Dear Trust7 Members,

I know this topic has been discussed in this forum quite a few times and I want to know the latest experience (if any) in Rheinland Pfalz area.

I came to Germany in Sep'10 for my Master's for 15 months and got graduated in Nov'11. During the break between Thesis submission and Graduation, I got married in Oct'11. Also, when I was studying I got the job offer and Work Permit (§18 & §78) in Sep '11 till Nov '14 for my job to start from Dec '11. Currently I am on a Probabtion Period till May'12 and a permanent contract but I have requested my Manager to reduce the probation time to 3-4 months which seems possible.

My 2 years will complete in Sep '12 ideally but I got married in Oct '11. So, what exactly is this 2 year rule, is it from the day I arrived in Germany or is it starting from the day I got married? After reading in the forum, it seems this rule totally depends on the officer and the authority dealing your case.

Just to add, I also did student job for 9 months and my wife is giving her A1 in March.She is SAP FICO Consultant for last 2 years and also did her MBA in Finance.

I would really appreciate your suggestion on this.And if the 2 year rule is from the date you got married, then it seems Sep '13 is the earliest date we can apply for the spouse visa, so any suggestions on bringing my wife before that (tourist : max 90 days, Student Visa: possibility but what after MBA, Direct Work Permit : Seems impossible).

Please suggest. Thanks alot.

The 2-year rule takes into account your residence permit duration. I am not sure about Rheinland Pfalz area, as it differs from state to state, but generally the residence permit obtained as a student is considered half the duration. So if you were a student for 1 year, your time for actual residence permit would be considered as 6 months.

Now, the 2-year rule asks you to have 2 years of residence permit, which means that as you already had student status from sept'10-nov'11 = 15 months, so your actual residence period considered will be 7.5 months. So according to that rule, you can only bring your wife after 16.5 months on spouse visa.

@racorage

Thanks for the reply. Lets hope for the best.