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Hi Dear Wefugees Team,
Firstly, I am a huge admirer of your service here.
I just got here in Berlin (from Italy) to marry my girlfriend (German). Unfortunately, I don't have any legal documents except my passport(India). I just got my anmeldung in Berlin few days ago  and am planning to get an appointment from Standesamt to get married. As supporting documents, I have registered a certificate that I wasn't married before and also have a birth certificate.

My first question is, even if I don't have any valid visa, can I get an appointment from Standesamt to get married with the help of my passport?

I have also consulted with a lawyer and he informed me that, after getting the appointment from Standesamt I can apply for a duldung to get married here and after getting married I can apply for my residence permit.

That brings me to my second question, can I rely on what he said to me? If so, how long is this process going to take (approximately) to get my residence permit? Thank you in advance.

Best regards,
Juwel Islam
asked Nov 23, 2023 in Legal advice by Juwwel51 | 1,724 views

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1 Answer

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Dear @Juwwel51,

Welcome to the Wefugees Community and thank you for reaching out to us.

First of all, I want to highlight that I am not a lawyer and that you did well in contacting one in this rather complicated matter. Immigration law in Germany is definitely not easy to understand and often similar appearing cases are assessed differently by law implementing authorites.

That being said, I wanted to ask you about your status in Italy. Are you holding any kind of temporary or permanent residence permit there (which may allow you to visit another Schengen country for up to 90 days without a visa)?

I believe that you can get an appointment at the Standesamt (registry office) without a valid visa. However, (as my colleague Éanna explained here - be aware that the respective case constellation is different as the future spouse was an EU-citizen, not German) "as part of the process, the authorities will be made aware that you are in Germany without a legal status. For such situations, authorities such as the registry office and immigration office share information." 

Well, as you are registered already, the authorities will learn about your presence in Germany anyway, though. My colleague explains further: "If the requirements for getting married have been met, then [you] can be issued with a temporary residence paper (this is not a full residence permit) called a ‘Duldung’ to allow [you] to stay in Germany to marry." This is what your lawyer explained as well, right?

From what I know, when you managed to actually get married (please see also our blog in German and English on this topic), it is likely that the authorities will ask you to apply for a respective family reunion visa at the German embassy (either in India or possibly also in Italy, in case you have a valid residence permit there).

It is rather impossible for us to understand if your lawyer is trustworthy and experienced in migration/immigration law. If you have doubts, it might make sense to contact a migration counselling office for some support. They offer their services free of charge and confidential.

Furthermore, we can not give any estimation on the duration of the whole process. Unfortunately, many registry offices but also immigration offices are understaffed and overwhelmed with work in these days - waiting periods can be quite long.

I hope my thoughts are helpful and please don't hesitate to get back to us with any further questions and/or to keep us updated.

All the best,

Meike

answered Nov 26, 2023 by Meike
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