Hello friends,

I guess my queries are partly answered in the forum but I am in a slightly different situation. So thought of asking you guys for your wisdom.

I am an Indian by nationality and am residing with my wife (Indian as well) in the UK. I have received a contract (unlimited duration) from a company in Germany and would like to process my and my wife's permits. The embassy in London is asking for my marriage certificate attested from the German Embassy in India in order to file my visa application in London.

My questions are:
1. Has anyone been in this kind of situation before and had to get their marriage certificates attested in India to be used in an embassy abroad for visa application?
2. Will German Embassy in India do the attestation part at my request or will the German embassy in London have to request it?
3. What all documents do they usually require and what is the process like?
4. Does it always take around 3 months for them to attest? Are there chances that they do it immediately if I produce documents such as marriage photos, bills, wedding invitation cards, etc. at the embassy itself.

The entire process seems quite overwhelming to me. It seems I might have to wait 6-8 months for our visa to be processed, which is sooo long in this age :-(

I would really appreciate any pointers or information in this regard.

Thanks very much!!
5.

Welcome to Germany!

1- If your wife has a dependent visa for UK than it means your marriage was already verified by the British authorities, so you can try to convince the German Embassy in London.

2- Talk to the HR Manager of your company in Germany, they should be able to help you.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Best regards,
Raj++

Hello,

An update - I called up the German consulate in Mumbai and they mentioned that they can not start a marriage certificate attestation procedure at my request. The request needs to come from German authorities in order to be able to do the attestation.

Will have to call the German Embassy in London to know how to proceed in such a case!

Any pointers friends? Anybody got their permits processed outside their home countries? How was the process like? What happened with the marriage certificate attestation in such cases?

Thanks!

Thanks Raj! Yes. Let me try it. Hopefully there is an easy way out...

I

Hi inqsitiv,

I applied recently for my work visa and my wife's spouse visa from German consulate in Dubai, am also an Indian citizen residing in Dubai.

My work visa was issued in less than 3 weeks, but wife's spouse visa is held up. This is what is required -

1. Marriage certificate verification by German Embassy/Consulate in India nearest to your home location. But for this, the aliens office (ABH) in Germany requests this once they process your wife's visa application. Generally the German Embassy where you submitted your application calls or emails you to submit cash/draft and original marriage certificate along with a few other documents, 2-3 weeks after you submit your wife's visa application. They then send these documents to Germany Embassy/Consulate in India. The process normally takes 8-10 weeks. The German Embassy/consulate sends the verification report to ABH in Germany, which will then send the approval to Embassy in London.

2. Another important and variable requirement from either the German Embassy or ABH is your wife to know basic German, and prove this in the form of an A1 certificate. This can be waived off if your wife has a Masters degree, but in my case the German Consulate waived it off, but the ABH requested it.

3. Generally wife's visa will take at least 3 months. I would advise that you ask your employer in Germany to take this into consideration when agreeing on a start date, as unfortunately Germany although on one hand passes bills to attract high skilled people (read EU blue card), but on the other hand makes it extremely tough to grant spouse visas which frustrates many people.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

Thanks very much Khanakbar! That was very much helpful. It is quite surprising to see that the requirements waived by the consulate are still demanded by the aliens office.

Just a few more addition questions regarding the process in general:

1. Did you submit all documents for your WP, residence permit as well as your wife's visa at once or was there a sequence in the application process ( e.g. applying for residence visa only once the WP is processed)?

2. Is it possible for to one to travel to Germany and join work while the spouse's visa is still in process? Is there any drawback with that approach, other than not being able to travel together?

3. Did you have to hand over your passports to the German consulate at the beginning of the process itself? Or do they ask for submitting the passports once the approval phase is successfully completed?

1. Your wife's visa application can be submitted with your application.

2. Yes, it is possible. In my case, since I will join my German employer 3 weeks from now, my wife will return to India if her visa is not stamped by then. The Consulate in Dubai said they will send the approval to Embassy in Delhi once the visa is ready and my wife will then just need to get her passport stamped in German Embassy in Delhi.

3. No, they only ask to see the passport during initial submission, and then ask to submit the passport for a day for stamping when visa is ready. They will let you know what additional documents will be required when re-submitting for stamping (flight tickets, insurance).

Regards.