Getting Married in Germany Part 2
Indonesian | English
Hi lovely readers,
This post is a continuation of the previous post about what my partner did after he received the documents I sent him from Indonesia.
I sent my documents on November 25, 2020 and my partner received it two days later. Since he received the package in the afternoon, he waited the next day for the next process.
6. Translating Documents in Germany
The next day, after my partner received the document, he called the translator whose services we would be using and to see if he could deliver the documents that day, since it was Saturday. And it could be handed over that day. So my partner went to the translator's house to translate all the necessary documents. Oh yes, why not take a sworn translator from Indonesia, because as I mentioned in a previous post, the document must be translated by a sworn translator registered at the Standesamt where we registered the marriage. And we were in a hurry because these documents can only be used for 3 and 6 months respectively, so we were like chased by time.
The documents were completed a week later. The cost of the translation was 305 euros. And there is one additional document that I forgot to mention in the last post, bank account statement for the last 3 months. So we translated 5 sheets of my bank account statement, 2 sheets of birth certificate and marginal note, 1 sheet of marital status certificate, 1 sheet of residence certificate and 2 sheets of income certificate.
7. Submit Documents to Standesamt
The next day, right after our document finished, my partner immediately submitted the documents to the Standesamt to be presented to the court. In these court proceedings, it was to be checked whether my partner and I are related by blood, because according to German law, people who are directly related by blood are not allowed to marry.
The documents were first handed over at the counter, and then we just needed to wait until the Standesamt/court to notify the next process. The completion of this document on December 8, 2020.
8. Waiting for the Court Proceeding
The court proceeding was still about a month away. While we waited, my partner got a letter to pay the legal fees. Actually we forgot when exactly my partner got the letter but what we know is my partner didn't open the mail box for days and the letter had been made two weeks earlier. So we were worried that we paid late. We paid it immediately and a few days later my partner received an email that our marriage registration had been approved and we were asked to choose a date. We decided on early May because we only had 6 months to get married, until early August 2021. Just in case if our plans were not working, we still had time to move to other plan.
The court's fee was 110 euros and this pleasant news, we received at the beginning of February 2021.
9. Collecting Visa Support Documents
After my partner received the letter from the registry office, he submitted a declaration of commitment, also known
Verpflichtungserklärung
, to the German Immigration Office. So my partner asked his father to be my guarantor during my stay in Germany until I get married, since his father's monthly income met the criteria for a guarantor for a national visa. After my partner got this letter, my partner sent this document to me, but unfortunately it did not arrive for over a month. So I applied for a national visa without the original letter of
Verpflichtungserklärung
, only with a photocopy of it. I have called the office of delivery service company, but no one knows exactly what was going on with my document. Losing my nerve, I raised the issue on IG and Twitter even I complained on the personal account of the director of this delivery service company. And fortunately, the director responded immediately and helped me find my document. Finally after one month and 2 weeks my document came to my hand.
10. Dream comes TRUE!
Once the paperwork is done, I will just wait for my visa. I will share my experience about the application for a national visa in the next post.
After we received the certainty of the visa, my partner and I immediately booked a plane to Germany through Booking.com. And I immediately told my family and friends. Fortunately, my brother who lives in America was still visiting Bali before I left, so I spent the last 2 weeks in Indonesia with my brother because I barely didn't see him once a year. And we also did little trips together. I feel so blessed~
Comments
Post a Comment