a lot at the end. If you read the past group mails you can see such cases reported, where both the tourist and dependent visa had problems and they issued the visa after 6 months (i dont know if this was in IIG or munichmela bulletin.. plz search there) AND Please read the consulate website for the visa information atleast three times. you will get all the details. > Before that let me get something clear idea. Actually I went for my marriage last month in one month vacation, in the last minute I came to know that they are not accepting the marriage certificate from Kazi or notary public. So immediately I went to registrar and applied for register marriage but they told I have to appear after one month to put signature in their register for getting register marriage certificate :(((((( anyways I'm trying to get the certificate after one month or in between by giving some *****. i need to know 2 things at the moment from you. certificate you get from there (from priest, kazi.. whatever) you need a proper registered certificate or court marriage certificate. for this you do not need to make a "register marriage". AFAIK, "register marriage" and "marriage registration" are different. In the first case you have to apply at the concerned office about 2 months in advance and they put a notice that the party is getting married. And the notice should stand there for atleast a month or so without objection by anyone to make the registered marriage. in the second case, you get married as per tradition/religion/temple/ church/ etc... and then you got the concerned office and register your marriage. witness should be there to register. this is easy process. > IF u go with my experience which i had done for my baby & spouse. i used this trick 2 times. i live in munich & a management consultant. u just get register ur marriage with the registrar of marriage at the place where u got married. then apply for a visit visa for your wife. tell them that u are taking ur wife for honnymoon. write a good covering letter. if u need i will try to help u in that. then as soon as u land here u just go to foreign office in ur city & ask for residence permit. it will take not more then 30 min. & it will save ur expenditure too. else if u apply in india then they will send it for inquiry & all & charge additional fees. the other problem that it will take at least 3 months for ur wife to be here or might be more. to India to get converted to depd. visa ? how did you do that ? i am afraid if this is allowed now.. both tourist and dependent visa at the same time... better have to check with consulate. Also, First let me tell about the register marriage certificate. I
went to registrar office for registring my marriage and to get the
certificate. But they told it is not possible to register it without
doing register marriage. I was ready for register marriage but again
one more junk law....... For muslim and christian there is something
like they can't marry under the normal marriage act and it should come
under Special marriage act. I got to know I have to register it and do
all the paper work, after that they will put my photo and my wife photo
on the notice board for 30 days. If there is no objection on that then
they will issue the marriage certificate and again for getting marriage
certificate both should appear for doing signature in the register. Hope you are aware of a new law which came into effect last august, which requires the spouse to do a language course from Goethe Zentrum..This is mandatory if you are applying for residence permit under family reunion visa. Its a good idea to do the MEA attestation also, which will avoid the rejection of marriage certificate by consulate, otherwise, I was told that people had to sign for marriage verification, which will further delay the process. Lets see whats new in future.Apart from this the next question which haunts many people is Can my wife work in Germany/Kiel ? the answer to this is simply Yes? but with lots of stars and ifs and buts. lets see what the others say about this Normally, one can't work in first year in Germany. But there are exceptions where one can work before one finishes first year. If you get an employer then you cant get the work permit before the first year as well. It also depends on the visa office to which you apply and how strong the employer takes a stand. Also, I think spouse can work in Germany from Day 1 if they have an employer to offer the job. There used to be a case earlier that wife can't work for first year. But i think this rule changed since 2005. I say this because, In my wife's visa it says "Employment Allowed". Also at the Buergeramt (Rathaus) they were willing to give my wife a separate tax card. Based on these observations I say that wife can work in Germany if she manages to get a job offer. Others say, I have totally different exp on this case. My wife came to Hamburg in Sep'05 and was not allowed to work and it was noted on her visa as well. Further when we got the visa extended in end of 2006, she was again told to not work until Sep'07. Same happened with one of my friends in Hamburg as well. I think in the end it depends on Bezirksamt in respective cities as well. And atleast for Hamburg, the rules have not changed. Also, My wife got the the same status as what I have BE (Beschaeftigung Erlaubt) on the very first day in Germany. As per my understanding it all depends on the person issuing the visa in Auslaenderbehoerde. There are many more things to say in this regard, but will intimate you soon. Also, the next question which follows : Tax class change ? When? where? how ? Tax class changes only after your wife lands in Germany. It will be valid from the day your wife enters Germany. In some cases you get back the Tax from the previous month if she enters Germany on the 30th or 31st in the next month's pay slip. You can get it done in the Rathaus in Kiel after your wife arrives in Kiel and hand it over to the Arbeitgeber. Lets see what are the other Questions the people have and what they say: I had a question regarding tax class change. I have got married in india last month and my wife has come with me on tourist visa - does anyone know if my tax class will change now or not. I was talking to someone and he told me that it changes only if my wife comes on a residence permit - please share your experiences if someone was in a similar situation. Also if there is anyone who has recent experiences of spouse visa from Delhi embassy then please mail me as I will be applying for the same in march first week. and ....... you get class III only when your wife is registered here. If she is registered in Germany before end of December, you get tax class 3 for the entire year ( and hence get significant taxes back). This is one reason why many Germans marry in December. Given then information in your email, this is not possible for you anymore. Your wife can now aply for residence permit only after going back. Unfortunately, this means that the new rules w.r.t. German language knowledge apply to her, and she has to produce a certifcate of around 200 hours of German (from Max Muller Bhavan) before she can apply. She is exempted from this provision if you hold a research job (PhD/ Post Doc position). Do talk to your local Auslaenderamt for details. In all, do calculate a procedure of 4-6 months to get your wife here. Tourist visas unfortunately cant be extended/converted into residence permit. another replied, I have the same case as yours. I investigated in Auslaender Buero. They informed me that my tax class will change after my wife will get the Family reunion visa / residence permit. I am going to apply that in April 2008. Please let me know how the process of family reunion visa goes at your side. Apart from that what the staff of the Rathaus say is: wohnt Ihre Ehefrau auch in .....(ur place)? Wenn ja, erhalten Sie ab Tag der Eheschließung die Steuerklasse 3. Sollte Ihre Frau noch im Ausland wohnen, bleibt die Steuerklasse 1 erhalten. Ändern müssen Sie die Steuerkarte im Einwohnermeldeamt ....(ur place). Rest will follow soon... |