I'm a Canadian - How do I marry my fiance who is a refugee in Germany ?

Question

Hello

I hope i can get a straight legal answer here that i can count on . I read many things . In a normal usual way of getting married between two different citizens like canadian and german , they both are present in germany with their passport and a few other documents . But in my case , he is not a citizen of germany yet and i live in canada  . He is still in process . He has no other passport either . He Cannot travel outside germany or any where else in the world . So I understand so far im the one who is travelling there , he says that his identification are kept in germany’s government and if he asks for them , how will they allow him to marry me ? How long it takes from the moment im in germany ? And how long do we need to wait after we request the marriage ? He is Nuremberg germany . Can it be done there or we need to go berlin for that ? If he gets a negative answer in his case , do they still allow us to marry ? Or we have complications after that ? Please tell me everything i need to know .

I appreciate your help and God bless you +

Answer 1

Dear @canada-germany,

Welcome to our community and thank you for reaching out to us! I'm glad to help out.

Let's see: regarding where you can get married, you are correct - as your partner is still within his asylum proceedings it is best you get married in Germany. However, it's only possible to marry in Germany with a valid passport.

Our law expert Marcel gave an answer on this thread here that can be helpful:

how can a canadian marry a refugee who is still on process 

There are many documents you need to collect as well in order to get married (German bureaucracy). Please have a **** at this thread: I'd like to learn more about the marriage procedure in Germany as a refugee

If you follow the link Thorgen posted in his answer, you will get to the Wefugees Blog with a long English explanation on "How to marry" in Germany.

This source might be particularly interesting too, as you are a Non EU-national (it's relating to marrying German citizens, however, it should apply in your case as well):

"If you are a foreign national getting married to a German citizen, it can impact your residence status. If you aren’t living in the country yet, you may need to apply for a special visa. Non EU-nationals cannot enter the country on a visitor visa if they are planning to get married in Germany. The required German visa is usually valid for three to six months."

Source: https://***.internations.org/germany-expats/guide/29461-family-children-education/marriage-in-germany-15962

As for the waiting time, it is hard to say how long it takes, but also talked about in the sources I linked.

You can get married in Nürnberg. Asylum seekers are not allowed to leave the region/ Federal State when a residence regulation ("Wohnsitzauflage") applies. This is the Nürnberg Standesamt website (in German, but you can try a translating program): https://***.nuernberg.de/internet/standesamt/heirat.html

Regarding your last question: His asylum procedure is a different process than your marriage procedure. Once you are married, you can apply for family reunion so he can live with you in Canada (if that is your wish). If he gets a protection status in Germany, on the other hand, he also receives a residence permit, and there are regulations for spouses of residence title holders enabling them to live with them in Germany.

Please note that the information I shared with you stems from my research, I'm not a lawyer. Once you are in Germany, you can also seek help from a legal aid service for refugees/ asylum seekers in Nürnberg. For example, the Refugee Law Clinic Nuremberg: ****://***.rlc-erlangen.de/beratung.html

I hope I could answer most of your questions. Feel free to reach out to us again if you need any further assistance, and also have a **** at our platform for previously asked questions regarding marrying a refugee in Germany!

All the best, take care,

Isa

Answer 2

Hi, 

I’m going through the same story here. Can you please tell me what you did to get a marriage certificate in Germany? What was the process like and where did you guys go ? How long did it take ?