Me and my wife are from Azerbaijan. We live in Germany as I work in Berlin residing here with a Blue Card. Recently we've invited my spouse's aunt, who is her closest relative, to visit us for 10 days.
The aunt applied for a short-stay Schengen visa with the purpose of visiting family. The visa was denied as well as consequent remonstration, reason being insufficient proof of ties to country, in other words insufficient proof that she will return.
She is 56 years old, unemployed, isn't married and doesn't have children.
As proof of ties to country she presented:
- The proof of owning an apartment in Azerbaijan
- Return ticket back to Azerbaijan
- Verpflichtungserklärung - official invitation from me where I vouch to cover her stay and costs and to be held responsible if she doesn't return to Azerbaijan
- Proof of family ties to her brother, who lives in Azerbaijan
As I mentioned, my spouse and her aunt are closest relatives for each other and they are distressed due to these rejections.
I was surprised by rejections as I recently successfully invited my mother, and we have friends in Berlin who have also successfully invited their relatives, with similar situations, for a short stay in Germany.
Are there any possibilities to improve the application, apart from getting employed, which is not easy there in her age? Maybe there are other ways I can vouch that the invitee will return to home country in time after her visit? Or some hand-written letter explaining the purpose of visit? Or any other document that I'm not aware of?