If I get married with my german girl friend but we live in different cities will I be issued a residence permit??

Question

Marriage

Answer 1

Dear Hakeem,

just in case you haven't already read my answer to your question stated in the comment section of another post, I post it here again.

According to my online research, such a residence permit is difficult to obtain for spouses living in different places, but it is not impossible.  

The residence permit is only granted if its purpose is to establish and maintain family cohabitation. Marriage alone is not sufficient for this purpose. In addition, the will to establish or continue the marital cohabitation in Germany is required. In principle, such a marital community exists if the spouses live together in a domestic community, for example a flat. In the absence of such cohabitation, it must be proven by other means that the spouses support and care for each other. There are cases in which the separation is based on professional reasons, for example, and the continuation of the marital cohabitation nevertheless continues. In such cases, however, it is mandatory that the spouses have regular contact that goes beyond mere visits. It always depends on the actual closeness.

Comments

@Tjorben hello, I apply for Paragraph 25B abs 1 s 1, i fulfil everything, almost 7 years in Germany , having A2 certificate, unlimited work contract , no criminal record . But my problem is that i rush to apply for 25B without having leben in deutschland certificate because i didn't know about it . Though i have not gotten reply from ausländerbehörde yet , i want to know if someone can be granted 25B without leben in deutschland certificate?

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Dear @felise, thank you for reaching out. According to § 25b para. 1 S. 2 Nr. 2 AufenthG, the applicant must, amongst other things, (regularly) prove that he/she has basic knowledge of the legal and social order and living conditions in the Federal Republic of Germany. To meet these requirements, one can present a certificate of having passed the "Living in Germany" test. However, this does not always seem to be a mandatory requirement. If you, as the applicant, meet most of the other requirements of Section 25b of the AufenthG, the authorities could possibly grant the residence permit even if you do not pass the test or did not provide it. Seemingly, there are other ways of proving your knowledge apart from this, for example by a secondary school leaving certificate or a comparable qualification from a German general education school or after successful training or by a school leaving certificate from a vocational school. I am not an expert. But it might be possible for you to take this "Living in Germany" test and submit it subsequently. Even if you have already applied for the residence permit, the authorities could still take this test into account. I hope that this answer is helpful to you. With kind regards

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@Tjorben thanks , i don't have any of those certificates. Well the man in charge of my case said to my woman that i will get reply from him next week, will they reject a permit because of the leben in deutschland certificate or they will give me time to write the exam and send the result to them? I have already learn everything about the leben in deutschland in Bamf website ...

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Dear felise,

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what the practice of the authority is if you have not submitted such a test/certificate to the authority alongside with all the other documents. You may be told that you can take such a test and then submit it before they reach a decision on your application.  

If this is not the case, there might be another alternative: If the authority rejects your application because of the missing "Living in Germany" test, you can appeal against the rejection within a short period of time (you must be informed about this possibility in the decision letter you receive). As they will have to reconsider their decision (which takes time), this would give you more time to take the "Leben in Deutschland" test and submit the certificate of successful participation to the authority. The authority would then have to take this certificate, which is favourable to you, into account in its next decision. If you also fulfil all other requirements for the residence permit according to Sect. 25b AufenthG, you could still get the residence permit.

Kind regards and good luck!

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@Tjorben thanks, i will just wait for the man reply .. one love