My wife applied for a family reunion visa at Mumbai. The officer at the Ausländerbehörde in Hofheim says that since my marriage has taken place in India, he will order the embassy in India to initiate an investigation regarding the legality of the marriage certificate. And the embassy takes 3-4 months to carry out this investigation. I did not hear of anything of this sort before. The embassy says that the missions in India stopped doing these verifications 2 years ago and it is not required in 99% of the cases. So the officer is asking for something that is not absolutely required.

Any ideas on what I can do in this situation ? Also, can I use the services of any agency/lawyer for a greater influence on the officer ?

Guyz please help !!!!

Thanks.

To make it faster, try to get the english marriage certificate translated in german (this can be done in india in two days in few hundred rupees with the attestation, in goethe institut or german chamber of commerce) and show that to your officer in the ausländerbehorde. I could get away from the investigation delay using this method.

Also try to get your M'certifiacate attested from Ministry of External Affairs in DELHI-PATIALA OFFICE. This attestation is recognised by all embassies worldwide and also A'behordes.

HTH

Thanks for the replies.

I actually have the translated version of the marriage certificate. My wife came here on a tourist visa earlier and I got it done at that time by a translator in Frankfurt. I hope this will help.

Also, we have each other's names endorsed as spouses on our passports.

The certificate is not attested by the MEA though. How much time does this process take ? Can anyoneone go to them or do they need some other documentation alon with the certificate ?

Thanks once again for the help.

Hi Ffm,
Any Agent can do it and no additional documents are required. But ofcourse the M'cert shud be certified by Local State Govt first which is called "GAD".

HTH
Abdul

hi,
actually each one of us has had a different experience.
i applied for a reunion visa at the chennai consulate.we got married on 19th june and we applied on 20th june.before the 1st week of july my wife's visa was ready. they didnt ask for any verification.
but the case was different to one of my friends who married one month later.so it all depends on the person whom you are dealing with.
u could also request your local Auslander Behörde to expedite the process.

I went to the Indian Consulate in Frankfurt yesterday and showed them my certificate and entry in the passport. They immediately issued me another certificate with the passport details of my wife and mine and that stated that my marriage was legal as per the Indian law.

I went to the Ausländerbehörde with this certificate and the translated copy and my passport. But it seems that I am stuck with an officer who does not have the word 'reason' in his dictionary. He kept saying that he would order an investigation after 2-3 weeks (alacrity is one of his virtues). I tried to pursuade him to the best of my abilities but failed. And then he said that it is upto the embassy in Mumbai to decide if they need an investigation. The embassy says that they will have to do it if they are asked by the Ausländerbehörde. So it's a kinda circular loop. To make things worse, both Ausländerbehörde and the Mumbai embassy exchange information via snail mails. According to them faxes and emails aren't reliable enough means of communication. And each letter takes three weeks to reach the other end. (Heading back to the 18th century, they are).

I don't seen any hope of getting the visa before May next year since the investigation takes 3-4 months and add the communication and processing time to it.

I am so frustrated that I am considering leaving Germany for good. Or maybe, I am not left with any other option......

Thanks to all who tried to help.

Hi,

do not get so frustrated. As for the use of Fax, I KNOW that the communication between German authorities and embassies can be done via Fax, if it is urgent. In case any particular officer is troubling you, please demand to see the officer in higher rank to clarify the issue.

there is no need to leave Germany for such small issues...

- Dushkal

Hey iaminfrankfurt

When I arrive into Germany I could sort the things out to come together with my wife and daughter.

I have no problem to enter Germany, but the f...k man in the Auslander* told me he couldn´t give and Aufenthaltserlaubnis for my family that way. I almost stirb and I wanted to punch the head of this man but I didn´t do it because I had to much to loose and to few to win.

The solution for me and maybe for you, please don´t go alone to that offices. Ask somebody from Germany to help you and go together, the best could be your boss. My boss easily and smoothly sorted the things out and two days later I had all the passports with vissum.

The Beamtern acts differently when they are in front of Germans. Sad but true, I have proved. They have duties when they deal with public (stated in their contracts) and I you feel you are not satisfied with them, you can make a complaint or even suit them. The Germans make that kind of things and they know it, so they act smooth, smiling and so on.

So, please go again with a natural born German, ask him to speak in german with the Beamter and start from the beginning one time more.

Good luck

YO

The Beamtern are real useless fellows. I had enough trouble when i came here, and infact they made me to go bak to my home country to get the right visa. They also took their sweet time and gave enough troubles to issue the reunion visa. It was really Frustrating and i was also in mindset to quit germany and my company dint want me to go back tho they couldnt get anything done with the Ausländerbehorde.

Regarding the communication, you have to specially mention them to use faxing, and in my case even for the fax they took three days. They said all the faxes to be send, will go to an another office and from there it will be sorted and faxed.. (lousy system)

If possible, get one of ur german friends or colleagues to go with you and talk to them.

Hi may i know what kind of certificate (Hindu or Tamil nadu marriage certificate) submitted?. How did u get exempted from the verification?

Can you share your experience and the time frame? 

When did u received call from ABH?

You can look at my below thread also 
http://www.trust7.com/forum/-/message_boards/view_message/738797#_19_message_738797