My wife and two-year-old child had a family visit visa to visit me in Germany from India. The visa was valid from August 29th, 2019 to October 4th, 2019, with a total of 22 valid days. We misinterpreted this and she left on September 21st, 2019 instead of September 19th.
She was stopped at Frankfurt border control and charged with an offence under section 95 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 AufenthG. There were no remarks made in her passport and she was told that she would receive a penal order sent to her address in India.
I have a Blue Card and my wife intends to apply for a Family Reunion Visa from India as soon as possible. I have the following questions:
- Do you have any idea how long it will take for a decision to be made on the case that she has been served with? I hope that she will only receive a fine and no bans, as this is her first offence and it was only for two days. However, I have heard that Germany has a very strict approach towards these mistakes and I am worried.
- Is there any other place in Germany where I can enquire about the status of her case? She was given the address and phone number of two court clerks who will forward the court order to her. I will obviously contact them, but is there any other place that I can ask?
- Should she wait for the decision to be made before applying for the Family Reunion Visa in India?
- If she applies for the Family Reunion visa before the decision is made, should she confirm in the application that she was convicted in Germany as yes? Technically she has only been charged and not yet convicted, and the question in the form also asks for the nature and duration of penalty. She will not know that until the decision is made.
A few updates from my side:
I hired a lawyer in Essen who wrote to the Bundespolizei to explain my situation and asked for a quick decision with a fine of less than 90 days of income. No response was received. Later, she spoke to one of the Frankfurt court clerks on December 5th and he said that there was no letter received for my wife. My lawyer then faxed the same letter to him and is still awaiting a reply.
On several occasions, I was able to talk to the same court clerk and he said that there was still no letter. I asked him to send the decision to my German address and he agreed to do so after I sent him a formal letter with a Vollmacht from my wife. The last time I spoke to him was on November 7th and he said there was still no letter and gave me the number of the public prosecutor. I called the public prosecutor but no one answered.
On November 7th, I was able to reach the Bundespolizei helpline number and they said that they had not yet sent her case to court and it would take at least one more month to do so, if not more. I have not called them since.
Meanwhile, my wife applied for her and my kid's visa from India in the first week of November and gave full details of the case. She received a positive decision in 6 weeks and their passports have been stamped. She is preparing to travel in February 2020.
Additional questions:
I am not yet aware of the outcome of the case. I will call the Bundespolizei and the Court Clerk again next week, but is there any other way to find out? It is often difficult to get in touch with them.
Will my wife have any issues at the Border Control, even though she has a valid visa? We will make sure to have all the necessary documents and letters to explain the incident, but I hope she will not be barred from entering the country. If they ask for a fine, I am prepared to pay it.
Since she has been given a positive decision on her visa application, can I assume that the case has been closed? I have read that the Bundespolizei usually closes cases like this after 90 days.
Latest update:
I received a letter from the court of Frankfurt signed by "Oberamtsanwalt" which said: "das Ermittlungsverfahren gegen XXXX wegen Verstoß gegen das Aufenthaltgesetz habe ich eingestellt". I am going to discuss this with my lawyer, but I think this means that the case has been dismissed. Is that correct?