Visa for my Thai wife to move to Germany

[MAN2SIN2BKK]

The background;

I am a Brit married to a Thai, we met in Singapore in 1997 and married there in 1999 and moved to Thailand in 2001. We have 3 boys and they are dual nationality. I have recently secured a position in company based near Frankfurt and I will be moving to Germany at the end of February with the family planning to join me in mid April.

In September the boss of the company arranged a doc for me to take to the German Embassy for my wife to get a visitor visa so she could see Germany and what she was letting herself in for. She was treated extremely well at the embassy(and with a far greater respect than she has experienced with the UK Visa office on the 4 times she has applied) and received her visa by EMS within 24 hours.

She picks up languages easily, speaking 5 fluently and knows that she needs a grounding in German to help settle easily. So she visits a language school and they tell her that she needs to have passed an A1 German language test otherwise the embassy wont issue her with a family visa.

I called my new boss who checked with the authorities and was informed that as I am not a German national my wife is exempt from this ruling and I have to go to the local council office with my pay check, bank statement, house rent agreement and contract of employment and they will issue a “formal obligation” and this is to be presented to the embassy and her visa will be issued within 14 days.

Which of these statements is correct?

[7by7]

As you are an EEA national (British) exercising an EEA treaty right to work in another EEA state (Germany) then your wife is allowed to join you without going through the German immigration requirements which would apply to the non EEA national wife of a German citizen.

This includes any language requirements.

I am not sure exactly how the Germans deal with this; but as they are in the Schengen area I suspect that your wife should first obtain a Schengen visa to enter Germany and then register for residence as explained by your boss.

But the German embassy should be able to give you full details.

[Bastian]

Neither statement is correct.

Your wife certainly does not need an A1 certificate. Neither is a "formal obligation" required.

Your wife can simply travel to Germany, stating that she is travelling to join her husband in Germany. But get her a visa sticker in her passport before travelling anyway else the airline may refuse to let her on the plane.

At the embassy she would need to produce her passport, marriage certificate, proof that you are residing in Germany (the registration of your address) and maybe proof of health insurance coverage.

When getting her a residence card at the alien office in Germany you will probably have to show that you can support her by producing employment contract/payslips, rent-agreement.

[beano2274]

Have done all of this quite recently.

Firstly your wife needs a visa from the German Embassy, mine got a Tourist visa based on being married to an EU National (am also a Brit), she travelled to Germany, we then registered her with the Burgerburo in Munich, after a week or two we then went to the KVR (old Auslanderamt) and applied for a Aufenthaltgehemigung, this is an ID Card that means she can stay here for upto the validity of her current passport.

One point, when we were at the KVR the woman did say that my wife should have really got the Visa for Humanitary reasons (travelling to be with an EU National). The process for which you have already mentioned in your post.

If you click on my name you can find the topic I wrote about all of this

Edited December 8, 2013 by beano2274

[beano2274]

here a link:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/672818-german-residence-permit-for-thai-wife-of-uk-citizen/#entry6896696

Edited December 8, 2013 by beano2274

[theoldgit]

Flame removed.