British Marriage Certificate not valid for German Embassy

Hi All,
I am new to this forum and want to introduce myself.
I am a German, living in UK and married to a non EEU member.
Recently I was applying to the German Embassy, London for a Schengen Visa, which I did 2 times before without Problems. Now they sent me the application back and saying my original marriage certificate needs an apostille. So does it mean the original paper of the British authorities are not worth the paper it's printed on? (even my spell checker does not know what a f*****g apostille is). I can get an apostille from the Foreign Office for £34.60, which I have requested, but this looks like an other European scam to get your money. I have asked the German Embassy if they would accept an GRO approved copy of the marriage certificate and this is the answer:
Dear Mr XXXXXX

Please re-submit your application with the marriage certificate endorsed with an Apostille only.

Best regards
visa service


xxxxxxxxx schrieb am 02.08.2010 13:53 Uhr:
> Dear Madam/Sir,
>
> I am a German National living in the UK.
> I have applied for a Schengen Visa for my Wife beginning of July but got the application back with the comment about the marriage certificate "if the document you sent us is the original please get an apostille on it".
> With the 2 previous applications you accepted the original marriage certificate without an apostille.
> I have now sent the certificate to the British Foreign Office to get the apostille on to the document, which will take some time.
> To speed the process up would you also accept a "Certified Copy of an Entry of Marriage given on the GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE" printed on GRO paper with watermark?
>
> Thank you
> Kind Regards
> XXXXXXXXXXX

What do you think about this?
Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
Wolfi

Are you working in the UK?

If I were in your position, I would resubmit the application as it was.

I would include a cover letter which says:
(1) you are working in the UK, thereby exercising your European treaty rights
(2) you wish to return to Germany with your spouse for a visit, and wish to use European free movement rights as the basis of your application (ref: ECJ case Surinder Singh (Case C-370/90 The Queen v Immigration Appeal Tribunal et Surinder Singh, ex parte Secretary of State for Home Department)
(3) You request the same treatment of your application as UK citizens traveling with their non-EU spouses to Germany.
(4) Tell them that they are required to process the visa application as soon as possible, and on the basis of an accelerated process. Tell them also that you expect a detailed reason for refusing to issue the visa if they do so.

See http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2007/04 ... ional-law/