Hi,
I work in a software company in Germany as full time employee (paying regular taxes).
I got married since 1 year and my wife has applied for visa last december at German Embassy in My home country. She has submitted all required documents as needed. After around 6 months, still her applicaion is under processing.

As far I know it takes 6 to 8 weeks if all required documents are submitted. Can anybody please help me to know what can I do in this situation as after passing 6 months her visa application is still under processing.

I will be very helpfull to get an reply.

MMR

it's very abnormal to take such a long time. you should contact with your locak ABH and also with the embassy to know the status of the application.
by the way, which country are you from - if you don't mind?

regards,

mk

hi,
Thanks a lot for ur reply. i am from Bangladesh. Once I did contact with local ABH two months back, they said, it can take 6 months if they want.
I want to know regarding the govt. rules which I can point it out and strict on that next time I will do contact with them.
Cheers,
mmr

Ask your spouse to check the embassy in Bangaladesh. If they say the papers have been sent to germany, go to the ABH again and tell them. There are no defined rules for Visas. Even if there are, the people sitting ABH are lousy!! Try to go ABH once a week and put pressure on there. Also drop them an email. Your email will always be get answered properly!! It has worked for me.

Bringing spouse to Germany is more difficult than finding a suitable spouse!!!

Hi,

It is very hard to be apart on the other sides of the world for newly married couples. I know this..

6 months is a very long time. If you got married before you came here, then it should took a couple of weeks for your wifes visa. Otherwise max. 3 months.

You can send an email to auswartigesamt.de and explain your problem. I am sure they'll respond to you. For my wife we got the visa that way.

good luck,
KaaN

hi KaaN,
Can you please let me know the contact address (ph or email or both) of auswaertigeramt, because I do not find it from their web site.

Cheers,
mmr.

I used the form on this page:
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/de/Kontakt

KaaN

Hi Crown,

do not write an e-mail to that amt right away. it may further lengthen your case! proceed step by step. i know it sometimes happens over there. but 6 months is really an abnormal case!

the local embassy does things very slowly. the girl who works there as a clerk to the visa officer seems to be helpful; but as a matter of fact she is not! try to know if they have sent all the documents, they have verified your nikahnama and marriage certificate by the lawyer. you can call them from here. your wife can also go in person to know the status, as they generally dont want to respond over phone.

if you need further help you can contact with me ( mobile: 0179-9457230).


regards,

mk

mmr,

in which city do u live?

hi mr,
ya, they send the documents here since 2 months. Here in local ABH, i was called and submitted other requrieds papers like, signed papers from house owner abt accodmodation (besides mitvertrag), confiramtion of insuration of spouse, 4 months of salary statemtns, etc... Recently (3 weeks back) local embassy got an letter from here to investigate the mary certificates (is seems that local embassy keeps idle to varify documents unless told from here),

So now local embsssy got an issue to investigate and took 12 thousand taka (130 euro apporx.) for investigation charge, besides regular visa fee. They said sometimes germany authority tells them to investigate the documents. I do not mind on it but I do not understand what does this investigation means. local embassy told my wife to contact after two months with them.

I am confused and quite disapponted about all these matters.

by the way, I live in Augsburg.
mmr.

The local embassy would appoint a lawyer. He will go to the Kazi office, may be to your area & your fathe-in-law's area. The lawyer may ask the neighbours and your family members about the marriage.
As your marriage is correct, he should not make any trouble to OK your case. I know many people give him some money as bribe to send his OK report to the embassy quickly.

You should contact with the embassy frequently to know the status of this verification. You have to push! Pushing always works everywhere in the world!

regards,

mk

hi mk,
I heard about this lawyer apointment. I do not care about investigatioin but I care abt the time those ppl will take to do it. I do not prefer pushing them because those ppl are highly VIP to catch by ph, if I knew that I have any judicial right to stop this unnecesarry delay, I would have gone for that.

Cheers,
mmr.

Hi Crown,

I am an Indian also working and staying in Augsburg, I am also facing the same problem. My wife applied for visa on 2nd feb. I visited ABH many times and this lady in Augsburg ABH is not at all friendly, when I ask some this she simply says "I dont know". last week my wife was also aked to pay 8000 rupees and original marriage certificate for investigation on marriage. please write your telephone number or send me an email to vempatiUNDERSCOREgermanyATyahooDOTcom, may be it makes sense to be in contact.

Regards,
Vempati.

Hi,

It is really painful to hear these posts. It is getting horrible to bring spouses inside Germany. I clearly dont understand about the mood of these Beamters.

What does one beamter get from checking the legality of marriage? I think it is to just justify their 42 hrs working time in Bayern. Earlier they had a specific timeframe like 12 weeks(waiting time). now in future getting just an entry visa to Germany will also become like Canadian PR application!! (wait wait and wait without any answers)

I think you cannot screw anyone in Bandladesh's consulate as i feel visa is a sensitive issue and any normal citizen would not like to risk anthing with the Visa officers. I think you need to approach a lawyer and he will do the rest.

The situation 5 years before was a completely different situation but i think now it is like a tug of war for getting a spouse visa and after all who wants to be alone for 6 months after getting recently married!!

I wish you all a good weekend

Best Regards
Rajesh

hi Vempati
This is the same case for me whenever I ask the guy there (who is dealing with my case) in ABH regarding it, he tells me the same thing, even he was requested from our personal dept. several times to speed it up, but he always tell, "i can't do anything, embassy in your country will take care of this investigation and they will report us when they will finish with it". I should hold right to know about it and for me ABH is the dept. to knock. its quite an harassment and insulting though doing quite responsible job here.

by the way, I would like to attract attention of our moderator and other cordial members who can give us good advice.

Cheers,
Crown.

Dear Moderators and other cordial members,

I am planing to publish an article in daily newspapers regarding this spouse visa issue. I don't know how it will affect but please let me know if someone having an better way to make early solution of this problem.

Cheers,
crown.

I was faced with a simlilar situation.

My wife applied for a visa in Mumbai. The beamter here ordered the legalization of marriage certificate. The embassy found the request unusual initially but later they told me that they were coming across this request more frequently lately.. Then they hired an agency in Mumbai for the verification. I was made to pay 8600 Rs for that. The agent came to my home town in India. He also went to my wife's home town and visited the registration office. He asked a couple of neighbours. And then he submitted his report. The embassy then informed the AB here. The beamter then approved the visa within a week.

The whole process took about 2.5 months.

Points to be noted:

1. Don't be afraid of calling the beamter or the embassy. I even called the investiagtion agency several times for quick results. You have to prod them everyday if you want your application to move. If you keep sitting, it may take years.

2. Get your name endorsed as spouse on your wife's passport and vice versa. This makes your case very strong. The investigation agency understands it fully well and just goes through the motions for the fees that they have taken.

3. Try to pursuade the beamter to take your documents in advance. Just make him say that everything's fine here and he's just waiting for the results of certificate investigation. He will be a bit reluctant but he will since he already has the file number. Also there is a set of documents which are given by the AB at the last moment.. like a letter from your house owner, a declaration that you or your wife didn't have children oustide this marriage or you don't receive any social help etc. Try to get them from the beamter in advance and give them back to him after filling them. Saves some time..

I know what you are going through. I wish you good luck..

For any questions mail me at iaminfrankfurtATgmailDOTcom

@guys,
i started this thread few months back regarding problem with bringing my wife here. btw, now it has 7 months over but the status is as it was few months back.

ABH beamter and DE embassy, they altogether made this issue as a "never ending story". DE embassy presumely is done with their verification, but it seems that the report will arrive here after travelling the universe.

Can anybody eagerly please help me what can i do. I am completely tired with handle this issue which turns me to take decision to leave this country.

@Vempati, can you please let me know about status of visa application of ur wife.

Cheers,
crown.

Dear crown,

In my case the marriage legalness enquiry got finished and they sent a report on june 3rd and the report reached here 24th june and they asked me to submit my last 3 months pay slips and house measurements and a clarification from house owner that my wife can stay there in that house, I submitted the same on 29th june and the Beamter told me that my wife will get visa soon and I asked to myke it very fast by sending a fax as coming days are bad for my religion she agreed for that, but no visa till today.

Last week (monday), I called German embassy in India and they said they haven't get either fax or courier and immediately I called this Beamter and she told me she sent a fax any may be people are busy in germany embassy in India and suggested me to wait for some more time.

Still waiting..........

Regards,
Vempati.

"Can anybody eagerly please help me what can i do. I am completely tired with handle this issue which turns me to take decision to leave this country."

you can invite her here - tourist visa - and once she arrives make an application for a residence permit for her. do you have results of verification done by an embassy? would really help a lot although is not really necessary. important thing is that verification was done, if result of that verification is positive of course

"and a clarification from house owner that my wife can stay there in that house"

!

"I called German embassy in India and they said they haven't get either fax or courier and immediately I called this Beamter and she told me she sent a fax any may be people are busy in germany embassy in India and suggested me to wait for some more time."

Na ja. lots of people have come here due to fake marriages - now you pay for them

"Can anybody eagerly please help me what can i do. I am completely tired with handle this issue which turns me to take decision to leave this country."

you can invite her here - tourist visa - and once she arrives make an application for a residence permit for her. do you have results of verification done by an embassy? would really help a lot although is not really necessary. important thing is that verification was done, if result of that verification is positive of course

"and a clarification from house owner that my wife can stay there in that house"

!

"I called German embassy in India and they said they haven't get either fax or courier and immediately I called this Beamter and she told me she sent a fax any may be people are busy in germany embassy in India and suggested me to wait for some more time."

Na ja. lots of people have come here due to fake marriages - now you pay for them

@vempati:

Dont sit and wait for more than one week at a time.

One of my friend had to ask his ABH to fax the consent three times, until the German consulate in India got it. And you can request your ABH to sent it per Fax AND per post. Offer them to bear the postage.

Unles you keep calling them (twice a week, minimum) and follow up, your papers will sleep on someone´s table.

All the best.

Hi All,

Can anybody tell me how long it takes for the paper to arrive from Wife's visa form submission (Embassy) to local ABH ?

Mfg,
Starter.

lol accordingly to the current law system you can do absolutely nothing in order to make embassies to process your application faster. they can reject application for a visa without any explanation, they can process it till the end of next century, they can even issue a visa and then call to the border police and say them that the visa is revoked. till the time you legally crossed the border you do not have any rights, and embassies know that very well and therefore do not care. calling two times a week can get the thing done just because it will be annoying to them, but in which direction the this is going to be done - is a very good question.


therefore i would propose the following scenario:

1. wife gets tourist visa and comes to Germany.
2. after her arrival immediately - on the next day - two applications are made: an application to prolong her visa on another three months and an application for a residence permit. when an application for a residence permit gets rejected - which is very unlikely - court of law, ... . although it's much more likely that officials will just take their time and do nothing. in such a case in two months before her visa expires you need to remind them about youself and tell them that if they do not process an application before xx.xx.xx (one month before her visa expires) they can count on a claim. xx.xx.xx comes: no result? - court of law, ... .

advantages: when you successfully crossed the border, you have rights and can defend your case in courts of laws when necessary. when you apply for a visa in your home country, you have no rights and can do absolutely nothing.

@-, i was also told by ABH beamter about this new protocol.

by the way, from ur kindness, let me know please,

1. what is the possibility that torist visa will be rejected.
2. to make a tourist visa application stronger, what stuffs spouse should submit in addition to a invitation letter. how company can support to make it stronger (like, a recommendation letter also from company or so..).
3. what should be done if DE embassy says "as one visa application is going on, so if you apply for tourist visa, we will cancel your current visa application. AND if tourist visa is rejected, then situation will be MOST terrible."

Cheers, crown.

@ -

sorry, but you are misguiding ...


1. wife gets tourist visa and comes to Germany.


1. Its not possible to apply for tourist visa, when spouse visa application is in progress.

2. The chances of vist visa application getting rejected is higher than the spouse visa.


2. after her arrival immediately - on the next day - two applications are made: an application to prolong her visa on another three months and an application for a residence permit. when an application for a residence permit gets rejected - which is very unlikely - court of law, ... . although it's much more likely that officials will just take their time and do nothing. in such a case in two months before her visa expires you need to remind them about youself and tell them that if they do not process an application before xx.xx.xx (one month before her visa expires) they can count on a claim. xx.xx.xx comes: no result? - court of law, ... .


It not possible to apply for residence permit from here, when the person is here on a vist visa.

@ -

I didnt suggest to call the embassy, but the ABH.

It worked in my case!

@fred. i met, called many times, even not only me, our personal dept. guys called ABH beamter at least 5 times and talked with beamter. but beamter has nothing to do unless he has received verificatiion report.

ALSO, beamter got angry last time i met with him and someway i convinced him to send an email to DE embassy but he did not get any reply from them yet, therefore i have no other way but suffer and blame my luck.

crown.

HI

Can i know from which country u applied for spouse visa and which city .

cheers,pac

"1. what is the possibility that torist visa will be rejected."

there are many people in embassy, currently only one works with a case of your wife. if a new application does not come to him - everything should be fine

"to make a tourist visa application stronger, what stuffs spouse should submit in addition to a invitation letter. how company can support to make it stronger (like, a recommendation letter also from company or so..)."

everything that shows that her life is so good there and that she has so many things that keep her there, that she in no case will even think about immigration in any other country

a letter from a company there, telling how they value her - will help a lot. a letter from german company can only harm the case

"what should be done if DE embassy says "as one visa application is going on, so if you apply for tourist visa, we will cancel your current visa application."

DE embassy will reject an application on tourist visa and continue to process another one - if an application on tourist visa will come to the same official. the likelihood depends on their application distribution scenario (very good if it is "Turnus"), on number of officials and your luck

way around: she can apply for tourist visa by french or spanish embassy, should tell there - in order not to lie ;) - that she plans to visit Germany as well

"1. Its not possible to apply for tourist visa, when spouse visa application is in progress."
"2. The chances of vist visa application getting rejected is higher than the spouse visa."
"It not possible to apply for residence permit from here, when the person is here on a vist visa."

1. it's not possible to live in Germany three years without any passport
2. it's not possible for GCs to get Sozialhilfe - they are not eligible for it
It's not possible to be self-employed with an original GC-visa (the one that was issued upon arrival here), and without any agreement from Arbeitsamt


should i continue? ;)

@-, your last speech is completely confusing. you should not confuse other with your opinion without having a concrete knowledge on that.

crown.

"@-, your last speech is completely confusing."

example please?

@ "-"

way around: she can apply for tourist visa by french or spanish embassy, should tell there - in order not to lie - that she plans to visit Germany as well

but wont the Spanish/French embassy demand for an invitation letter from some resident of Spain/France?

"but wont the Spanish/French embassy demand for an invitation letter from some resident of Spain/France?"

heh it's possible to say that she wants to have a vacation in Spain/France together with her husband that lives in Germany, and just wanted to save some money on the tickets

or think up some other story *lol*

bzw are there no companies in your country that make people tourist visas for some little payment? if you can't think up a good story yourself, go to them

Dear Crown and all,

I am happy to inform you that my wife got visa on last monday (18/07/2005). but it took five and half months after application.

Regards,
Vempati.

Hi Vempati,

Congratulations man !!! You managed to cross the big battle, it seems so :-)

Hey dude, it must have been a hard way for you to manage things officially as well as emotionally. Many wishes for this stuff.

Greetings,
Starter.

"Congratulations man !!! You managed to cross the big battle, it seems so"

yo! poor officials. if he sent them some coffee they would be much-much more happy, at least would not be so bored to think that "arbeit macht spaß"

Hi Crown,

I know its already old discussion but still wanted to know as I am facing the same situation right now. Did your wife finally got the visa? How long did the German local embassy in Bangladesh take for verifying the Marriage certificate? How was the verification done? Did the lawyer contacted your family over there?

I would be really thankful if people gives some ideas about the verification procedure and how long it might take. As its already more than 3 months that my wife had applied for visa.