Last year, more than 13,000 husbands and wives of asylum seekers in Germany faced disappointment as their attempts to reunite with their spouses living in the country were unsuccessful, mainly due to insufficient language knowledge.
Such a thing has led critics to argue that the current language requirement that Germany applies to those wishing to reunite with their families is excessively rigorous and may not align with the EU law, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Data provided by the Foreign Office of Germany show that a total of 13,607 people who were hoping to go to Germany as spouses of recognised asylum seekers failed to pass the language requirement test last year, Info Migrants explains.
The same source reveals that the number of failed tests in the previous years used to be around 10,000. This marks about a 35 per cent growth of the failure rate for last year.
The requirement to pass the language test is mandatory for all those planning to join their spouses who are already in Germany.
The test needs to be passed at a Goethe Institute abroad, which is a non-profit cultural association supported by the German government.
According to the German Foreign Office, in 2022, a total of 71,127 people received a visa for spousal reunification. This number also includes those who passed their language tests in the previous years too.
Data show that the majority of those who received a visa for spousal reunification in 2022 were from India, Türkiye, and Lebanon.
In 2022, a total of 8,930 Indian citizens, 8,778 Turkish citizens, and 5,006 Lebanese citizens received a German visa for spousal reunification.
On the other hand, Info Migrants explains that the highest failure rate was among nationals of Ethiopia. Around 61 per cent of Ethiopian nationals failed to language exam last year.
In addition, failure rates were also high in Senegal and Ghana, with 52.4 per cent and 55.5 per cent of people failing their language test, respectively.
All those who wish to apply for the Germany spouse reunion visa need to meet some other requirements, too, in addition to providing proof of basic German language skills.
They are required to submit two application forms instead of one, a copy of the spouse’s passport if they are a citizen of the EU or a copy of the spouse’s residency permit if they are a non-EU citizen, as well as the original copy of the marriage certificate.
The German spouse reunification visa costs €75, and in case the visa is rejected, the money is not reimbursed.