In Denmark, after a wedding has been conducted, both the bride and groom receive identical marriage certificates. These certificates have the names of both persons, their dates of births, citizenships, places of birth, place of marriage and city or municipality of marriage written on them. Although – and this is according to my local Standesamt – these certificates are enough in that state to be recognized in Germany, it is a good idea to get an Apostille stamp on them as well. Better be safe than sorry.
The Apostille stamp can only be gotten from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The offices of the ministry are located in the capital Copenhagen. To get an Apostille stamp, you have to go to the ministry, pay a fee and get one or both the marriage certificates legalized. For the German authorities, one document should be enough but you can have both legalized as well if you wish. An Apostille is like the Danish Federal Government, guaranteeing that you have indeed been married in their country. According to the Hague Convention on Apostille, it should be recognized in all signatory countries. Here is a list of countries which recognize this convention. The procedure for getting the Apostille is stated here. For this reason, I recommend marrying in Copenhagen because you can get the Apostille stamp on the same day as well! It takes 5 minutes, usually. On a side note, the city is beautiful and has lots of attractions.
Once you have your marriage certificate from Denmark with the Apostille stamp on its back (that’s where they stamp it), take it to the Standesamt when you’re back in Germany. The Standesamt will change its records and list you in the married section. Your spouse can then decide whether they want to change their name or not (only if they’re German, though). Once you’re done with that, you can go to the Rathaus and register yourself as married there too.
(Note: The next section is for those of you who are marrying a German citizen. Please ask your local Ausländeramt what the rules are if you have married a citizen of another EU country. I’d appreciate if you could tell us all those rules here as well in your comments.)
But the bigger hurdle, as always, is the Ausländeramt. Now, the Ausländeramt may huff and puff, but remember: your marriage is recognized in Germany now. There is no need to be afraid of them. This isn’t the time to hanky panky. The non-EU spouse can now ask for a change in residency status on the basis of them being the spouse of a German citizen. From here onwards, read very carefully. The Ausländerbehörde can now offer you 2 options. Depending on your status, that is.
- Get a 3 year residence permit and do a German B1 language exam on your own.
- Get a 3 year residence permit and commit to doing an Integration Course which includes a B1 language exam as well as a course and exam on life in Germany.
You will only be offered option 1 if you have completed at least a Bachelor degree from a university anywhere in the world. It is assumed that you will find a job and integrate in German society on your own. Otherwise, it’ll be option 2.
Option 2 requires you to first present an A1 language course exam results to launch the residence permit proceedings. This is because the Integration Course starts from the A2 level. If your language skills are good, you can ask the language school to waive your language test and then you can just sit in the classes for the life in Germany exam. Clear this with both your language school and the Ausländeramt. If you get 17 out of 33 questions correct on the life in Germany exam taken at the end of the Integration Course, you won’t need to do a Citizenship Exam (Einbürgerungstest) should you decide to become a German citizen in the future.
I hope this was useful 🙂
Permit A38 
Hi, my name is Tahir khan and currently living in berlin.i have currently completed my masters from Humboldt uni berlin and now i am here waiting for my documents from Pakistan. My question is, how long does it take to translate my docs here in germany, also you said that they will send the docs for verification to pakistan so is it like for sure or only incase they are suspecious coz u said it takes about six months which i dont have that much of time. We have been to standesamt and they didnt say anything like that. This is my email, yarsah1@gmail.com, please let me know as soon as possible. And also thanks for the blog. It is really very helpful. Oh one last question. How much time does it take to register a danish marriage here and then apply for residence permit. Total time i mean. Thanks
Hello Tahir. Thank you for reading this blog. I am very happy that you find it informative. As far as my information on the law goes, the documents do not HAVE to be checked by the Oberlandesgericht (OLG) but they always are in cases of countries like Pakistan. Unfortunately, there is a trust deficit because of a large number of cases involving fake documents. Perhaps you should ask the Standesamt how your OLG works usually in cases such as yours. It took us 15 minutes to get our Danish wedding certificate to be recognized in Germany. We went to the Ausländeramt on the same day and if I’d had my photo with me and had reached a decision on whether or not to do an integration course, I’d have gotten the whole process done behind me in 20 minutes. If you have any more questions and are unwilling to share personal information here, feel free to use the contact page to contact me via email 🙂
Good day ,
I would like to speak to you about this. Please may I have your email address.
There is a contact form on this blog
Thank you so much for creating this blog! It’s been of great help for me as a Non-EU citizen trying to figure out a way to marry my German partner… To be honest, I was totally lost in all the documents and webpages about it before I found your blog and it cleared everything up. We also made a decision to get married in Denmark because I’m kind of pressed with time as my residence permit expires soon, and I don’t want to get caught up with OLG approvals that take ages. This article was super helpful, but I wanted to ask you how did this process go for you in the end? How long did you have to wait until you received the permanent residence permit (+ the right to work)? Also, did you have any interviews regarding your marriage and all that kind of stuff? Thank you 🙂
Hi Kate. In the beginning, you should receive a limited residence permit on the basis of Paragraph 28 of the German Foreigners’ Law. Only after fulfilling certain criteria within the period of validity of that residence permit will you be able to get a permanent one. Conditions might include a job where you earn enough money, passing a German language course, etc. However, if you have lived in Germany for 7 years and you do an integration course, you may get permanent residency or even German citizenship much sooner. Good luck with everything and (advance) congratulations on getting married
Thank you for a quick reply! Oh, I meant the 3 year residence permit that you were talking about in this article, not the “real” permanent residence permit that one can get after years and years living in Germany. I was wondering how long does it take to actually receive the 3-year permit after you apply at Ausländeram? Is it around 1-2 months or longer? Sorry for confusing you with the permit types. I’m just interested in what happened after you applied for the 3-year permit because you stop the article right after the moment you applied for it 🙂
I stopped because it was the culmination of the whole effort. Yes, I did get the permit. It takes about 4 weeks to arrive, if memory serves.
Hi …..it’s really informative group…..
Can you inform me that after getting married in Denmark and recognizing in Germany standesamt and rathaus then auslandersbehordeamt accepts everything or they ask to verify everything from Pakistan? ???and how much time they take for residence permit ????
Normally, a wedding in Denmark should be accepted at face value if you have a notarized Apostille. The residence permit should take only as long as the processing time takes. It, of course, depends on how quickly you produce documents as well.
Good day,
I am a South African citizen marrying a my German partner. I would like to know how long the process takes of the State department to register your marriage in Germany? We are also considering going to Denmark to get married as the paperwork for Germany is to intense. I will enter the EU with a Schengen Tourist visa but will also have all documents required for marriage in Germany as well. My worry is that my tourist visa will expire before our marriage is recognized in Germany. Also how long do you think the Schengen Visa should be in order to sort out all matters with the German state department and Aliens office. I thought two months should be enough but at this point I am not sure.
Thank you for answering my question.
Hi. It took me about 20 minutes to get my marriage from Denmark recognized in Germany. However, this will ONLY work if you have an Apostille from Denmark. That is absolutely essential. You can then go to the your local Foreigners’ Authority and ask for your residence permit. It would also be a good idea to look into whether they convert a tourist visa into a spousal residence permit.
I am south african citizen marrying a german partner and considering to get married in Demark.I came with a tourist visa and it has now expired. Is it possable to get married at this point? What can we do? All papers are ready for Denmark but the problem is my visa has expired. Will I be allowed to enter germany after marriage,if granted? Will i even allowed to get married in Denmark with expired tourist visa? Will we be allowed to register our in germany in baden-Watternburg? In this circumstance…please help me and thank you.
Of course you will not and should not be allowed to register a marriage on an expired visa! Please respect the law of the land, return to South Africa and reapply for a visa.
Good day,
Did you manage to get married in Denmark on a Schengen visa?
Secondly, were you given a residence permit when u returned to Germany after Denmark or were you requested to return to South Africa to apply for the Family Reunification visa ?
I’m getting married to my long term fiancé in Romania and I don’t want to return to SA to apply for family reunification visa, it’s expensive 😦
Hi im also in the same situation now. How did it go with you? Please help,I would really appreaciate it .thanks in advance
Sorry for delayed respond. We managed to get married in Germany but I was not given visa after marriage because my tourist visa had expired. I had to come back to SA to reapply for spousal visa of which they want A1 certificate and I’m busy with it at Goethe. I hope everything goes well. How is it on your side?it was really hard for us. Only got married in June, since I was in germany in September.
Hi, I would love to know if all this has worked out, as I am in the same position (and also South African). My partner is German. We are thinking of getting married in Denmark, but I’m not sure if I would get in trouble for trying to convert a Tourist visa into a permanent residency if we get married.
Hi, I am in the exact same situation. Did you get married in Denmark? I am South Africa and considering marrying my Germany boyfriend while I am on a Schengen tourist visa, but I am worried that when we come back from Denmark, we would get in trouble with the Berlin Standesamt or the Ausländeramt when we try and register the marriage and change my visa into a residence permit. Your advice would really be appreciated.
Awesome blog. I’m Australian and my wife is German. I can verify that marriage in Denmark is a wonderful and easy experience. Our marriage certificate was recognised in Germany without even needing an apostille. (Maybe Australians have more favour). We still have a few hurdles to overcome in changing my wife’s name, but I have my permanent visa now so we have lots of time. I highly recommend marriage in Denmark.
Thanks, Peter. The Apostille isn’t really needed but it’s recommended to have it. It depends on the Standesamt and the official you go to. They may be fine without it or they may demand it. Therefore, it’s better to have it. I’m curious as to why changing your wife’s name is a hurdle. With us, it was quite straight forward. We showed the marriage certificate and just ordered a new ID and passport for her.
Good day! I have a quick question about the language requirements. I am going to the Ausländeramt tomorrow and getting a bit nervous 🙂 I cannot find any official document that says that having a Bachelor degree allows me to get an exemption from the integration course. I’m located in Dortmund, NRW. I am worried that they will make trouble about this in the Immigration Office and I would really appreciate not to do an Integration Course. Could you give me any advice? Thank you so much
Hello Petra. The law is as follows: if you are a qualified professional, it will be assumed that you are able to integrate by yourself. Therefore, you would not need to do an Integration Course. However, whenever you go to for getting a Niederlassungserlaubnis (Permanent Residence Permit), you will nonetheless need to show a B1 level proficiency in the German language. It is better to go for the Integration Course option because it allows you to earn a B1 certificate at a subsidized rate and get one year less from the whole process of obtaining a German citizenship or Niederlassungserlaubnis by passing the Orientation Test (at the end of the course). Don’t be afraid of asking the Ausländeramt about this rule. They HAVE to give you a residence permit on the basis of being married to a German. Don’t be intimidated.
Hello. Were planning to get married in Denmark this August with Schengen visa, Im from Philippines and my fiance is from Ireland. Is there a chance that I can stay and grant me a spousal visa even I only have tourist visa. My fiance lives in Germany for almost 8 years by the way. And do I really need a resident permit after getting married even I only have tourist visa. Thank you for answering.
Hi. I’m not sure whether a tourist visa can be converted into a residence permit or not. You’d have to ask the Ausländeramt (Foreigners’ Authority). However, I do know that you would need a German residence permit if you wish to reside here. I’m pretty sure the Irish authorities will give you some sort of a permit for Ireland as well. Good luck!
Hi,
How your marriage registration goes? Do you manage to register your marriage in germany on tourist visa?
I am planning to do same thing with you..hope you can reply..
Tqvm
Hey there great blog!!!
I am an eu citizen working as self employed here in Germany. My future spouse is not an EU citizen. I pay my taxes, rent my own place, have my health insurance, etc. But i am still not sure if there is any additional process i need to do.
Please if you could provide more information on what i need to do on my side would be amazing. I am still not clear if i qualify as a german citizen, or if i need to go thru any process myself before getting married in Denmark. I
‘Please ask your local Ausländeramt what the rules are if you have married a citizen of another EU country’
If you have any info on this would be amazing.
Hello Nicolas. Thank you for visiting the blog. From what you say, you and your spouse need not worry about whether the Ausländeramt will have an issue with you both not covering your expenses. However, that part comes much later on and isn’t relevant to get the initial limited residence permit for Germany and the Schengen Area based on marriage. You need not worry about not being a German citizen to get married in Denmark. Your EU identification and other documents listed on this blog are enough. Just make sure you get your marriage recognized in Germany as well as your home country. You might need to provide certain documentation to the Ausländeramt when your spouse goes there to lay a claim to a residence permit for Germany on the basis of you both being married. What documentation that may be, I unfortunately do not know.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Please send me your email address I have something really important to discuss.
Thank you.
Hello Max. Please use the contact form to send me an email. You will find it on the Contact Me page. I have created it just now so it’s easier for people to get in touch 🙂
Hi! I’m a Japanese who is going to marry to EU citizen next month in Denmark. We are not planning to get apostille in Denmark as I have that it is still effective in Germany as well.. Your work is excellent and I will come back to you with my experience in near future. Good luck to everyone who is trying to marry in Germany and Denmark! 🙂
Hi Ayuni. Thank you for your comment and for visiting this blog. A Danish marriage certificate without a Apostille stamp is legally valid in Germany as well. However, the bureaucrat in the Standesamt might sometimes impose an additional requirement on you to have that stamp. This is why I advise people to have it stamped while in Denmark to avoid an additional hassle later on. Congratulations in advance on your marriage and lots of luck with your married life 🙂
hi there,sorry to border,i am a Nigerian man and i and my German friend intend to get married in Denmark and of course apostille the certificate and there after register in with the necessary authorities in Germany. However the big issue is that i am presently visiting Germany with a valid business\tourist visa so i am not sure where to apply for the 3 year residence permit,is it in Germany or in Nigeria,because my fear is that if i go back to Nigeria and apply for this permit my business visa may be cancelled and i may not be able to have access to my partner again.by the way i already made the A1 language test,thanks for your support.
Hi there. Thanks for visiting the blog. In my personal opinion – and I can’t stress enough that this my PERSONAL opinion, not that of a German Ausländeramt bureaucrat – I think you can apply for a residence permit herein Germany after getting married in Denmark. However, I recommend that you take your German fiance with you to the Ausländeramt and clear this question before you get married in Denmark. The reason is that Family Reunion Visas are notoriously hard to get and a lot of hassle and paperwork is involved. They are also not guaranteed.
Hello everybody
i just want to ask ..i have pirmition to stay in Malta i will marry German girl in Malta, and as you know Malta in EU but i dont know if its easy to register my marriage in Germany ?
As far as I know, it should not be a problem. If it is possible, though, get an Apostille stamp on the marriage certificate, just to be on the safe side.
Unfortunately, the Foreigners’ Authority has a lot to do these days because of the recent influx of refugees in Germany, so they might be unwilling to make any allowances for you. You can try finding on a job while on a student residence permit. That job should be in your field of study. If that is the case, you can apply for a residence permit (Arbeitsvisum) or a EU Blue Card. You can also consult an immigration lawyer and find out about the possibilities for you. Those are the only things I can think of. Good luck!
Hi, i found this blog really helpful.
I am an indian working in Dubai ,my fiance is holding German passport.I have recently visited Germany on schengen visa and got married in Denmark. Now i am back to Dubai.
can you suggest what we should do , i may apply for residence permit in Germany after an year.
meanwhile my wife will stay here with me.
please advise , thank you in advance.
Hi, Gyan. Your first step will be to get your wedding recognized in Germany as well. If you have not already done that, you will need to go to the German Embassy or Consulate near you and inquire there about the correct and lawful procedure to follow for this. I am guessing that they will ask you to fill some forms, send your wedding certificate from Denmark to Germany, have it recognized and give it back to you along with the German documents. After this is done, you may ask the German mission to give you a visa changeable into a residence permit for Germany upon arrival (that does not mean straightaway at the airport). This is all conjecture and guesswork on my part. You should visit the German mission near you and ask there.
Thank you for the guidance..
Just wanted to know if there is any case where a Non-EU married to a Germany residence in Denmark on Schengen visa and later on granted a Family Union Visa.
Advice , what corrective actions should i take in order to ensure that i can live with my wife in Germany. Any alternate way through legal procedure.
Thanks in advance.
Salam, I have found this blog very helpful. I am from Pakistan and working with and Italian partners company for last 10 years. I have planned to get married with German ciitizen (NRW-Germany) in Denmark as that is easy way. My girlfriend visited the Standesamt and the the person their informed her that if she will get married in Denmark then her marriage will not recognise and may problem for kids in future and all documents will have to sent Pakistan for further verification and we have to pay more fees for this so better to get married in Germany. Also i do not have any German language skill til yet.
Please advice us, what would be the best solution for us that i can live with her in Germany and make this procedure clear.
Thanks in advance.
Hello Zeeshan. My advice is to either approach another Standesamt and see if they will be sympathetic or do as yours says. It might also be a good idea to seek some legal advice from a lawyer. That’s the best advice I can give you. Good luck!
Hello very helpful article ! Me and my gf are about to follow these guidelines pretty soon. I have just one question from you: You said the Auslanderbehorde will issue 3 years residence permit, so would I be able to work freely or there are any restrictions ? Like current I have restriction that I can only work for 120 Full days in Germany as I am on student visa.
Regards & Thanks.
Hello Hassan. There are no working limits on a spousal residence permit. You can even work as a freelancer or start your own business, as far as I know.
hello , i really found this blog so interesting for me
and i see that you make a big effort to reply all comments i see it is so hard i was hesitating either to ask too or not , but i really need to know somethings
well i`m moroccan boy studying in bucharest i got a temporary residency permit of 4 years in Romania so i`m resident of EU and i had a girlfriend with german passport so we just got married last monday in Denmark Aeroskobing , everything was easy and fast ,
so i´m planing to get my danish marriage certificate changed here in Germany Freiberg Sachsen ,
i´m going first to make Anmeldung and after that to the Ausländerbehörde , so the problem is i do not have A1 level i have a certificate shows that i have studied 3 months of A1 courses in Morocco and i have a bachelord degree (Abitur) In Morocco and i`m a student in Bucharest University so do you think i have to go back to Morocco to make A1 and have much trouble with papers again or it is going to be easy to change the marriage certificate can you give me more information please ? i would be pleased to hear from you and i really appreciate all you answer here ,
best regards ,
hi i find your blog helpful. my querry is this,
How long is the process of apostille stamp if you process it personally right after the wedding? can we get it also the apostille same day?
can we register our marriage to standesamt, rathaus in germany even if i am no longer here.?
our wedding in Denmark might be 2 days before my schengen visa expired and i need to go back to my country as i do no want to overstay here in De so i do not have bad records in my preparation for family reunion visa/ thanks in advance
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Honestly, your blog has given us better guidance than all the German articles we’ve read! We will be getting married in Denmark in October and then immediately register it in Germany and request my 3 year residence permit. I’m a US citizen living in the US and my fiance is a German citizen living in Germany. You mentioned in a comment that you believe it took about 4 weeks to receive your 3 year residence permit. My question is: will they hold my American passport during this time? And other than our notarized marriage certificate, passports, and my Bachelor degree, is there anything else they will require to see?
Hi, I am also an American married to a German and living in Germany. I also married in Denmark because it was financially more reasonable and quicker. However, move with caution. I ran into problems at the my Standesamt and they were requiring that I submit all my paperwork, translated into German to them. And he told us when I returned that I needed to bring a translator with me even though my husband speaks perfect English. I am not sure why we were harassed. Perhaps it is the way this particular city deals with marriages performed in Denmark or perhaps this individual didn’t care for Americans. I have no idea. As far as your American passport is concerned, they will not hold it. I doubt that you will receive a 3 year permit right off the bat. If you are planning on living in Germany and you don’t already speak the German language proficiently, you will be required to attend school and pass a written, oral and listening test in German. They offer these classes in just about every city. You can try for the 3 year permit but more than likely they will issue you a temp for one year.. At least this is what happened to me. As far as a permanent residence card regardless of where you chose to marry you must wait 3 years and meet all their requirements. I wish you all the luck and hopefully you won’t have the same experience as I did. I have read many successful stories.
Hi, I am an American living in Recklinghausen Germany for the past 5 years and in January I will have been married to a German for 5 years. We married in Denmark and got an Apostille stamp on the marriage certificate to assure we would have no problems registering our marriage here in Germany. However, when we went to the Standsamt we were told that they would need me to translate all of my paperwork from my previous marriages along with several other items they listed. The purpose for getting married in Denmark was to save the expense of translating documents and the lengthy and endless hoops one must jump through in order to get married here. My question is, does the Hague Convention apply to “all” cities in Germany or it left to the discretion of each city? I have already completed B1 and the integration coarse and passed both test with flying colors. I have a temp residence card and would like to clear up this marriage issue before I apply again in September for my permanent residences card. Just for the record, we were treated very rudely when we went to file our marriage. The gentleman we dealt with even told us that before we returned to speak further with him that we would need to bring a professional translator even though my husband speak perfect English. Needless to say, we never returned to speak with him because we couldn’t afford to hire a professional German translator. Any assistance or any light that you could shed on my situation would be greatly appreciated. Excellent blog, keep up the good work!
Hi, Laurie. It isn’t totally clear to me whether you’ve been married for 5 years already or have been together for 5 years and married only now. If you have been married all this time, why did you wait so long to register it? That could be a reason you appear “suspicious” to the authorities. As for your question about the Hague Convention, I think that because Germany is a signatory, it applied equally in all areas and they should accept the Apostille as legitimate. But that is just a layman’s opinion. You might want to consult a lawyer. If you want any more advice, please comment here or (for more privacy) write to me via the contact section of the blog. I apologize for replying so late. It is because I am traveling these days.
Thank you for answering me, I truly appreciate it. We will have been married for 5 years this coming January. We did go directly to the Standesamt.after we married. We unfortunately were paired with an employee that was at best not very helpful or pleasant. We left things as they were because to translate so many forms would cost us 1000s of euro and honestly we couldn’t afford it. That was the reason in the first place for going to Denmark to marry. It was .less expensive and they didn’t require translation of the required paperwork and it didn’t require a translator during our wedding. We did everything that was required from us and attempted to follow through at the Standesamt shortly after we were married but were shocked by this employees attitude that appeared to be directed towards me.
He even raised his eyebrows when he saw that I had been married a few times and he asked me if I only married Europeans. I felt he was at the very least unprofessional and rude. The answer to his question was no, my husband is the only European I have ever married and I have never lived outside of the US. He did inform us when we return we “had” to return to him. I do not wish to deal with him again. My husband and I are happily married but it would be wonderful for Germany to acknowledge it and live up to the Hague Convention agreement.
.
Well that was really rude of the Standesbeamter to comment on someone’s personal life like that. That’s their business and nobody else’s. Maybe you can check whether he’s still there? Might be that he’s moved on to another position or there might be someone else also in the Standesamt whom you could go to? Other than that, the only way in my opinion is to consult a lawyer.
Hi, this is a super helpful post!
I do have a question about the Standesamt part of it (or a Danish marriage being recognised generally): I’m an Australian with a UK passport and my fiance is German – so two EU citizens but we’re getting married in Denmark next year because a) the appointments at the Standesamt are totally booked out months in advance (oh, Berlin); b) to save the expense of having to acquire all the documents I’d need and get them translated (to find out exactly what I’d need we’d need an appointment at the Standesamt, too….). Anyway, do you know what sort of appointment we’d need to book at the Standesamt to get our marriage recognised? I can only find information about the Nachbeurkundung which seems to state that we have to submit all the documents we’d have had to submit if we were getting married here? Is there a different type of appointment we book?
Thank you!!!
Sarah
hello , this blogbwas so helpfull that actually it was my base to know where to start inorder to amarry my german gf , and now we have an appointment in denmark for marriage .
but i still have a few questions hopefully you answer .. im a mechanic but i dont have any degrees about that , and my spouse is a student also so therefore we dont have a flat on our own , ahe lives in student dorm and ill live with my friend , would that b a problem for us when registering ? and do we HAVE to register in her hometown or we can do it anywhere ? please advice and thank you very much
hi i m new on this blog my girlfriend is from germany and has visit me in pakistan now we want to be together and we know the proper suggestion plz as well she was in pakistan for 7 days she spent her time with me and we understand each other in a better way
can u plz for god sake help us how we can unite as a family member in germany bcoz she said she dont want to live here in pakistan
thanks alot
Thank you very much for your post, which is very informative and helpful. After reading, I have a question here:
“The Ausländerbehörde can now offer you 2 options. Depending on your status, that is.
1-Get a 3 year residence permit and do a German B1 language exam on your own.
2-Get a 3 year residence permit and commit to doing an Integration Course which includes a B1 language exam as well as a course and exam on life in Germany.”
In case I will be offered with the option 1, do I have to submit the German B1 certificate at the time when I ask for a change in residency status; or I can implement it later?
Thank you
Hi, thanks for visiting the blog. In answer to your question, you’ll need to present the B1 certificate upon renewing your residence permit after 3 years. In short, you’ll have 3 years to get to the B1 level. That should normally be way more than enough.
Hi, I came across your post and it is really helpful. I am a non EU member studying in Germany. I have an EU girlfriend from the Netherlands that we plan to get married soon. However, she has asked me several questions before we proceed to Denmark for the court wedding which I have no answers to atm. She is a works as a part time nurse and she is also a student which means that her income is not so much and she is worried that I might need to present her income statement if I want to register the marriage here in Germany and also will the fact that she is not currently living in Germany affect my application. She actually plan to live with me after her studies in Germany and she is worried if the German authorities may require us to start living together before they register the marriage. Thanks in anticipation for your response
Hi, Emanuel. Normally, you shouldn’t need to show a salary slip or anything like that to get married. As for the address, I recommend living together. It is good both for official purposes and for the health of the relationship.
Hello please I have a question and I Hope you will be able to help us,am a from EU country my man I from Nigeria but he has Germany resident perment andwe are getting married next week in Denmark and I just find out that we have to legalization the marriage certificate but the problem is we don’t know how to go about this,the marriage will be held in Aerø
Please I will appreciate if there is anyone we can contact to do this .thanks
There should be a registry office on Aerø in which the legalization can done. However, in the worst case, you can also approach the Danish Foreign Mission near you. I’m not sure if they do it themselves or have it done.
Hi!
Thank you for your very informational article. May I also ask if this works if you’re on a Language Course Visa or Jobseeker’s Visa instead of the Tourist Visa? Will the process make it more complicated?
Thanks!
I think a valid visa is needed so it might work. However, the German authorities might object to it. Basically, it depends on the Beamter sitting across the table from you.
Hi
I recently married german girl in Denmark. I have some queries.
1. My wife is living in Munich and me in Berlin, currently i am living in studio apartment 22q. Will the standesamt and burgeremt register me from single to married?.(actually we donot have flat or 2 room wohnung yet to live together).
2. I finish my master in Germany, and want to start work, but german skills are not enough to get job effectively, so my question will the Jobcentre pay for the language course?
3.We are both fresh graduates, so for the initial time, the job centre pay allowance for the living flat?
Best regards
Please have some respect for the country where you want to live. I don’t know if these services are offered, but you can easily join a language course on your own. It is even possible with a student job salary. I know plenty of people who have done so. As for living so far apart, the Amt could get skeptical. And with good reason too, I might add.
Hi. Thank you very much for the helpful blog post.
I and my German partner just got married last week in Denmark and we went today to Standesamt to register our marriage in Germany. And we have some problems with them.
I am Vietnamese. And they say they would accept the marriage from Denmark, but they would double check whether we are really allowed to get married or not. So I have to prepare marital status certificate and birth certificate from Vietnam, send them to German Embassy in Hanoi and get an Apostille from them before handing these documents in in Germany. I found this totally stupid, since they accept Danish marriage = they agree the examination made by Danish officers. And we were both single (never married) at the time we registered in Denmark. So Standesamt did not accept that we were allowed to and we were as well married, and did not let us change our family name.
The second thing is: When we went to Burgerbüro to register our marriage, they accepted it totally and registered us as a married couple. They did not have any problems with Danish marriage or any documents from us. Now we are married, according to the record of Burgerbüro.
Now comes my question: Should we have any problems to change our name at Standesamt anymore, since our marriage seemed to be recognized by another authority of Germany (Burgerbüro)? Should Standesamt accept our marriage and let us change the family name now?
And for me, I am having a visa for doctoral student, which should be valid for as long as I am still doing my doctorate (5 years), which options should I have (and should I choose) regarding my residence status? Should I obtain spouse residence permit, or keep my own right now?
I really appreciate all your help. Thank you so much for sharing experience with us. Sometimes I am totally pissed by German authority, since they ask for totally unreasonable weird things.
First of all, I would like to congratulate both you and your partner on getting married. I wish you both all the best in life and a successful and fulfilling marital partnership.
In my opinion, the Standesamt should recognize your marriage and should allow you to change your name. According to my understanding, they HAVE to accept it because Germany is a party to the Hague Treaty. I would advise you to consult a lawyer on this subject since it can get complicated. Especially if the authorities start a tug of war between themselves and you’re the rope. You don’t need to hire the lawyer, just ask for some advice. And if you find out that the law is in your favor, don’t be afraid to demand your rights too. We foreigners sometimes get too squeamish when it comes to legal things but we shouldn’t be that way and should ask for what we deserve.
If you would like to discuss this matter more privately, feel free to use the contact section on this blog to send me an email and I shall respond.
P.S.: Everyone gets frustrated by the authorities in Germany, even the Germans 🙂
Hi there, really helpful to read all the blog posts and comments. My finacé and I are in a similar situation and it’s nice to see how others handled this. We’ve been in a long wait for the exemption of the certificate of no impediment from the OLG as they sent my birth certificate for authenticity check by the German embassy in my home country (Sudan). Considering that the embassy is likely to stay closed until the end of 2020 due to COVID, we are looking at 10-12 months waiting in total from the day we handed in our marriage application!!. Now we’re considering forgetting about all of this, withdrawing the application, and just get married in Denmark. But we have a similar concern that the Standesamt/OLG might still ask for this verification of original documents from my home country even if we have a Danish marriage certificate that is valid and recognized in Germany. I hope this is all part of the past for you now but if I may ask, how did you handle this in the end? Did you have to follow through with the Standesamt requirements or did they accept to register the marriage as it is without further documents verification in Vietnam? It would be great to hear about your experience, perhaps we will get some inspiration.
Thanks a lot and best wishes 🙂
I’ve really found this forum helpful. Good job Pakistani in Germany.
I will appreciate it if I can get a response from you.
I have a child from a previous relationship and planning to go to denmark with my German fiance to get married. After I get the 3 years permanent residence permit, will my child also be given a permanent residence permit? Or what will her status be? Will she need to be adopted by my German husband to be allowed to stay in the country?
Thank you for your time.
Hi there, I am currently a duldung holder in Germany,and my German boyfriend wants to marry me in Denmark,what are our chances pls. Thanks
Hi, thank you so much for the blog post, it’s hard to find something related to this theme.
Most of the questions are related to non-EU so was just wondering if you know something related to the marriage between a german and a person from inside the EU. I am from Romania and my husband is from Germany. We got married in DK a month ago and it’s so hard to get some answers on how to register it. We called the Standesamt, cause thats what they say online to call them, can’t do an appointment online, and the Standesamt said we have to talk with the Famillienbuch. Called the Famillienbuch but they never seem to answer their phone, always the machine saying we are calling outside of working hours when it is during the working hours they specify. Sent some emails, they finally answered after a while saying that they need more info and that if i don’t speak enough german i will need a translator cause they dont want t be responsible for signing something i dont understand. What is enough german i dont know.. What will i have to sign that is such a big deal i dont know.. We are already married so i dont understand all the fuss.. Have to specify my german isnt the most amazing..i can understand but cant really talk and if those papers are like legal german i doubt that even germans know what they are signing for..Can you make any light on this? What are this papers or if this is the correct way to go? Should we just go to the Standesamt directly without appointment and just try? I dont know..any advice? Thank you
Hello!
Thanks for this.. its really herlpfull ❤
I am Chilean and my Husband is Danish and we are already married under the Danish Law but nowadays Denmark is being complicate about new Inmigration laws… and that means that we can not be together easily… We think about to apply for a residence in Germany and i thought you can help me guys to get trough this:
Someone in the same situation? I should just go with my certificate and the different requirements? Do you know which requirements are those? we are super confuse at the moment with this.
Thank you so much 🙂
Ian Alvarado
similar situation here. Chilean citizen planing to get marry with my Italian girlfriend… we have try to get all the papers to get marry here in Germany ( Munich) but takes an eternity to do all the paper work. It´s the German goberment still recognizing the danish married certificte? Thanks!
Thank you so much for this informative article. It really helped us!