A Family Reunion visa is the type of visa that allows you to reunite with your family in a country you are not a citizen of.
In Germany, family reunion visas are issued for those who have a family in Germany, or who are about to marry a German citizen. This visa type is not a temporary residence permit for Germany but still, it is a long-stay German visa type. In this context, if you are planning to apply for a residence permit in Germany, you need to apply for a German family reunion visa first.
If you are a citizen of the European Union, European Economic Area, and the European Free Trade Association, you do not need to apply for this type of visa. However, Non-EU nationals are required to apply for this visa type. You are also expected to be financially stable enough to support yourself and your family, but we will get to that on the part of required documents for German family reunion visa.
How to apply for a German Family Reunion Visa?
Although the required documents can be different, the German Family Reunion visa application process is quite similar to the other German visa types.
Here is a list of things to do for your German family reunion visa application:
- Collect all the required documents stated in the required documents for a family reunion visa.
- Make an appointment for the visa interview at the nearest German embassy/consulate. Make sure to attend your interview on time and do not forget to bring all the required documents with you.
- Pay the corresponding German family reunion visa fee. If you are an adult, you must pay 75 euros and for each of your children who are younger than 18 years old, you must pay 18.5 euros.
Keep in mind that you may be asked to submit more documents depending on the situation. The German officials withhold the right to ask for more information about you if they think it is necessary.
The Sponsor for the Family Reunification
When you are applying for a Family reunification visa for Germany, you are going to need to apply with a sponsor. For other types of German visas, you may or may not have a sponsor but for the family reunification visa, it is the initial requirement to have a sponsor. This sponsor of yours must be financially supporting you and also providing you a sufficient living place in his/her house.
If your sponsor is a third-world country citizen, then the following requirements must be satisfied:
- The sponsor must have a settlement permit.
- The sponsor must have a long-term residence permit.
- The sponsor must have an EU Blue Card.
Germany is assessing these criteria when you are applying for a family reunification visa. Having financial support and stability, and also having enough room to share in a house is carefully considered. As long as your sponsor meets the conditions mentioned above, you should not be worrying about the sponsorship part of the application.
What are the advantages of a family reunion visa?
There are some significant advantages of withholding a German family reunion visa. However, some family members have more advantages than other family members. For this reason, it is better to look at these advantages on the sides of spouses (husband and wife), and also for the children (both minor and adult children). Keep in mind that the requirements may not be the same for spouse applications and children’s family reunion visa applications. Therefore, it is always advised to double-check the requirements to prevent any possible visa refusals.
German Family Reunion Visa Process for Spouses
If the proposed sponsor for your visa application is a third-world country citizen, then there are some other conditions that need to be met apart from the ones listed above. The sponsor and the applicant must be older than 18, and the immigrating spouse is expected to speak German on a basic level. That being said, even if you and your spouse satisfy these rules and requirements, your German family reunion visa application can still be rejected. When it comes to polygamous marriages, if your proposed sponsor is already married in Germany, your visa application will be rejected as this marriage would not be legal.
German Family Reunion Visa Process for The Children
If the applicant has his/her own kids and wishes to settle in Germany together, then the requirements mentioned above are still valid. However, in this scenario, there are some new requirements that you need to be careful about. If the children are minors, then the following requirements must be met:
- The sponsor parent is required to have full custody of the children.
- The sole parent must share the custody of the children.
- When the family is unified, the custody of the children must be shared between the sponsor and the applicant.
As stated by the German authorities, if the minor children speak German on a basic level, the application process can take less than usual.
For adult children, the process is a lot easier. The only requirement is the adult children to be unmarried. As long as the adult children are not married, you can apply for a German family reunion visa by their names too!
What about the parents?
If the sponsor is younger than 18 years old, then his/her parents and legal guardians can apply for a family reunification visa for Germany. However, if the sponsor living in Germany is an adult, then the parents cannot apply for a family reunification visa unless there is a difficult situation that has to be proven on paper when submitting the family reunion visa application. These conditions also apply to other relatives of the sponsor such as uncles, aunts, and nephews.
