Hi Friends

Before starting I would like to thank Trust7 for creating and maintaining this platform.

I learned a lot of things from this forum and hope will continue in future.

For my wife family reunion visa, i read each and every post to understand the procedure involved, pain, tips and tricks.

Myself (German citizen since two years, born in Hyderabad, mother tongue is Telugu)
my wife ( Indian citizen, born in Hyderabad, mother tongue is Telugu)

Married on 8th December 2013
German course mandatory for my wife (for blue card visa holders is not mandatory)
Started German course: March(crash course,Goethe institute, Hyderabad)
Around mid of May got the A1 passed certificate
we had made Apostille for our marriage certificate(costed for us Rs. 7000/-  )(was very helpful for me)

Documents
1. Passport (I had already changed my wife passport surname to my surname which is not mandatory)
2. I filled the application form and explained to my wife about the filled info
3. Copy of wife passport ( only back and front where the information is and any other countries visa info)
4. I had written the personal covering letter for my wife and explained to her
5. My passport, only info page(my German passport)(For Indian citizens it is Front, back and your visa)   
6. Certificate of residence(this certificate we will get from Bürgeramt called "Meldebestätigung" in German
7. Marriage certificate original (original is a must)
8. A1 German language certificate original(original is a must)
9. 3 Biometric Photographs

Appointment:
With VFS booked the appointment for Family Reunion visa .....
Interview date: 26/5/2014

Submission:
After giving the arranged documents, the following questions had been asked..
1. When you got married?
2. Where is your original marriage certificate?
3. where is your original A1 certificate?
4. Oh!! your husband is a German citizen?

After the answer, Yes, My husband is a German citizen... no questions at all...only took the finger prints and informed that "No processing fees for the German spouses".. and " you will get the mail if verification required"......finished (interview was only for 5 minutes)

Process in Germany:

Documents will be scanned and sent to Germany.
In ABH(foreign office), the person was in holidays for 2 weeks...
After 2 weeks I went to ABH and enquired about my wife application.

ABH: We received the info (wife Name) applied for family Reunion visa, required another 10 days for the documents to reach..we will send you a letter which states about the documents which you have to submit

myself: I went again after 10 days since I didnot received any letter from ABH.

ABH: We are waiting for an answer from Marriage office that whether your marriage certificate will be accepted in Germany or not? 

myself: After one week I was again in ABH about the processing

ABH: He told "I will call the marriage office, please be seated..Reason for delay was: person in marriage office was on leave ...next week will be in office...Officer took my documets for the process and told that "I will reply Indian embassy as soon as i will heard from Marriage office"

Submitted Document and procedure
1. Insurance
2. Salary slips of last 3 months
3. House contract
4. meldebestätigung
Asked about any monthly cuttings for loan....
Framed all the info on a paper and took a signature from me
 
Myself:I went to marriage office next day to know more information

Marriage office: On the door, written that vertretung zimmer nummer: ... means same services can be obtained from another room person...I went inside and explained the situation about the ABH...
after seeing my original marriage certificate(which was apostilled) accepted and stamped and written a letter to the colleague who will come to office after holidays.

 Monday at marriage office: she accepted my certificate and told that information will be sent to the foreign office... i requested to make a call to foreign office immediately so that my wife will get the visa approval. she called in front of me and told to issue visa for my wife so that she can come to Germany.

Myself: Immediately i went to ABH, got an answer from the officer "i sent mail to Chennai consulate that they should give visa to your wife".
Hint: We should not expect that things will move on their own....
no mail from Chennai consulate....
After 3 days I gave a call to Chennai Consulate, about the issue of visa from Foreign office Germany, then after 30 Minutes my wife got mail about the issue of Visa on 9th July 2014

Only on Tuesday and Thursday... Visa stamping will be done at Chennai consulate

Documents submitted at VFS Hyderabad:
1. Passport
2. Flight itenary
3. Insurance letter from Germany(copy)(Not required to take any insurance from India)

Through VFS it takes 1 week for stamping .

She travelled to Germany on 20th July 2014.

Today i received German Marriage Certificate from Standesamt(Marriage office)(Being a German citizen i have to register my marriage in German registry)

Thank you each and every person who helped directly and indirectly in this process

Any thing i can help you, please let me know, thanking you

best regards
your well wisher
 



 


 

Hi,

How did you get the insurance before your wife was in Germany? I checked with Tk and they said its only possible once she is in Germany.

Thanks,
Shrey

You do not require health insurance for travel.However you need to buy travele insurance from your home country. As soon as your wife reaches/register in Germnay, you can ask your current health insurance provider to include her. You may have to pay little extra monthly premium to do that. In case of private health insurance, sometimes adding wife would be free. Just go through contract details of your provider once. 

Hi Shrey,

In my case, I went to AOK Nordwest and informed about my marriage and requested for a letter for the sake of embassy that my wife will have insurance when she is in Germany.

ABH(foreign office) - dont want any insurance document for my wife as they know that she will have insurance automatically when she reaches Germany.

Indian Consulate - Does not require any insurance letter while applying Visa. Once your visa got approved you have to submit passport plus insurance for 3 months. 

Insurance is not for travelling but after reaching Germany.

It is your wish to have insurance while travelling.

For Family Reunion Visa, If you submit a letter from your concerned insurance company that your spouse will have insurance immediately when he/she is in Germany is more than enough.

VFS Office Hyderabad: They have asked for the date in the letter, My wife told to them that "this letter states that i am having insurance when i reach Germany".

Dont worry German consulate people will understand your letter and issu the Visa.

Please let me know for any questions, thanking you

best regards
Your well wisher

 

Hi avatar316,

Thank you very much for writing the detailed post regarding the experience you had.

1. Where did you get the Apostille from ? Did you do it via VFS ?
2. A1 certificate you have mentioned is after writing the exam or certificate of attendance is enough from Goethe Institute ?
3. Do we need to mention specifically something in the cover letter ?
4. After submitting the documents in chennai (where you need original marriage certificate), you got it here in Germany by post ? I mean do you show the same Original marriage certificate here to Standesamt.

Hi Yeskay,

1. Apostille from "Excellent Apostille services", Mumbai.
2. A1 Exam passing certificate is a must apart from attendance certificate.
3. In Covering letter, introduction, about marriage(to whom and when and where), who will takecare of finance and stating at the end that all the information is true.
4.  While submitting in Chennai embassy, you need original marriage certificate. In between i was in India so i brought Original marriage certificate to Germany. i showed the original marriage certificate in Standesamt.
sorry for a delay response, please let me know for any queries, thanking you

best regards
your well wisher..

Hello,
My name is sanjay, I am married to a German national woman last month and i am applying for the Family reunion visa, I have read your post, thank you for all those informations.

I have few questions though.
1. Is it necessary that my marriage certificate needs to be Apostilled, because i was going through the family reunion visa check list and they havent mentioned anything as such.
2. Do i need to submit the original Certificate of residence (“Meldebescheinigung”) and house rental agreement of my wife or a copy of those docuemtns should be enough.

Thanks & Regards,
Sanjay D

Thanks for sharing your elobarate experience. I am going through same process for my wifes reunion visa. Apostille service is no longer accepted, instead it has to be verified by a third party. 

This is my experience and appreciate if others can share the same.

02.01.2018: My wife applied for Spousal visa  at General consulate in Chennai after completing A1 exam. 
02.02.2018: I was contacted by ABH in germany to submit my passport copy along with document showing  marriage entry in the marriage registar(Ehe eintragung in Melderegister). 
12.02.2018: I asked the Citizen's office (Bürgerbüro) to request chennai consulate for the marraige verification inorder to enter the same in the registry.
02.03.2018 my wife submitted the requested documents for further verification at Chennai. 

Does any one has similar experience? It says in the website that verification takes usually 8 weeks. How does the verificaiton process looks like in this case? Once verification is done how long does it take for you for the stamping? 

Thanks in Advance.