British,living in Germany,Australian partner,can he stay?

[flippy]

I'm a British citizen living in Germany and my partner is Australian. We want to get married here in Germany, but we are wondering if that then allows my Australian partner to reside in Germany as the husband of an EU citizen? He doesn't have any British ancentors so he can't get a British passport. True blue Aussie! We've been together 5 years and I already have Australian residency.

I can't find the answer to this anywhere. Can anyone help?

Thanks

[Wanderer]

I'm a British citizen living in Germany and my partner is Australian. We want to get married here in Germany, but we are wondering if that then allows my Australian partner to reside in Germany as the husband of an EU citizen? He doesn't have any British ancentors so he can't get a British passport. True blue Aussie! We've been together 5 years and I already have Australian residency.

I can't find the answer to this anywhere. Can anyone help?

Thanks

EEA Family Permit!

Steve

[flippy]

Thanks Steve, but this is for if we want to live in the UK, which we don't. We want to live in Germany!

[Wanderer]

Thanks Steve, but this is for if we want to live in the UK, which we don't. We want to live in Germany!

Aha - I knew that, I knew that!

You are exercising your EEA treaty rights by living in Germany as you no doubt know, but the EEA family permit applies throughout the EEA, Germany included, although to be honest I can find nothing concerning this on the German embassy website in London...

I might be wrong but the Germans should have their version of the EEA permit which supports the EU legislation on that. Mind you, the way the Germans stomped all over the Van Der Elst visa with their own rules you never know....

Steve

[flippy]

Thanks again Steve,

I've been trying to get some sense out of the various German authorities, but in true German style, i've been passed from pillar to post and still am no-where. I do have a number to call where I think they may be able to help, but it's constantly engaged.

Although I do speak German, it doesn't extend to knowing the names of immigration documents and there isn't any info in English.

I'll just have to try and find out it's name in German, which is usually never a direct translation.

Thanks again for you help.

[Wanderer]

Thanks again Steve,

I've been trying to get some sense out of the various German authorities, but in true German style, i've been passed from pillar to post and still am no-where. I do have a number to call where I think they may be able to help, but it's constantly engaged.

Although I do speak German, it doesn't extend to knowing the names of immigration documents and there isn't any info in English.

I'll just have to try and find out it's name in German, which is usually never a direct translation.

Thanks again for you help.

My partner is waiting for her German Residence permit, in order to take up her six month work placement for uni (she's doing german). the not-so-efficient Germans reckon three months to process.....

By the time she gets it the company will be well pissed off and the contract nearly over!

So I considered hopping over to Germany with her with an EEA family permit and pretending to look for work for myself and thereby exercise my treaty rights. Except the Germans have seemingly erased the EEA Family Permit from history....

Steve

[John]

we are wondering if that then allows my Australian partner to reside in Germany as the husband of an EU citizen?

In fact there is a right to the EEA Family Permit now, even before the marriage. Thanks to new EU/EEA legislation that came into force in April this year, as the two of you have been together for five years you are clearly in a "durable relationship". Accordingly the status of "Extended Family Member" is accorded.

Go for it now! The EEA Family Permit, that is.

[scrudu]

I couldnt find anything in English, but this doc http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/de ... rtner.html
states the following:

Ihr ausländischer Ehepartner muss bei der zuständigen deutschen Auslandsvertretung zunächst ein Visum zur Familienzusammenführung (Ehegattennachzug) beantragen.

Your foreign spouse must firstly apply to the responible German Foreign Agency (Auslandsvertretung) for a Visa for Family Unification.

Staatsangehörige Australiens, Israels, Japans, Kanadas, Neuseelands, Südkoreas und der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika können die erforderliche Aufenthaltsgenehmigung auch nach der Einreise einholen.

Australian citizens can apply for the required Residence permit after entering the country

Vorzulegende Unterlagen sind in jedem Fall die Heiratsurkunde sowie der deutsche Reisepass (oder eine beglaubigte Kopie dieses Passes) des deutschen Ehepartners.

The following documents are always required:
Marriage Cert
German Passport
Passport of Spouse

Verfügt der in Deutschland lebende Ehepartner nicht über die deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit, ist dessen deutscher Aufenthaltstitel im Original oder als beglaubigte Kopie vorzulegen.

If the spouse who is living in Germany (YOU!) does not have German Nationality, they must supply the original copy of their German Residence permit.

Einzelheiten über die vorzulegenden Unterlagen zur Visumbeantragung sollten Sie bzw. Ihr Ehepartner auf der Internet-Seite der zuständigen deutschen Auslandsvertretung oder direkt bei der zuständigen deutschen Auslandsvertretung erfragen.

For more specifics on the required documents for applying for a visa, you or your spouse should check on the Internet site of the responsible German Foreign Agency (Auslandsvertretung), or ask them directly.

Die deutsche Auslandsvertretung wird den Visumantrag dann zur Stellungnahme an die für Ihren deutschen Wohnsitz zuständige deutsche Ausländerbehörde weiterleiten.

The German Foreign office wil sent the visa application to the responsible German Aliens Department in your area for a response.

[scrudu]

Also check out http://www.handbuch-deutschland.de/book ... 2_001.html

Interesting is the following text:

Family members who are normally allowed to join a person already resident in Germany include the person’s spouse (see a), the person’s children (see b) and in individual cases also other family members (see c).

* a) Spouses have the right to come to Germany if the partner already living in Germany has a settlement permit ("Niederlassungserlaubnis"), and also in some cases if he/she has a residence permit ("Aufenthaltserlaubnis"). With the latter group ("Aufenthaltserlaubnis"), this right only applies if the partner living in Germany is a recognised refugee, or has possessed a residence permit for five years, or the marriage already existed at the point at which the third-country national arrived in Germany and the duration of his/her residency is expected to last more than one year. In cases where these conditions are not met (for instance if the marriage occurs after the person has moved to Germany), then the authorities have the discretion to decide themselves.

[John]

Those are useful posts, but not totally up to date. Or at least maybe the German authorities have not yet adapted to the new legislation.

For example under the April 2006 regulations it is no longer a legal requirement for a Residence Permit to be held by an EEA national exercising their treaty rights. Which makes :-

If the spouse who is living in Germany (YOU!) does not have German Nationality, they must supply the original copy of their German Residence permit.

-: something the German authorities need to adapt!

And I could not spot any mention of the concept of Extended Family Member there.

[JAJ]

I'm a British citizen living in Germany and my partner is Australian. We want to get married here in Germany, but we are wondering if that then allows my Australian partner to reside in Germany as the husband of an EU citizen? He doesn't have any British ancentors so he can't get a British passport. True blue Aussie! We've been together 5 years and I already have Australian residency.

As others have said, you need to sponsor for an EEA Family Permit (or whatever it's called in Germany).

However you need to be aware that this does not give him any entitlement to claim German citizenship, although he may be able to convert this to a permanent residence permit after 5 years and naturalise after 8 (Germany might want him to sign away his Australian citizenship if he wanted to naturalise, however).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_nationality_law

As for your own "Australian residency" - is that a temporary spouse visa, or a permanent visa?

And one further question. Are you yourself born or naturalised in the UK? If not, then you need to be aware that a German born child you have might not automatically be British.

[flippy]

Thanks everyone. I'm a British born person and our intention is not to live in Germany for the rest of our lives. This is just a semi-temporary thing, for maybe 5 years or so. I currently have a temporary spouse visa for Australia and we are popping back for a couple of months next year to convert it to Permenant. The Australian side has been researched and is all ok...that's not the worry.

It seems after a little investivation that the best thing to do would be to gain the EEA Family Permit for the UK and then we can travel and work in EU countries. Can any one confirm that I am reading this information correctly. I think it would be too difficult to go though the German authorities as they are renound for being over complicated and slow.

It seems to be a bit of a gray area...very confusing.

Thanks again everyone.