Hello,

My name is Anmol and i would need an EXPERT advice on my situation. I'll appreciate your points.
I am from India and i have been living in Germany since one year. I have a permanent job here with good financial status and proper accomodation (which are some of the requirements for spouse VISA).I am on resident permit which is valid till 2008.

I got recently married in India and my wife applied for a Family Reunion VISA from India. The authorities in Germany denied the VISA. I then checked and they told me that they cann't give the VISA as per law. I went into details of resident act which i have pasted at the end for your reference. According to section 30 , subsection 2 of act it say that VISA MAY be issued. Now this "MAY be" word means authorities have the discretion to decide which they used in wrong way without any reasons. If i was married before i moved to Germany then my wife had a right to get this VISA but becasue i got married after i moved to Germany and i have not completed 5 years of stay it is authority's discretion to give VISA.

Can someone suggest a way out of this situation ?
Not allowing wife to meet her husband is really against basic human rights.

===== LAW =====
Spouses have the right to come to Germany if the partner already living in Germany has a settlement permit ("Niederlassungserlaubnis"), and also in some cases if he/she has a residence permit ("Aufenthaltserlaubnis"). With the latter group ("Aufenthaltserlaubnis"), this right only applies if the partner living in Germany is a recognised refugee, or has possessed a residence permit for five years, or the marriage already existed at the point at which the third-country national arrived in Germany and the duration of his/her residency is expected to last more than one year. In cases where these conditions are not met (for instance if the marriage occurs after the person has moved to Germany), then the authorities have the discretion to decide themselves.

@Anmol

In this long post of yours, you have delibrately avoided to mention things like, kind of work-permit you have, your profession (IT or non-IT), what is written on your passport.

For the answer to question, i am working in Semiconductor Research and developement area in a Fortune 500 company and i come under highly skilled category. Anyway this information is not useful for the LAW as it is only resident permit requirement which the law sees and that is why i only mentioned that. This is first marriage for me and my wife both.

Again someone who is expert or have gone through similar things who can suggest a way out please reply. My company lawer also is looking into this problem but i wanted to take additional suggestions.

@Anmols
The way you phrase your posting is a bit disturbing and arrogant. Such information may or may not be necessary to give an answer but maybe the poster wants to compare your situation with another situation that he knows of and therefore asking more information. If you already know better than the people here, how it is going to be handled , why bothering yourself by asking a question in an internet forum. No one claims to be an expert here(with an exception of a lawyer who posts here now and then) we just share the information we have without any guraantee of certanity.

And regarding your case, as we dont know the all facts of your case and the real reason of denial, it is very difficult to give you an advice. Usually Embassy itself denies the Visa, not the authorities in Germany. Authorities in Germany report to the Embassy your situation in Germany but the decision taker regarding the visa-denial is the EMBASSY. There can be zillions of reasons for the denial. My first start would be to try to find out why the visa was rejected at the embassy in first hand. There is so called "remonstration" where you can ask the reason of the denial to the Embassy. Without knowing the actual reason of the denial, starting a second attempt for applying does not seem to be a logical move for me.

Regards,

Lacrima

@anmols

uhmm....Mr. Highly Skilled :-) I apologize for dwelling on classified details of your work-permit in germany.

As Lacrima already mentioned, there can be zillions of reasons for the denial. Including mistakes in filling out visa form....for example, if you have been deported from any country, if you belong to any political organization, if you have criminal record ,commited crime against humanity....etc. etc.

My sincere apologies if anyone found the posting impolite.I never meant it that way. Actually someone told me that you can get an expert advice on this forum and that is why in the title itself i had put expert advice needed.

Anyway this information is not useful for the LAW as it is only resident permit requirement which the law sees and that is why i only mentioned that.

Did you tell this to the German authorities too ?? That could be the reason for the denial. ;)

Me and many others who brought their wife here, had to show the work contract, apartment contract and other documents too. Not just the residence permit.

You could search this forum and read others experience if you do not wish to disclose your details.

Or consult a lawyer.

<<Usually Embassy itself denies the Visa, not the authorities in Germany. Authorities in Germany report to the Embassy your situation in Germany but the decision taker regarding the visa-denial is the EMBASSY>>
This is wrong.In familie visa ABH will decide and embassy will only say what ABH want them to
say.Try to find out at which step visa is rejected ie.it can be the reason from ur side in
germany.or it can be the reason from india also like ur wife (or ur info in india) hav given some false information to the embassy or detactives or any missing doc.
try to find the reason from ABH for denial or hire a lawyer who will do it for u.Im sure there must be a logical reason for denial.

Thanks for the reply.
The authorities in Freising are nice and speak good
English. I spent 1 hour sitting with the officer and
she was nice in explaining the things.

And yes it is right that denial was from German
Authorities itself. Infact she showed me the line
which they sent to German Embassy in India which says
NO. Also she showed me all the documents which came
from India to Germany. She had all other documents
which we submitted along with VISA application. Infact
we submitted more than what was needed : my apartment
contract, employer letter, work permit etc. etc.

She clearly said that there is no problem with the
documents. It is problem with the law. Everytime i
asked why she said it is written "VISA may be issue"
and not "VISA MUST be issued". I think authorities are
just stuck at this line.

This law brings significant disadvantage to all the
foreign bachelors in Germany living for less than 5 years becasue when they get
married it MAY be that their wifes are not allowed to
stay...

The reason why one of the members asked for your visa status is very important for us to give an opinion.Did you come to Germany with a workpermit and directly work for a German company? or did you come via an Indian company and being in deputation? This matters alot. I heard there were similar problems with people in the second category.I also heard that the local authorities have brought restrictions in the last years for the indian companies for the number of visas issued per year.So some of the companies clearly tell that they cannot take their wife if they get married while in Germany for the first two years.
But some Indian companies don't tell that.I wish you a grest success.
-metro

@anmols

You, for sure, have a talent for writing long posts and divulging less information. It would help if you just mention your visa status and what's written on your passport.

Hi,

Does anyone know, is this type of denial and refusal to allow a spouse to come to be with their husband or wife happening often to people who marry a person after moving to Germany and both are from other non-EU countries? I have lived in Germany for nearly 4 years now and plan to marry a woman from Russia in the next 2 months and want to bring to live with me in Germany, but from the above info., it creates a lot of worry.

I came to Germany on a Green Card in 10/2002 and can get NE in 10/2007. In my passport, I now have an unlimited work permit until 3/2008 without any restrictions on type of work or company.

I am not sure why Germany would give a denial for a spouse. It seems really cruel and inhumaian.

The german authorities do not have to give a reason, why the visa was rejected. That is so in german laws. The applicant must do "remonstration" -what lacrima also mentioned-, then the embassy MUST explain the reason of the denial and also give suggestions. Then you can go to the Verwaltungsgericht in Berlin, if the denial was unjustified.

I hope you understood my half-english.

I don't understand what my fellow friends want to know more. As i told i have gone so much into details of matter and talked to authorities i know the exact reason why they denied. They are always telling the same law. The specifically told that there is no problem with work permit or marriage documents or ANY other document.

That is why i was specifically asking your suggestions in a situation like me where one is stuck in German law and by far the best suggestion which i got is to put an appeal.
To answer some of other details which were asked on this forum : My work permit is just like any other who is on a permanent job with unlimited duration in a German company and is valid till 2008.

Thanks for all your help.

well then search for a new forum

www.info4alien.de is a good start provided you can write in german. But sometimes they reply for english posts as well. Thats the max we can do at the moment. Good luck

@anmol,

Just because there is a "may-be" clause in the law, the authorities won't use it to deny visa for your wife. If that were the case, most of us won't have brought their spouse here.

They would have some other very specific reason to use that clause. You could have asked them to give the exact reason in writing. And then posted it here, or consulted some lawyer.

Since your case seems to be an exceptional one, we can't help you much.

You should approach a lawyer who deals with such issues.

Can anyone give me contacts of an expert immigration lawer/VISA Agent in Munich area or any other area where i can communicate over email/phone ?
I want to take a parallel opinion from someone else apart from my company lawer.
Thanks.

Hello Anmol,

I need you help.
My wife is been rejected because of the same rule what you have mentioned. ThatI dont have permit for 5 years and i married in between. I came to germany in June 2008 and married in Dec 2008. My wife applied for VISA in Jan09.

What did you do in your case? Is there any alternative?

Thanks in advance

If you need an expert advice go to an expert. There are alot of lawyers specializing in Ausländerrechts in München.
http://www.experten-branchenbuch.de/rechtsanwalt/auslaender-asylrecht-muenchen/
http://www.anwalt.de/verzeichnis/rechtsanwaelte.php?stadt=Muenchen&thema=Auslaender&cityid=11856


Before gng to the Lawyer get yourself informed from your Company's HR people if they could assign a company lawyer and pay it for you.

As you said in your post that you are highly qualified and work for Fortune500 company, company should pay it for you.

In 2006 I paid around 250€/hour as a consultant fee to my Lawyer for my workpermit(not for spouse visa. It was just for a advice and he made a call to the ABH. if you want to file a cast through a lawyer, the costs will run into thousands of euros.

All the best.

hi anmol,
may i have your contact no? or your mail id? i m facing similar problem, I hope you can help me out