Destination Wedding: Hong Kong

I have the pleasure of meeting an online friend who have a destination wedding at the wonderful Hong Kong. It seems to be a good alternative for those who do not want to go all the hassle of paper works to marry in the Philippines ... or... just wanted to have a change of scenario. She is from the Philippines while her partner is a German national.

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~~ADVANTAGES IN MARRYING IN HONGKONG~~
I did ask her what are the good points in marrying there. The following is her answer:

1. Less time consuming
-- she spend a total of one (1) week in Hong Kong: arriving there 2 days before the wedding date for the personal appearance and leaving after registering the wedding in 2 offices:  (a.) Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong & (b.) High Court of the Apostille to prove that the wedding is legal & is being recognize in Germany.
-- no seminar needed.

2. Less documents needed to present
-- German Partner were ask to present only 2 things: Birth Certificate & Passport
-- Philippine Partner were ask to present the following: NSO Cenomar, NSO Birth Certificate & Passport
-- and a notorized ''Notice of Marriage'' paper. She did warn that this is not known so she needed to explain that this document is one of the requirements for marrying in Hong Kong when she have it notorized in the Philippines.

3. A friend or relative living in Hong Kong is an advantage.
-- Her friend was the one who submitted their documents including their payment for the processing fee.
***NOTE: they only send photocopies of their passport & not the passport itself.
-- needed at least 2 witnesses (of legal age) for the wedding ceremony. You can always fly your family if this is what you prefer.


For more information on how to marry in Hong Kong, check the official Hong Kong website.

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~~ADVANTAGES IN MARRYING IN THE PHILIPPINES~~
My wedding was held in a beach in the Philippines. This is my personal pointers on what are the advantages:

1. Affordable Dream Wedding
-- Beautiful & natural back drop for those who opt for destination weddings within the Philippines such as beach weddings among others.
-- Professional services such as photographers & videographers to capture the moments are much affordable in the Philippines.Just be sure that they have good reputations.
-- Filipino food are delicious and affordable.

2. Wedding Planning Stages
-- Planning a wedding is not easy esp. when one or both of you are out of the country. But you get to know your partner better in the process. I did notice that how we plan and execute for our wedding are the same approach we did when we now plan and execute for our new apartment.We can say that this stage is our glimpse of how it will be like when finally living together.

3.  Celebrating with family and close friends
-- I actually heard that this is one of the most common complain when marrying in the Philippines: too many guests. On the other side, it would be nice if you get to share your special moments with your family & close friends. But like in any wedding, the only important part is that its legal. My sole advise would be: Go for quality over quantity!

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At the end of the day, its your and your partner's decision on where to held your wedding. My friend and I sincerely hope that we get to help you decide on what  maybe a better choice for the both of you. We wish you well!

Good luck!

Claiming my Residence Permit ID card

So happy to finally have internet. My apologies for the delay of update. Now, let us discuss about getting the Residence Permit Id card. 

After applying for the extention of visa, we received a letter from the Alien Office that my card is already for pick up. In the letter, we were instructed to make an appointment to get it. 

It's time to go back and visit the Ausländerbehörde (Alien Office). We no longer need to sign up for the appointment (as we already done that over the phone). We simply need to go there earlier than the appointment time and then wait for our name to be called. And true, we were called in on time. 

The Alien Office guy will give you a quick introduction of the Resident Permit Id card (I got to say this but the ID card is really good looking). I was reminded that I need to bring it with me wherever I go and that I still need to bring my passport with me. In the Id card, you will see all your basic informations of yourself and it included the expiration date of your visa. The visa extention time differs from city to city -- some have longer duration stay. Futhermore, this is also dependent on what kind of visa you have. To know more about this, just click here  for my previous link.

Congratulation and enjoy your stay here in Germany! 

Until next time, regards!!!

Part 3, Visiting the Civil Registry Office (Standesamt)

Welcome to the last round!

This must be one of the thrilling part of the document battle for your partner, registering your marriage. They can change their tax classification, which simply means, lower tax pay for them. Let's face it, the taxes here are expensive!

As usual, this is a first-come-first-serve basis system unless you have an appointment.

Please take note while I was applying for my Family Reunion Visa in the Philippines, I was not subjected to document checking. I wanted to quote myself from my previous topic that it is best to assume that everyone who is applying for Family Reunion Visa or Fiancee Visa is subjected to document checkings. Read on to find out why I needed to quote myself now.

These are the things asked from us:
1. My Passport
2. My One (1) Passport size ID picture
3. My Resident Registration paper or the Anmeldebestätigung (given by the Ortsamt authorities)
-- Read Part 1 on how to obtain this.
4. NSO Birth Certificate*
5. NSO Marriage License*
* I attached a translation of these although it was not asked from me.
6. NSO Certificate of Marriage (CEMAR)
7. My husband's ID card passport or the Ausweis
-- Make sure that the home address are uptodate
8. Certified copy of my husband's Birth Certificate
-- This is taken from the registry where he was sign up after birth.
9. Profile Copy of my husband
-- taken from the Ortsamt. See Part 1.
-- must be uptodate.
10. Certification to allow & pay them processing fee of document checking
-- Fees: 190€ for processing fee + 10€ for postal fee
-- This is the same document checking where most was subjected to when they are applying for their Family Reunion Visa or Fiancee Visa.
-- Please note that I do know someone who were not ask for the document checking ever. It is safe to assume that this differ from Standesamt to Standesamt.


We are done... for now! It's back to the waiting game where they will just send a letter when all the necessary process are done. Until next time!!!

Prost!!!

Part 2, Visiting the Alien Office (Ausländerbehörde)

Welcome to the part 2 out of 3

It's time to head to the Foriegner Registration Office or the Ausländerbehörde. Again, this is a first-come-first-serve, so, the first thing you should do is get a priority number. Incase there is none, try to locate for a registration sheet and sign in your name. This is for the Receptionist who will ask you what kind of assistance do you need -- he or she will give you the list of things that you will need to present. The same person will confirm that you will be listed to their appointment list if you have all the necessary documents with you. You will wait at the waiting area until an Officer calls your name.

Please note that this is a long wait depending on the cases the said Officers are assisting. If not urgent, do not leave the waiting room. During my stay there, there was this couple who went out of the room to smoke.While they were gone, an Officer repeatedly call for their attention, until such a time the Officer called for the next person in line. The time they were back, their appointment is gone and since its already cut-off time -- they were ask to come back in another time for their concerns. Consider yourself warned!

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Almost every person in that room are there for their Residence Status which they called ''Aufenthaltsstatus''. By the German law, every Alien must hold a Residence Approval or the Aufenthaltsgenehmigung. This is subdivided into different parts:

1. Residence Permission (Aufenthaltserlaubnis)
-- Initially issued with an expiration date and can be extended or after number of years and complying to certain requirements, this can be exchange for an unrestricted resident permit.
-- This is issued for foreigners who are a close family relative of a German national.

2. Residence Allocation (Aufenthaltsbewilligung)
-- This is granted for people who are only temporarily staying in Germany for a particular purposes such as studying a course.

3.Authorisation of Residence (Aufenthaltsbefugnis)
-- This is granted for people who are allowed to enter and reside within the federal territory for reasons of international rights or urgent humanitarian reasons or for maintaining the political interests of Germany.

4. Right of Residence (Aufenthaltsberechtigung)
-- The no time limit resident permit.

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With this, I am applying for the Residence Permission (Aufenthaltserlaubnis). Please be reminded that the requirements being sought are case-to-case basis. Do bring all the documents you felt important.On our case, we are both of legal age, married in the Philippines, and applied for a Family Reunion Visa. We both are never married before and have no children outside the relationship.

The things ask from us are the following:
1. A fully accomplished form
2. My Passport
3. My Two (2) Passport size ID pictures
4. My Resident Registration paper or the Anmeldebestätigung (given by the Ortsamt authorities)
-- Read Part 1 on how to obtain this.
5. My husband's ID card passport or the Ausweis
6. Proof of Health Insurance
-- can be the Health Insurance card or the letter of confirmation from the Insurance company.
7. Proof of Income
-- Can be Job Contract of your German's Partner or Payroll Slip

Fee:
110€ for the visa extention

After all documents checked, papers stamped and signed for, I was given the following:
1. a list of  schools with their addresses and contact numbers for my German Language course
-- they included 3 forms to which you will submit to your new school.
2. a booklet about the newly feautured ID system for my Residence Permission (Aufenthaltserlaubnis)
-- the system is fairly new and I was subjected to their electronic finger printing and electronic signature
-- I was told that the process is more or less, one month, and they will send us a letter when it arrives.

We are almost done with the paper battle. See you the next round!

Part 1, Visiting the Local Civil Office (Ortsamt)

This is the first office that you need to visit: The Local Civil Office or the Ortsamt.

In Germany, you need to register where you are living. If you move to a new apartment or place, irregardless if its on the same street, you need to go to this office to inform them thru registration. If you guys are not going to move, please read on to the next paragraph. For those who will move or is planning to do so, remember that the very least they require is that your new home already have your name tags on the mailbox. They do not do any advance processings and will only ask you to come back again incase the name tags are not yet changed to yours.

They have a first-come-first-serve system. You can get your number at the information counter.

Moving on, here are the things they ask from us:
1. Fully accomplished form
-- the forms are located at the waiting area.
-- incase you guys move to a new address, and your partner needs to register too, he needs to fill up a seperate form.
2. My passport
3. Rental Agreement
4. My husband's ID card passport or the Ausweis
-- this is needed if your German partner is going to register to a new address

Fees:
10 € for the registration fee per couple or person
10 € for a profile copy  of your German partner**
** This was a requirement for his Capacity to Contact Marriage. My husband needs to take a new one because he need to present an uptodate copy to the Standesamt (Part 3).

After everything is done, you will be given a stamped and signed Resident Registration Paper or the Anmeldebestätigung. This is your official proof of address of living in Germany.You will need to present this whenever you need to confirm your address, so bring it with you wherever you go along with your passport and other legal ID.

We're done... for now! Hope this helps!

Cheers!

Registering in Germany -- My Experience

Willkommen in Deutschland!  (Welcome to Germany!)

It's time to continue the paper battles!

My situation: I am born in the Philippines, had a destination wedding with my German national partner held in the Philippines, applied a Family reunion visa and is now in Germany. At the moment, I did not change my surname yet to my husband's. Now, I need to extend my visa stay.

There are 3 offices that I need to visit:

(1)  the Local Civil Office or the ''Ortsamt''
(2)  the Foreigner Registration Office or the ''Ausländerbehörde''
(3) Civil Registry Office or the Standesamt.

The good news is that all the said offices are compact in one building, at least from where I am staying. The bad news is that they all have a different opening and closing times. My husband and I were able to do all this in half of a day. You can call it luck or good timing, however, I still believe it is best that you should get the business hours of the said offices to save you time.

If you are anything like me who only got an A1 certificate and cannot speak the German language well -- I believe it is best that you have your partner or the very least, a German speaking friend to accompany you on this trip. This will save you the worries regarding language barriers.

For the other details such as what documents to bring or what are my personal experiences on each of the said offices, just click on their name/link.

Good luck!!!

My First Glance of Germany

Lucky. This is what everyone told me when I arrive in Germany. The day I arrive was the same day they have their first sun signaling the start of Spring. Awesome timing! I was attentive with the things around me as soon, this will be my new home.

Pushcart with a 50 cents Euro

The first thing that greeted me after leaving the Immigration officer who stamped and signed my passport was a series of doors -- all opening automatic for me. Talk about high tech! What greeted me next was nothing I expected: The pushcart are locked with a certain device. To have it unlock, you need to slide a coin in the slot before you can unhook it. You can now push it around like a normal cart. When you are done, you can simply go to a cart area, park your cart in the pile, took the chain and snap it to the cart infront of you. You can now get your coin back. Cool, huh?

I find the Germans in general are warm and sincere people contrary to the other comments I had heard before. I had my first taste of celebrity status upon reaching the arrival area. Almost the whole family of my husband (uncles and aunts included) was there to give us a welcome home. I was given flowers, some welcome gifts with lots of hugs and smiles while several cameras snapping away. I was naturally embarrassed with all the attentions given. I was most relief when I noticed that the people around us seems not to mind... infact, they were smiling at me too. Awwww! :)

The following are my observations on my first day in Germany:
1. The streets are very clean. As expected!
2. The people are nature lovers. Almost every window or balcony I saw has flowers.
3. There are no security guards in malls, grocery store or in restaurants.

I did get to see my first ''Mercedes'' taxi car. Unfortunately, I did not get to take any picture of it. I heard of it, read about it and so on. But seeing it for real still manage to give me a shock. Hilarious!

This is all for now.

Cheers!!!!