Hello all,

I am an Indian national and I have completed my doctorate from both France and Germany in a collaboration program. I have been selected for a six month postdoc position in Germany starting next January. My wife is also an Indian national and is currently living in France.

Since I am applying for the German work permit from India, she would not be able to accompany me to apply for the German spouse visa at the consulate together. I have the following questions regarding our situation:

1. Would it be possible for her to apply from France for the German spouse visa? She has a French residence permit valid until march 2012. Also, approx how long does it take to obtain the visa?

2. If yes, will she have a work permit on her spouse visa? Does the work permit start immediately on obtaining the visa, or it takes some more time for completing the work permit process?

3. Is it possible for her to apply in France immediately after I get the visa, or there are regulations which forces you to wait?


Thank you very much for your kind replies.

Hi,

Yes, I think your wife should be able to apply from France for the spouse visa at the German consulate and once in ermany she'll need to go the Ausländerbehorde inmediately to get the residence permit (the "visa" is only a transitory document allowing her to come to Germany). The same applies to you, by the way. What I'm not sure about is whether you need to be with her at the German consulate in France or what type of documents she'll need to show to get the wife visa. Ask that at the german consulate in India, so they can provide whatever she'll need in France.

What I'm totally sure, though, is that she won't be getting any work permit from German authorities because you're contract is only 6 months and by law she needs to stay in DE at least 2 year in order to get the work permit. And I know this beacuse I lost an excellent post-doc candidate since his wife wouldn't be allowed to work in Germany during the first 2 years (and his contract was for 2 years). Still you may want to check this on the consulate in case there are particular agreements with Indian nationals as there with the European/ citizens...the other turnaround is that your wife is offered a job (PhD or Post-doc) from a national reserach center, in that case she's entitled to work.

Nos, if she has a valid French temporary residence she can come to DE whenever she wants as visitors or something. But as your wife, she needs a German residence permit.

Hope this helps
Cheers
Ari

Thank you Arianna for your detailed reply. I apologise for my late response to your post.

I cleared this issue with the German embassy in France, she would be able to apply from there.

My visa has been cleared.

Thanks again!