Hello All,

Iam Shyam presently in Germany as a student. I am here for the past two years and now about to finish my studies and have a job offer in hand. Iam married and my wife is in India now. I came to know from friend that, to apply for a dependent visa, one must have stayed in Germany for atleast 2 years (and period of study being counted half) so in my case its 1 year now. So could someone let me know if this is true and have come across this rule.

The other question is that I also came across this forum and the consulate websites that normally if you are in Germany and your spouse applies for reunion visa, it takes ages to get it after all those verification and stuff. So would it be a faster way that I go back to India by deregistering myself from the local ausländeramt and freshly apply visa for both of us from India (I refer to Bangalore consulate here). I would really appreciate if some of you could share some of the experiences and view about something similar, if you have come across.

Cheer
Shyam

1. The two year rule is a nonsense. If you have married and you have sufficient funds to support your wife+she needs German A1 certificate, it shouldnt be a problem. Ofcourse as a student, you might not have enough finances to support her so recommendation is to apply for family reunion after you start a job.

2. Verification may or maynot take place - at the discretion of the consulate/embassy.

I dont think that it would be faster if both of you apply once again from India. Besides, once you do Abmeldung, it would be difficult to get your two years counted towards citizenship and permanent residence times (Niederlassungserlaubnis)

The two year rule seems absurd but it is stated here (section 30, (1), 3, d.),
http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_aufenthg/englisch_aufenthg.html#p0319

Previous posts also mention grounds of refusal for spouse visa on this basis,

http://www.trust7.com/de/foren/visa_questions/spouse_visa_rejected_advice

http://www.trust7.com/de/foren/help_needed/spouse_visa_rejected

@shayam

you can only sponsor your wife after the probation period i.e. after 6 months......I would suggest to apply together from India, with a strong letter from your company it will be processed faster.

In future if you are planning to take up NE or DE Citizenship, your earlier stay in DE i.e. time of residence will not be considered if you stay outside DE for more than 6 months i.e. you can stay away for upto 179 days

Good luck and keep us update!