I want to share with you my experience applying for integration visa for my wife.

My wife works as a German translator with a reputed German company in India. She has 2 years of experience in the field and has completed 4 level of exams from Goethe Institute few years back (these certifications were not called called A1, A2 etc. at that time as it is now). During application for Visa, I attached a covering letter showing her experience and attached all certificate copies and experience letter from company. Inspite of this we got a letter from consulate after 2 weeks saying the processing is held up as A1 certificate copy is not attached. When we approached Goethe Institute (called MaxMueller Bhavan here), they did not allow her to write A1 as she is "over-qualified". Finally we managed to convince them to let her write A2. We had to wait for 2 weeks for the exam dates. Today we got the certificate and sent it to consulate.

I hope I dont get further such shocks from consulate officers

The most likely shock you will like to avoid is your marriage certificate verification.

ABH will inform the consulate whether they need the certificate to be verified. The consulate will take its own sweet time to inform you, causing further delay.

I would advice you to find out whether the ABH needs a verification to be done directly. Send them an email in German.

Just for the info of future forum users,,,,

even i had the same problem. My wife did german course(A1) 18 months ago in goethe and did some intermediate course in private institute as there was no possibility to do in goethe.

After applying, they sent an letter saying her certificate is older than 12 months and cannot be accepted. I never read this rule in any of visa website.

Now, no new A2 course starts immediately in goethe and with more than A1 knowledge she has to study again A,B,C,D........

One reason for consulate being strict could be due to fraud cases they encounter everyday. From that perspective maybe we have to accept this.

Got the second shock yesterday. My employer contacted ABH in the city (Pforzheim) where I plan to work. The officer there said my application has arrived but has documents of a different company (from Augsburg) and it looks strange. My employer asked me about this company and I told them that I never heard of it before. Seems like some mix up has happend. My employer said they will call up ABH again and clarify. I had already given my passport number and application reference number to my employer.

Hey PEEK,

From which German Embassy did your spouse apply? While, it depends on country and Embassy too..

I gave the application in bangalore VFS, india and rejected by Chennai. At VFS, they dont do proper checking. Even you can give some school maths calculation as salary slip and sex story as a covering letter. It is your responsibility to know the rules(which is written nowhere).

WE contacted embassy again explaining the situation, but they said, no exemption as it is a legal requirement.

VFS is not supposed to check and verify the content. They only check whether you have submitted the required documents. It is upto the embassy to check the school math and story.