Those who lose their heart sometimes do the most unlikely things to make that love possible. Renounces the crown like Edward VIII, the Queen’s uncle, or like Grace Kelly, renounces a career as a movie star when she was Prince Rainier III. of Monaco married. Some people change religion for their love; and many go to a foreign land. If they are allowed to.
Because love can move mountains, but not soften the German bureaucracy. Every year, around 10,000 foreign spouses are not allowed to move in with their partners living in Germany, because they rattle through the required German test, as the federal government confirmed. So Germans who got married abroad despair because they cannot bring their loved ones home. Turks or Colombians living in Germany also remain lonely if the woman does not pass the German test back home. Recognized refugees are better off there. Thanks to international law, the obligation to test does not apply to their partners.
If you want to live permanently in Germany, you should be able to speak a little German, according to the grand coalition led by the then Minister of the Interior, Wolfgang Schäuble, in 2007, and made proof of basic German language skills (level A1) compulsory before entering the country. The law was intended to prevent forced marriages and facilitate integration.
That some oppressed young Turks – That was the cliché spread by Schäuble at the time – Taken from an involuntary marriage via botched tests is possible. There is no data on this. What is certain is that the tests have hindered the happy coexistence of thousands of other couples since then. The poor and uneducated people are particularly affected, which was definitely the intention, suspects the left, which has been following the issue for years. These people could not afford language courses. Hardship regulations often do not apply. But family life is a human right and not a privilege.
The test also makes entry more difficult for all other couples. The Association of Binational Families and Partnerships calculates that in 67 countries there is no way at all to provide a certified language certificate. The certificate was also required from Afghanistan until shortly before the Taliban took power. The Goethe-Institut has been closed there since 2017.
Learning German is important. Those who can communicate find jobs more easily and feels closer to the new homeland. But the best way to learn a language is in the country, argues the Association of Binational Families and Partnerships. In Germany, a language course is mandatory for these newcomers anyway.
The traffic light coalition clears up many hardships in migration law. The obligation to take a language test should also fall, as can be read in the coalition agreement. In the draft for the Opportunity Immigration Act, which will be discussed in the Bundesrat on Friday, this is only intended for skilled workers. The immigration of skilled workers is now “an important and very urgent concern of the federal government,” explains a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Everyone else will have to wait for now. love or not.