German language exemption and embassy contacting lawyer directly

Hello Maunster,

Welcome to Expat.com

Hopefully, someone on the forum will be able to shed some light on this matter.

In the meantime, I suggest you browse the Germany forum to see if a question almost like yours was discussed before.

Cheers,

Cheryl

Expat.com team

A foreign spouse of a German wanting to come to Germany usually needs to have an A1 level of German. Same for the spouse of a non-EU citizen. Holding a degree or not is irrelevant. One has to get along with German. But a spouse of a non-German EU citizen is exempt, as is the partner of a blue card holder.

Singapore must have plenty of options to do German classes but in certain cases like no availability or (possibly) the time is too short, then they can make an exception on the condition that the spouse takes courses in Germany upon arrival and passes the exams within a certain period. A1 is just a beginner level, not so difficult and a couple of months should be more than enough for one if they are motivated.

One should definitely be able and willing to learn the language to a passable level - or not come. Few are happy, rather they feel isolated and limited if they don't get along with the basics of the language. So the attitude of trying to get around learning German is the wrong approach. One is doing themselves a disservice since they will get much more out of the experience if they get along with the language. The rule is not to crual or overly bureaucratic; there are parctical reasons for it.

I don't know how they deal with people who don't comply; get an exemption, come and fail to pass the exam. It could mean that they get deported. I don't know that it would take a lawyer to get such an exemption but it will have to be applied for and the officials will make a judgement. No exemption might mean that one has to wait until they pass the test to immigrate.

A good link about the requirements:

https://www.germany-visa.org/family-reunion-visa/

At first, I was perplexed by your post (as you seem to not give all relevant information) - but with Tom's assumptions above, it does start to make more sense:

So your husband is German, transferred to Germany and you want to follow him? Then, as Tom wrote, basic German knowledge is required. I recommend you attend a course at the Goethe Institute or elsewhere, or apply for an exemption.

I myself are a German married to a Singaporean living in Germany, but she had A1 German skills before applying. I can only advise you to be very patient and tolerant of frustration when dealing with German officialdom - a FRV takes 3 - 6 months to be processed and there is more to come once you are here!

I just don't understand what the Workers Party (a small opposition party in Singapore) has to do with this. The yare in no position to approve anything. (And there is no party with that name in Germany.)

Thank you Tom and Beppi for your replies! Sorry my initial post was quite vague. Yes I am really keen to learn the language, i am almost done with A1.1 and moving on to A1.2, just that i couldn’t find daily German classes here so I can’t clear it fast enough. I don’t mind committing to learning the language once we get to Germany because I really want to learn!

Oh and apologies, I meant “Federal Employment Agency” and not “workers party”.

I’m still not quite sure what the embassy said to the “lawyer” (I assume it’s the immigration specialists) because we haven’t heard anything from them at all…

In the meantime, we are trying to fulfill requirements for a blue card, as well as seeing if there’s a way I can possibly clear the A1 test within the year. Bit of a background: we are from the Philippines but residents in Singapore, so the options we were initially advised were to try for a blue card or a specialist work visa for my husband and an FRV for the kids and I.

Thank again for the replies, I know a lot of people promise to come back here and update on their status… but I really will! 😄

If both you and your husband are from the Philippines (not German), then there is no need for language skills to get a FRV. If your visa-processing officer does not know this, the lawyer should tell him/her!

Edited to add: I just see that Tom above wrote that only spouses of EU citizens are exempted from the language requirement. If that is the case (and Tom usually knows his stuff!), then my comment above is wrong. Sorry!

Thanks @beppi! yeah my research also confirms that I would really need to get the language cert unless my husband gets the blue card. We were just puzzled why the embassy advised the lawyer/immig specialists instead of us directly.

In the meantime, we’ve sent the educational docs to ZAB so hope we hear back soon!

Thanks @beppi! yeah my research also confirms that I would really need to get the language cert unless my husband gets the blue card. We were just puzzled why the embassy advised the lawyer/immig specialists instead of us directly.
In the meantime, we’ve sent the educational docs to ZAB so hope we hear back soon!
-@Maunster

If you instructed a lawyer to assist with your application/gave them a power of attorney, then it is normal for all correspondence regarding your case to go to the lawyer and not you. They should inform you of anything they receive and I would assume that you could contact them at any time and ask?

Posting an update as promised…

so it turns out that the embassy indeed contacted the specialist that was helping us with the visa application and we were Informed that we are unable to get an exemption as while my (spouse) university is listed as H+, my degree is not.

so while this were all happening, I studied for my a1 exam and managed to clear it (yayy!)

we submitted the certificate to the embassy today and hopefully we hear back soon!

on a side note, if anyone knows whether a statement of compatibility is needed for employment visa (not blue card), pls do post here… I’m getting confused by all the resources I’m finding online… some state there is no need as long as there is approval from the Federal Employment Agency (which we have) and some state that the statement of compatibility is required even if you’re  applying under the Skilled Worker route.

thanks!

Final update:

we found out through our immigration specialist that we were not granted the language requirement exemption because my university was H+ but my degree was not

in any case, I managed to pass my A1 exam and we got the specialist visa + frv issued together