Will my spouse also get a blue card?

Hi, I am from Afghanistan, I work in Berlin and have an EU blue card. If I marry someone who has the following status:

a) She is from Afghanistan and came to Germany based on a special humanitarian visa after the regime change.
b) Currently lives/registered in Baden-Württemberg state, and is entitled to study the language and follow all the job-center-related processes.

will she be able to acquire a blue card like me? what other benefits could she have?

looking forward to your answer.
Thank you in advance.

8 Comments

Reply (8)

My Nguyen_Community Managerin

Hello @mm, Thank you for reaching out to us. Based on the information you have provided, I assume that your future spouse holds a residence permit according to §22 (sentence 1 or 2). If that is correct, she generally has a residence permit valid for a maximum of 3 years. It can be extended if the reasons for her stay continue to exist. After 5 years, she may also be eligible to apply for a settlement permit. In addition, she might currently has the following possibilities: - Start working - Access to social benefits - Participating in integration/German courses, as you have mentioned - If children have accompanied her, they can attend kindergarten or school With the residence permit according to §22, there is a residence obligation ("Wohnsitzauflage/Wohnsitzzuweisung") during the first 3 years, meaning that a move is only possible with an application for relocation. You can find more information on our website, available in German, Farsi/Dari, and Pashto. You can change the language at the bottom left of the page. . In general, the issuance of the residence permits is tied to the according requirements. For example to obtain the Blue Card, you need to provide an employment contract, gain at least a specific salary, having an acknowledged university degree, and holding a job position that matches your degree. If these, and a few other, requirements are met, a Blue Card can be issued. In the case of marriage, the spouse does not receive the same type of permit. In your case, your spouse would be eligible for family reunification (§30 AufenthG), which would allow her to work and, after 5 years, potentially apply for a permanent residency. Please note that her residence permit would be dependent on your own permit. If you get married and she will change her residence permit, she won't have a residence obligation anymore. That means that she could move to Berlin without the approval of the foreigners department. However, she would also no longer be entitled to social benefits, as the "main person" is financially responsible for family reunification. In any case, it is recommended to contact a migration counseling center to discuss your situation and explore if and how a change in your future spouse's residence permit would be advisable and possible. You can have a look at the websites here: Youth Migration Service (JMD), until 27 years Migration Counselling, from 27 years In case you need support in finding one, please let me know the closest city to you, I am happy to help. Additionally, if you have more questions or something remains unclear, please let me know as well.

My Nguyen_Community Managerin

Hello @mm were you able to reach out to a migration counseling centre or need any support finding one close to you. happy if you let me know.

Hi, @My Nguyen_Community Managerin First, I thank you for the detailed information. Second, I tried to contact AWO and berlin welcome center; AWO didn't reply at all, and the welcome center, after staying in a waiting line for 1.5 hours I was not able to consult with anyone. I am grateful for your detailed information, however, I have some more specific questions about my situation, I wonder if you could help me with these: 1) In our case, after marriage, will she be able to continue receiving social benefits and be entitled to the Wohnsitzauflage/Wohnsitzzuweisung obligations? or will she be completely dependent on my Blue card? what is the rule here, do we have a say in this or is there a mandatory rule? 2) She is already taking integration/language courses in Baden-Wittenberg, after marriage, will she be able to continue those courses in Berlin? 3) Generally, how long does the official marriage registration and moving process to Berlin will take for her? 4) Does the process need to be initiated by me from Berlin or by her in Baden-Wittenberg? BTW, I live in wedding, Berlin, 13359. Looking forward to hearing from you, as always, I appreciate your help, thank you :)

My Nguyen_Community Managerin

Dear @MM I am very sorry to hear about your struggle with the counselling centres. I will reach out to them as well to get more detailed information or a contact were you can reach out. For now I will provide you some general information: 1. After a marriage the couple is dependant on each other, which means if one person earns money, the spouse is dependant on the person who is earning money. If the income is not sufficient for both of your living, the couple can apply for additional social benefits. However, since you have a blue card, I don't assume this is will be the case. After your marriage, your future spouse can apply for the remove of her "Wohnsitzauflage" at her current local foreigners department. In our experience this unfortunately usually takes some months to get processed. 2. She can surely continue her integration course in Berlin. Please note that it will be easier, if she finishes a course section before changing to a new course. 3. Unfortunately, the issuance of a marriage certificate depends on the city registry office. This varies from a few days to weeks. You can find more information about marriage registration and the necessary documents here: https://handbookgermany.de/en/marriage 4. She will need to apply for her relocation first at her local foreigners department. During this process they will request an approval from the foreigners department in Berlin. . Dear do you have some useful tips or might have some insides you can share with us? Thanks in advance!

Updated:

Thank you dear @My Nguyen_Community Managerin for the information, indeed it gives me a big picture of how the process will look like. In the meantime, I wanted to add another short question: She was already studying at Kabul University, however, she couldn't finish it because of the regime change, What are the requirements for getting into college? would she be able to apply to universities to pursue her bachelor's? looking forward to hearing from you and @christine müller brk. As always, thank you so much :)

My Nguyen_Community Managerin

Updated:

Dear @MM happy to help! We already received a quite similar question. You might want to check that out, too: https://together-in-germany.de/en/thread/biologia In general, she will be allowed to study in Germany if she meets all the necessary requirements, e.g. German language skills, at least C1 and a university entrance qualification. This means that she needs to provide her high school diploma and her transcript of the courses she already finished in Kabul University. She can apply at her preferred university and they will check if they can approve some of the courses. Please note that she will need to secure her own livelihood as a student. Please find more information about the requirements here: https://handbookgermany.de/en/university-application#faq_915 In case she receives an acceptance of her preferred university, she could also apply for a change of residence. Please let me know if you have further questions.

Thank you @My Nguyen_Community Managerin and christine muller brk for providing detailed information.

Anonymous

Updated:

Dear mm, there is not much to add - My Nguyen has provided you with all the information required to solve the initial issues. If you can't get hold of any migration counselling service in Berlin you could easily post your questions to any of the online advisors at mbeon. (https.//mbeon.de). As the Berlin ones might be on holidays, you could also choose the Munich ones, as holidays there start only by the end of this week. As a rule, a direct admission to university depends on how much time you spent in an (acknowledged) university in your home country. Kabul is an acknowledged university. If your future wife spent less than two years there, she will most probably be admitted to attend the "Studienkolleg", that is a prepartory course for her studies, after which she will be granted a German university entrance qualification, normally after 10 months of learning. German B2 is a prerequisite for this. With her current residence permit according to § 22.1 Residence Act there are no obstacles to study or attend the preparatory college called Studienkolleg'. (And, subsequently, no good reasons to change it). With this kind of permit, she is also eligible to apply for BaFög (students loans) right now (respectively, às soon as she fulfills the prerequisites like B2 for the preparatory college or C1 for direct admission). Hence, her recognition/admission proededure should be started as soon as possible. Goord luck and best wishes. mbeon-Christine

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