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Reunification of spouse or partner with German citizen

18.03.2026 - Artikel

What kind of documents need to be submitted

These documents depend on the type of visa you are applying for and must be submitted in addition to the standard proofs:

Marriage certificate with apostille[1] or proof of a registered (same-sex) civil partnership and notarized translation

(original document and one non-certified copy)

[1] An apostille is only required for those documents that have not been issued in an EU or EEA country.

Passport copy of the spouse / fiancé / registered partner living in Germany

Current extended registration certificate (erweiterte Meldebescheinigung) of the spouse / registered life partner in Germany

(original document and one non-certified copy)

The registration certificate may not be older than 6 months and must contain details of the civil status..

proof of basic knowledge of the German language: certificate A1 (Start Deutsch 1)

(original document and one non-certified copy)

- To find out which certificates are currently recognized, please visit https://www.alte.org/Our-Full-Members.

- The examination date must not be more than one year ago.

- Exceptions to the requirement of language skills can be found in the leaflet

„Proof of knowledge of basic German for spousal reunification from abroad“

General information

Please note:

  • Due to the high workload and in order to ensure equal treatment of all applicants, the visa section can only accept applications in the requested form for processing.
  • Submitting incomplete documents may lead to the rejection of the application.
  • Unsolicited documents cannot be assigned to your application.
  • All documents, leaflets and application forms provided by the Embassy are free of charge.
  • All information on the application procedure is available on our website.
  • Please refrain from submitting status requests. Status requests do not speed up the visa process.
  • Processing time: Between two and five months, in individual cases shorter or longer.
  • If the Embassy has questions during the course of the visa procedure or if additional documents need to be submitted, we will contact you directly.
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