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You might get questions to verify your relationship and who you both are and what you do; just basic things. One simply has to tell the truth, there is nothing to study up on so nothing to prepare for although documentation for things like citizenship, marrage certificate and degrees might save them time in having to verify.

And it is not a choice between a 2 or 5 year residency. Unless there are plans to leave earlier, an American should usually get a 3 year limited residency. After those 3 years they can apply for a unlimited residency. How long approval takes depends on the local officials and how busy they are; simply ask them.

If there is any scope for suspecting yours is a marriage of convenience (i.e. exists only to get the visa), then bringing proof of a long-term relationship could also be helpful: Pictures of holidays together, common rental contract, utilities bill or bank account, etc.

TominStuttgart wrote:

You might get questions to verify your relationship and who you both are and what you do; just basic things. One simply has to tell the truth, there is nothing to study up on so nothing to prepare for although documentation for things like citizenship, marrage certificate and degrees might save them time in having to verify.

And it is not a choice between a 2 or 5 year residency. Unless there are plans to leave earlier, an American should usually get a 3 year limited residency. After those 3 years they can apply for a unlimited residency. How long approval takes depends on the local officials and how busy they are; simply ask them.

OP is an EU citizen, so he is in Berlin under EU freedom of movement rules and his non-EEA spouse (which non-EEA nationality does not matter) will also receive a residence card under EU freedom of movement, which is a 5-year residence card (note: not a residence permit, different legislation).

EU family member cards with less than five years validity are usually only given if something is not quite by the book - when the EU spouse does not clearly exercise EU- treaty rights, mostly.

HawkLane wrote:

Hi all,

I am an EU citizen and my wife is American, both living together in Berlin. We have the interview for the 2 or 5 year residency permit coming up and I am wondering what kind of questions we can expect? How long time do they usually take before they let us know?

First of all: Are you exercising EU-treaty rights?

Unless things changed drastically or the authorities have some serious doubts about your relationship, it will probably be along the lines of :

Where did you meet?

Which language do you use to communicate?

What do you do?

What are your plans?

Often, the decision is taken on the spot, I have rarely heard of deferred decisions by the Berlin authorities, but even then it was always around the two or three weeks mark - no idea whether the pandemic affected that. Residence card should come a few weeks later from the federal printing works.

Weirdly, I have recently come across a few cases of 'paper cards' that are not really card sized being given out by Berlin, which should have been obsolete by 2011. No idea what is going on. Those can be problematic when traveling and also with employers. So, if at all they are trying to give you one of those right then and there, I'd ask questions about why and shouldn't it be a credit card-sized biometric card, etc.

I stand corrected that spouses of EU citizens will get a 5 year residency; my statement of 3 years only applies to spouses of Germans and not other EU people.

But one should know that spouses of EU citizens are routinely given permission to join their partners. They don't make one jump through any hoops; not even a German exam is required like for the spouse of a German. But they do want to verify that one has a legitimate marriage - and not have any serious criminal convictions or membership in undemocratic or terrorist organizations.

It is indeed interesting that a EU citizen bringing his/her spouse to Germany faces less restrictions and gets a longer visa than a German doing the same. Strange world!
I was, many years ago when my non-EU wife and me moved to Germany, asked to appear at the Ausländeramt before they decided on her residence permit. It was a face: They did not ask me anything of value, perhaps only wanted to know that I exist.
They let us wait for many more weeks (and several visits to the office by my wife, during which they refused to speak English to her - she had a job lined up that she couldn't start without the permit). Only after I sent a complaint to the head of office, in which I also mentioned that people who won't speak English are in the wrong position there, was her permit issued within two days. German (like other) buerocrats often live up to their stereotype of being unfriendly, inefficient and lazy!

beppi wrote:

It is indeed interesting that a EU citizen bringing his/her spouse to Germany faces less restrictions and gets a longer visa than a German doing the same. Strange world!
I was, many years ago when my non-EU wife and me moved to Germany, asked to appear at the Ausländeramt before they decided on her residence permit. It was a face: They did not ask me anything of value, perhaps only wanted to know that I exist.
They let us wait for many more weeks (and several visits to the office by my wife, during which they refused to speak English to her - she had a job lined up that she couldn't start without the permit). Only after I sent a complaint to the head of office, in which I also mentioned that people who won't speak English are in the wrong position there, was her permit issued within two days. German (like other) buerocrats often live up to their stereotype of being unfriendly, inefficient and lazy!

It's an EU-wide phenomenon.

EU nationals living in a country they do not hold citizenship of can bring their non-EEA spouses under EU freedom of movement rules as long as they exercise treaty rights.

When living in their own country of citizenship, they have to deal with domestic immigration law, which is always stricter. (Unless they meet the requirements of the Surinder Singh case law route but that would go too far, here.)

A point that played a role in the run up to the Brexit referendum.

ALKB wrote:

A point that played a role in the run up to the Brexit referendum.

Rubbish, Brexit is was much more than that.

SimCityAT wrote:

ALKB wrote:

A point that played a role in the run up to the Brexit referendum.

Rubbish

I was living in the UK at the point and I assure you it did play a role. Not as much as NHS funding, but nevertheless.

beppi wrote:

It is indeed interesting that a EU citizen bringing his/her spouse to Germany faces less restrictions and gets a longer visa than a German doing the same. Strange world!
I was, many years ago when my non-EU wife and me moved to Germany, asked to appear at the Ausländeramt before they decided on her residence permit. It was a face: They did not ask me anything of value, perhaps only wanted to know that I exist.
They let us wait for many more weeks (and several visits to the office by my wife, during which they refused to speak English to her - she had a job lined up that she couldn't start without the permit). Only after I sent a complaint to the head of office, in which I also mentioned that people who won't speak English are in the wrong position there, was her permit issued within two days. German (like other) buerocrats often live up to their stereotype of being unfriendly, inefficient and lazy!

A non-German EU spouse has the benefit of not needing to pass a German test but most living here will need to learn at least basic German anyway - and a spouse of a German only needs A1.  But a 5 year limited residency is not actually better than a 3 year one. It means there are some limitations for 5 years. After 3 years, a spouse of a German regularly gets an unlimited residency, settlement permit or even citizenship. This is better than having a limited residency for an additional 2 years. Say a spouse of an EU citizen divorces after 3 years and doesn't have work... they could be asked to leave Germany.

TominStuttgart wrote:

beppi wrote:

It is indeed interesting that a EU citizen bringing his/her spouse to Germany faces less restrictions and gets a longer visa than a German doing the same. Strange world!
I was, many years ago when my non-EU wife and me moved to Germany, asked to appear at the Ausländeramt before they decided on her residence permit. It was a face: They did not ask me anything of value, perhaps only wanted to know that I exist.
They let us wait for many more weeks (and several visits to the office by my wife, during which they refused to speak English to her - she had a job lined up that she couldn't start without the permit). Only after I sent a complaint to the head of office, in which I also mentioned that people who won't speak English are in the wrong position there, was her permit issued within two days. German (like other) buerocrats often live up to their stereotype of being unfriendly, inefficient and lazy!

A non-German EU spouse has the benefit of not needing to pass a German test but most living here will need to learn at least basic German anyway - and a spouse of a German only needs A1.  But a 5 year limited residency is not actually better than a 3 year one. It means there are some limitations for 5 years. After 3 years, a spouse of a German regularly gets an unlimited residency, settlement permit or even citizenship. This is better than having a limited residency for an additional 2 years. Say a spouse of an EU citizen divorces after 3 years and doesn't have work... they could be asked to leave Germany.

The spouse of an EU national automatically acquires permanent residency after living in the host country with their EU spouse for 5 years. The EU spouse needs to continuously exercise EU treaty rights (be employed, self employed, a full time student or self sufficient with comprehensive sickness insurance) during that time.

There are special rules regarding divorce. If they were married at least three years and lived in the host country for at least one year, then the non-EEA spouse has a 'Retained Right of Residency' under EU rules.

Haji Javid wrote:

Can anyone invite me to Germany?

An invitation for visa purposes includes full responsibility for the invitee‘s incurred cost in Germany - including incarceration and deportation if he does something wrong (like working without permit, or overstaying after the visa expired).
Nobody in his right mind would accept that for a stranger on the Internet!
Therefore, if you have no very good friends or close relatives here, you must find a way to get the visa on your own merit.
Please stop posting such requests here - instead, read about how to get your own visa!

beppi wrote:

Haji Javid wrote:

Can anyone invite me to Germany?

An invitation for visa purposes includes full responsibility for the invitee‘s incurred cost in Germany - including incarceration and deportation if he does something wrong (like working without permit, or overstaying after the visa expired).
Nobody in his right mind would accept that for a stranger on the Internet!
Therefore, if you have no very good friends or close relatives here, you must find a way to get the visa on your own merit.
Please stop posting such requests here - instead, read about how to get your own visa!

I am not sure it is even legal if you don't know them?