Detailed FRV experience

The following was shared with us by a fellow South African

My husband (a South African citizen) got an IT specialist Visa in May. I (a South African citizen) got a job in Germany as well, however, I could not apply for a work Visa, as I needed to get my qualification recognized through IHK fosa. I contacted them, had to send all my documents, and pay €600. I was advised that it would take 3 months, and it would not be sooner as they are busy (I should receive feedback end of September).

The quicker route would be applying for a family reunification Visa for myself and my kids. Our situation was a bit more complicated, as my stepson was going to be relocating with us.

The steps we followed:

1. Got company Speedy Document Services to assist with getting our unabridged marriage certificate. I had to provide them with our marriage register in order to assist. I got that document in 10 days
2. Got Apostille.co.za to assist with sending our documents (unabridged marriage certificate and unabridged birth certificates) to Dirco for apostilling. The entire process for this took 7 weeks, so do this as much in advance as possible
3. I wrote my German A1 language exam at the Goethe Zentrum in Cape Town – it cost me R1700 at the time, however, there has been a price increase from September
4. The German embassy requested a consent affidavit from a notary public from my stepson’s mother, stating that she gives permission for him to relocate with us and that I may apply for the Visa for him.
   They would not accept his Visa application without this, and would not accept an affidavit from a commissioner of oaths. My husband did an affidavit whilst he was still in SA, giving permission for the boys to apply for visas, which I included in my documents when applying for the visas
5. We provided proof of accommodation from the date we would like to be in Germany – we just booked a hotel through booking.com which did not request payment upfront and had free cancellation up to 7 days before arrival (I cancelled this as soon as we got a notification that our visas were ready).
6. My husband got Die Techniker to confirm that his health insurance would cover us once we arrived in the country, which I added to our documents
7. We applied for our visas and got an email precisely 7 days later saying that our Visas were ready for collection.
   They requested that we bring proof of travel insurance when we collect our Visas. I just used Old Mutual travel insurance and it was accepted with no problem.
8. For the parental consent, ensure all documents, including the actual parental consent form, are certified for when you go through SA customs.
9. When we got to customs in Frankfurt, the customs official asked us where we were going, and why we were going there, and then he asked if we were going to live in Germany and apply for a residence permit, to which I said yes. He then stamped our passports and we went through.