Financial requirements for non-EU family member?

The minimum amount one should be able to live from in the eyes of the Germany officials is 8000 to 9000 Euros a year. Together you are making around 1900 Euros to 2000 Euros a month plus you do have some savings. Not sure why that should not be enough.

But it is not surprsing that they want to see you total income. You are required to file tax returns in Germany anyway and for things like visa considerations it is standard that they check if people are properly reporting their taxes.

Is this number written anywhere officially? In my opinion we have more than enough, in fact we are even saving a little each month, but in my experience these people do not care about my opinion or even what is quite obvious... If I had something printed out saying how much money we should have that might help though.

As for taxes, I actually filed a report last year for 2015 although not even sure if I had to as I had 0 profit, and haven't yet filed for 2016 yet. It's a bit strange actually that while it is written self employed people are qualified, I couldnt find anywhere written how much money (if any) had to be made by the person.

You need to have more than the officially defined (and yearly updated) survival rate ("Existenzminimum"), which currently is EUR8820/year per adult, thus EUR 17640/year for the two of you.
The reason is that below this rate you'd be eligible for social security payments and the authorities don't want to let such people into the country.
Furthermore, you need to show German health insurance and sufficient living space (e.g. rented apartment) to get a visa.

beppi wrote:

You need to have more than the officially defined (and yearly updated) survival rate ("Existenzminimum"), which currently is EUR8820/year per adult, thus EUR 17640/year for the two of you.
The reason is that below this rate you'd be eligible for social security payments and the authorities don't want to let such people into the country.
Furthermore, you need to show German health insurance and sufficient living space (e.g. rented apartment) to get a visa.

Thanks, I'll have to do a bit of math but I think we justs about cover that. Although, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the amount considered needed for a couple usually 150% of a single person not 200%? Or is that not applied in this case?

You wrote that you make around 500 to 600 Euros/month and then you write that in 2015 you had 0 profit. Which is it? Can't be both. One could have a gross income of 600 Euros a month but have a matching amount of business expenses and deductions leaving a net profit of 0. But this would mean your net income is 0 rather than 600 Euros/month. When they look at your income for living purposes it is of course the net income that counts.

Beyond the issue of getting visas, the tax authorities are fairly curious when people claim a very minimal income over multiple years. I had some lean years a while back and they started asking a lot of questions as to how we could survive and I am married to a German and have permanent residency. I had to show that I own my apartment outright so have no rent expenses and do have enough savings and investments to get through.

I had also started off with a 3 year conditional visa when I married. At the end of the 3 years, as an American, I had the right to have an unlimited visa but they attempted to only give me another one limited to 3 years under the pretext that my German wife had no job! I pointed out that if it weren’t for me being there then my wife would be needing social benefits. Yet this didn’t convince them but I knew my rights and threatened to take a lawyer and they gave in and did what they were supposed to in the first place. Either the official telling me that I wouldn’t get the unlimited visa was uninformed or trying to trick me.

The lesson I learned is that not all officials are competent or honest. I was living in a small town then and I think the only non-EU residents the person at the information desk was used to dealing with were Turks and Russians and she might have just assumed that the requirements for me were the same. If a ruling goes against you, then it sometimes pays to actually ask a lawyer or even at another office. There is an office for affairs of resident aliens (Amt für öffentliche Ordnung, Ausländer- und Staatsangehörigkeitsrecht) where one should generally be able to get an informed opinion about such things.

noz03 wrote:

Although, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the amount considered needed for a couple usually 150% of a single person not 200%? Or is that not applied in this case?

Unfortunately not - see http://www.cecu.de/existenzminimum.html (a third party webpage that explains the situation in easier German than the actual rules and regulations, which even I as a native speaker struggle to understand).

TominStuttgart wrote:

You wrote that you make around 500 to 600 Euros/month and then you write that in 2015 you had 0 profit. Which is it?

Well I registered the tax number at the very end of 2015, I made a tax report but my entire years earnings were basically 0. 2016 was pretty low as well, I just registered to take the odd job while I am building things up but most my time goes into learning and money straight back into equipment. Either way I haven't yet made a tax report for 2016 yet as I have until May, so my "last tax report" is the one from the last 6 weeks of 2015 which shows 0.

Finally in 2017 I made 800 in January and 700 in February, but I can't make a tax report for 2017 yet obviously... I am hoping they will just accept my bank statement which shows around 1500-2000 euros going in each month (my and my wifes income). As well as my sent invoices that I wrote, but those are literally just papers that I made and signed myself...

One more complication is my wifes income is 40% from bonuses, so the amount written on her contract is a lot lower than her actual income, again hoping the bank statement clears that up. But if the 500-1000 euros I am making/expecting to make in 2017 isn't counted I don't think her income even with bonuses hits €17,640.

Other than this, is it not possible to claim a combination of income and savings as "sufficient funds"? I could gather €18,000 in my German accounts, which is not enough to live 5 years on (they said before), but with a combination of "almost" enough income it of course would be.

Yeah, you have some time before you need to file your taxes for 2016. Doesn't really bring much to file early. But it sounds like you are speculating too much. As far as I've understood they have not refused a visa for either of you on account of lack of funds and yes, I think savings are relevant. All I can say in the end is to present your case as positive as possible and see how they react. If they would say it is not enough then maybe you have a close friend or relative that would sign a paper committing to give you financial support if needed? Otherwise, I guess you might have to find some reliable ways to make more money and prove it. The thing they most want to avoid is that you need social assistance.  But I think that if you have some funds they have no reason not to give you a chance but maybe they would do something like give a yearly visa extension instead of a longer time period to be precautious. What I don’t know is how Brexit might affect you. Normally, a non-EU student is limited to what work they can do. If you become a non-EU member yourself then it might complicate your situation as they might say your wife is not allowed to make more even if she were able to.