Subsequent immigration to join foreign family members , Date: 2024.03.01, format: Article, area: Migration and residence

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Spouses, registered partners and minor children have as a matter of principle the possibility to accompany third-country nationals to Germany, or to join them there. Adequate accommodation and a secure livelihood are necessary in this connection. A person who is already in Germany and wishes to be joined by family members must hold a valid residence title.

Less strict rules apply to family reunification to join certain groups of people such as skilled workers and recognised refugees.

Spouses

The following conditions also apply to spousal reunification as a rule:

• Both spouses must be at least 18 years of age.
• If you move to Germany to join your spouse, you must as a rule be able to communicate in simple everyday German. You can also acquire the language skills after arriving in Germany in many instances, for example in the case of family reunification to join skilled workers.
• Adequate accommodation must be available.
• The livelihood of the family must be ensured.

You are also entitled to take up work if you come to Germany for the purposes of family reunification.

Family reunification naturally also applies to same-sex civil partnerships.

Minor-age children

If you are a minor-age, unmarried child, you can as a matter of principle come to Germany in order to join your parents (or your parent who is entitled to custody). You do not need to fulfil any further conditions if you are under 16.

You can come to Germany without having to fulfil any further requirements from the age of 16 onwards if the time of your arrival is connected with that of your parents, i.e. as a rule you must move to join them within six months (even later after your parents move to Germany in exceptional cases, such as in order to complete a school year).

If you enter the country at a later date, you can come to Germany from the age of 16 onwards

• if you are proficient in German and can therefore demonstrate German language skills at level C1, or
• if it can be assumed that you will find it easy to integrate into life in Germany. This may be the case for example if you have attended a German-speaking school abroad, at least not only for a short time, or if you grew up in another EU State, in an EEA state or in a privileged third country (Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America), or in a German-speaking household.

Parents or other family members

If you are the parent or parent-in-law of a skilled worker working in Germany, you may be able to come to Germany under certain circumstances.

Other family members may only come to Germany in all other cases in order to prevent exceptional hardship.

Easier access for family members of skilled workers and highly-qualified persons

If you wish to move to Germany to join a skilled worker or a highly-qualified person, you do not need to provide proof of simple language skills as a spouse before entering the country. Proof of sufficient living space is also not required.

Further relaxations exist if you have already spent time in a first Member State as a relative of holders of an EU Blue Card. If your family member is granted an EU Blue Card in Germany immediately afterwards, you only need to provide proof that you have health insurance cover in order to move to join them, but no further proof of subsistence is necessary.

If you are a child of a skilled worker or of a highly-qualified person over the age of 16, you do not have to meet any further requirements in order to join your parents. Contrary to the general arrangement, this also applies if the time of your arrival is not connected with that of your parents.

If you are a parent or parent-in-law of skilled workers and highly-qualified persons, you have the opportunity to come to Germany if your child’s or child-in-law’s residence title was first issued on or after 1 March 2024. In order for this to be possible, your subsistence must be ensured, including sufficient health and long-term care insurance cover, from your own financial resources.

Easier access for relatives of persons entitled to protection

If you are a spouse or partner or a minor unmarried child (the "core family") of persons entitled to asylum, recognised refugees, persons entitled to subsidiary protection, or resettled refugees, you can move to Germany even if your subsistence is not covered and sufficient living space is not available. The only requirement is that the application for family reunification is made no later than three months after the asylum procedure has been completed. If recognition is granted by a court judgment (e.g. in the case of an appeal against a rejection of the asylum application), this period only begins after a new, positive decision is issued by the Federal Office. In the case of admission under the resettlement procedure, the period begins when the relevant residence permit is issued for the first time.

Family reunification is also possible after the three-month period has expired. The person entitled to protection already living in Germany must however then demonstrate that they are making efforts to find work and their own accommodation.

It is also possible for the core family to join persons who have been granted temporary protection under less strict conditions – but this only applies to other family members in order to avoid exceptional hardship (section 36 of the Residence Act).

Relatives of individuals with a long-term residence entitlement

If you are the spouse or partner of a person who holds a residence title issued by another EU Member State and who holds a long-term residence entitlement, you can move to Germany to join them even if you do not have simple knowledge of German, and before reaching the age of 18. This is subject to the condition that the marriage or cohabitation already existed in the first Member State.

Restrictions on family reunification

Your entitlement to move to Germany is restricted if your relative holds one of the following residence titles:

• persons to whom a deportation ban applies (section 25 subsection (3) of the Residence Act),
• individuals who have been issued with a residence title as victims of a criminal offence (human trafficking, forced prostitution, forced labour, labour exploitation or exploitation involving deprivation of liberty) (section 25 subsection (4a) of the Residence Act),
• juveniles whose deportation has been suspended, and young adults who have been issued with a residence title due to their good integration (section 25a subsection (1) of the Residence Act),
• individuals whose deportation has been suspended and who have received a residence title on account of their sustained integration (section 25b subsection (1) of the Residence Act),
• persons who have been admitted from abroad (section 22 of the Residence Act),
• persons who have received their residence title due to a ruling by supreme Land or Federal authorities (section 23 subsections (1) and (2) of the Residence Act).

Family reunification is ruled out as a matter of principle for persons with one of the following residence titles:

• persons whose deportation has been suspended and who have received a residence permit for a temporary stay (section 25 subsection (4) of the Residence Act),
• persons with a residence title for victims of a criminal offence in accordance with the Act to Combat Clandestine Employment or in accordance with the Act on Temporary Employment Businesses (section 25 (4b) of the Residence Act),
• individuals whose deportation has been suspended but are prevented from leaving Germany through no fault of their own and have been issued with a residence permit (section 25 subsection (5) of the Residence Act),
• persons who have received a residence permit as parents of well-integrated juveniles (section 25a subsection (2) of the Residence Act),
• persons who have received a residence permit as family members of well-integrated juveniles (section 25b subsection (4) of the Residence Act),
• individuals who have been issued with a residence permit on the basis of a regulation on existing cases in accordance with sections 104a subsection (1), first sentence, or 104b, or as "Chancenaufenthaltsrecht" (literally: opportunities-based right of residence) in accordance with section 104c of the Residence Act.