In this series, my idea is to help you find the right information about any visa for Germany. From a simple student visa to a Blue Card Germany. The information you’ll find here comes from real people with real stories. I’m interviewing expats from all over the globe asking them to share their stories. To read all the stories we have so far, check “How to Get My Visa?”
It is important to say that every case is a case and these series doesn’t substitute proper research. Each case is a case, each visa required diferent documents. With that said, any question you might have please get in touch either by joining our Facebook Group or by leaving a comment here.
If you’re after information about the application or how is the process of a Blue Card Germany, this post is for you. Remembering that the blue card germany is the blue card valid in EU, so if you’re in need of a help for another country, maybe here you can find the answer.
Today a married male from Turkey is sharing his story of how he got the blue card Germany and which was the visa his wife had to apply for.
He had a job contract – which is the most important for a blue card germany – and his final destination was Cologne. If you have a similar story of applying for blue card germany, feel free to share with us. All stories here are 100% anonymous. The idea here is to have a small database of personal struggles and victories to help the general public.
What kind of visa did you apply to? Student? Artist? Blue card Germany? Freelancer? Marriage/Family member? Other?
I was hired by a company and the visa application was to work in Germany. Originally, the application was supposed to fit into Blue Card criteria, but due to a mistake on my employers part, the application was not eligible for Blue Card and it was processed as a regular Working Visa.
This changed forced my wife to apply for “Family Reunion” visa and she had to go take an A1 level German language exam to be eligible for family reunion. Because she did not know German at that time, this forced her to come to Germany on a tourist visa, take German lessons, go back to Turkey to take the exam (you have to take the exam and apply for family reunion from your country of origin), wait for the results and apply for family reunion visa. This cost us an additional 2000€ (approx.) and 6 months.
Where in Germany did you apply?
The original visa application was made in Turkey, Istanbul. Our destination, the location of my employer was/is in Cologne. I guess it is a relatively faster process to apply for anywhere else in Germany except Berlin.
What were the documents you needed for the blue card Germany? And for how long is your visa for?
Ok, this is tricky. Since we are citizens of Turkey, a non-EU state, the documentation is quite hefty. Maybe non-european citizens need to double check before applying for a blue card Germany.
If I remember correctly:
– University diploma (translated to German by a legal translator)
– University education equivalency document (basically an internet site screenshot)
– Travel Insurance for at least 12-months
– Housing contract with duration and house size in square meters clearly defined, signed by the landlord and tenant(s)
– Work contract with clearly defined salary and contract duration, signed by employer and applicant
– Job description signed by the employer
– Bundesagentur für Arbeit approval document applied and obtained by the employer
– Martial status documents obtained from the country of origin (for family reunion, spouse-only)
– At least A1 level GOETHE exam certificate (for family reunion, spouse-only)
Initially, you get a 1-year visa. At the end of the first year, depending on your employment situation (if your contract was renewed for a limited period or as an unlimited contract) you get an extension up to 3 years.
Where are you from? And how old are you? If you are comfortable, can you share your gender too?
Me and my wife, we are both from Istanbul, Turkey. I am 33 and my wife is 31. We are both cisgender, male and female individuals 🙂
How easy was the whole process? Did you apply for more than 1 time?
In its core, the whole process was very easy and straightforward. My application was approved and my visa was issued within 48 hours. What caused us much pain and agony was the mistakes and blunders before the actual application.
Can you tell us a little bit of your experience with the auslaenderbehoerde?
Our experience with auslenderbehorde is 90% perfect. Probably because we are living in Köln. I have heard nothing but bad stuff from my Berliner friends 🙂
The only problem we had with auslenderbehörde is when they forgot to send our visa extension application to the government and therefore made us lose 2 months. But even then, they were very kind, apologetic, and within a week they provided us with temporary documents that showed that our visa was extended for 3 years. All in all, I say that’s a damn good performance.
From 1-10, 10 being absolutely easy and great, how would you rate the overall experience of applying to your visa and dealing with paperwork and bureaucracy?
The application and bureaucracy were 8/10, but the paperwork and prior experience were 2/10 due to the incredible incompetence on my employer’s side.
Once we had the work contract and the approval from Bundesagentur for Arbeit (total of a 4-week process), the rest of paperwork took us 3 days to collect. As I said, as an employer, my visa was approved in 48 hours. Due to the problems I mentioned above, my wife’s visa was a mess. But once she had her language certificate and made her official application, it took 15 days to get her visa too.
Any piece of advice you would give to others applying for the blue card Germany?
Make sure your employer is working with a visa-agency. German employers don’t know and don’t care about the difference between a regular working visa Germany and blue card Germany, and their ignorance on this issue is quite annoying and arrogant.
If for some case you have to rely on HR to follow up with your work permit/blue card Germany application, be like a bloodhound and make sure they are doing everything correctly.
