Hi everyone Merry Christmas,

I’m in a very stressful situation and need some urgent advice.

I am one of the international students at IU Berlin affected by the recent visa rejections and revocations issue. I am a Ghanaian and have been in Germany since April 2024 on a student visa, but because of the current situation with IU, my status is at risk and my current visa/residence permit expires on January 7th, 2026 in less than two weeks. I don’t have a blocked account or the €11k+ required to switch to another university or extend a student visa. I work part-time, but it’s not enough to cover the full proof of subsistence on my own. I am recently married to my German girlfriend which we did in Denmark. We live together in Berlin and my wife is currently working a mini job and receives buergergeld

My Questions:

  1. Can I apply for a residence permit based on marriage even if my wife is on social assistance? Since she is a German citizen, I’ve heard the "sufficient funds" requirement is sometimes waived or handled differently compared to marrying a non-German. Does anyone have experience with this?

  2. With my visa expiring on Jan 7th, is simply sending an email to the LEA to apply for a change of status enough to trigger a Fiktionsbescheinigung ie can I stay legally until they decide?

  3. Has anyone from student visa successfully pivoted to a spouse visa mid-crisis?

  4. Does anyone know a lawyer or an NGO in Berlin that deals specifically with these cases?

I am terrified of being told to leave by the 7th. Any insights, especially regarding the marriage route while on social assistance, would be life-saving.

Thank you so much.

  • If my German wife is in Germany, can I still obtain a marriage-based residency permit? Indeed. Under §28 AufenthG, the "secure livelihood" requirement is typically not applied as strictly to spouses of German citizens. Geld and a Minijob are not always grounds for rejection. In actuality, Berlin usually verifies the following: a valid marriage (Danish certificate with apostille or translation if necessary), both spouses registered at the same Berlin address and living together, a valid health insurance policy for you, a clean passport and status (no overstaying at the time of application), A1 German, or at the very least a credible plan (enrollment/booking) to obtain it. In a German-spouse case, income is taken into account but is not the primary gatekeeper.

    parent

    yes I can confirm on that first hand. also married in denmark this year, his former visa would have expired in october, but we did all the necessary paperwork and nobody was interested in our income. so he went out with a spouse visa for the next 3 years and then comes the real one with evidence of income.. only after 3 years of marriage basically. if theres time try to go to willkommenszentrum. was a big help for us. also day of application counts (also as visa extension), even if the appointment takes weeks.. but was superfast for us.

    parent root

  • Talk to a lawyer. ASAP.

    parent

    Thank you for your help. I have sent some emails to a few of them I’m waiting on a response.

    parent root

    This is not legal advice 

    The worst case scenario is that you’re asked to leave the country and then apply for a residence permit from your country. 

    If you’re on a student residence permit and married to a german, you should already have initiated a change in residence status to that of family reunion which is a much stronger status and allows you to continue your studies. If you are married to a German citizen, you are generally entitled to a residence permit.

    parent root

  • It’s good news that this IU bullshit is finally addressed.

    It’s really bad for the individuals like you, that suffer from that and I hope you’re going to sue IU and make them pay.

    In your specific case you’re extremely lucky that you found a German wife. I’d still consider to accept the loss of your time, sue IU to get your money back and then go to a public university. If you’re lucky that university will accept some of your credits. But that’s as likely as some employer would have accepted your IU degree. So close to zero.

    parent

    I appreciate the honesty. It has definitely been a stressful wake-up call regarding IU, and I'm looking into my legal options there once my residency is secured. You're right, being married to a German citizen has completely changed the outlook for me. My main focus right now is the pivot to the spouse visa, and after that, I'll definitely be looking into public universities to ensure my degree and career path are on solid ground. Thanks for the perspective

    parent root

  • What’s happening at IU? My cousin studies there but hasn’t said anything. Now I’m worried.

    Edit: I don’t know why I got downvoted but I went to google after seeing this post and I’m shocked to say the least.

    parent

    Long story short - large scam, "degrees" not fulfilling requirements for visa grant, thus, quite some students have no legal base for staying in Germany any longer. And will be asked to leave. Ask your cousin, if they wouldn't know, they better gather some information.

    parent root

    Don’t know the details but long story short, IU has online program which makes the student not obligated to study from Germany. So a lot of international students have trouble extending their visa because from the perspective of Ausländerbehörde, they can study from their home country, they don’t have to be here, hence there is no reason for Ausländerbehörde to extend their visa.

    parent root

    I saw in another post because you can do the studies online, they’re revoking visas

    parent root

    German government has decided that that university is a scam; particularly because of the lack of requirement to be in class. 

    parent root

    Government or courts…? And shouldn’t educational policies incl legitimacy of universities fall under jurisdiction of the according Bundesland (aka Berlin as a state) …? I’m confused

    parent root

    Universities are accredited by a government's institute and not a state one, so they have to control standards and considering they see it as a visa scam and a government's institute decides the visa standards, they have to decide it

    parent root

    Thanks for clarifying! Any chance u know the name of this institute..?

    parent root

    As usual, it is the courts interpreting the law written by the German government. 

    parent root

    And still „Bildungspolitik ist Sache der Bundesländer“

    parent root

    That is likely with respect to undergrad education

    parent root

    The German government is not just the federal government. 

    parent root

    THE German government is in fact the Bundesregierung. The local ones are called state governments

    parent root

    Like all things it's a bit more complicated that that. 

    There is the Bundesregierung, the Bundestag, plus the bundesrat.  

    Then in the federal system certain authories are assigned to the state level.

    This particular case is a complex interplay between state responsibility and National responsibility because it touches things that are both state and federal responsibility.

    parent root

    Uhm ok..? I'm German and I do live in Berlin, so it's not like I haven't heard of the freaking Bundestag or -rat before lol (not that they have anything to do with this issue, but whatever)

    parent root

    Shocked why, attending a degree mill shouldn't be grounds for leeching of the german taxpayer.

    parent root

  • Isn’t IU just a scam?

    parent

    Yes and the government has finally accepted this, so its terminating all visas or at least all Indian ones associated with it. Government sees no reason any of its students should be in Germany when it does not offer real classes.

    parent root

  • Talk to a lawyer, not Reddit.

    parent

    And if Reddit, then it should be the legal advice Germany sub

    parent root

  • Honestly, Reddit will not resolve your situation.... Just hire a lawyer if you can afford it, other than that, is useless what you get from Reddit.

    parent

    Thanks for the honest feedback. I completely agree that a lawyer is necessary for something this serious. I’m actually in the process of getting one sorted now. In the meantime, I’m just trying to see if anyone else in the IU Berlin community has navigated the specific German spouse/Bürgergeld aspect recently, as it helps to have some context before the first legal consultation. I appreciate the reality check

    parent root

  • What is exactly happening in UI?

    parent

    Second this. Does someone have a good article to read?

    parent root

  • disclaimer that i have never personally dealt with your situation, but you could try contacting the make-it-in-germany hotline to discuss your options if they have any holiday hours. however, the timeline is really short and you may want to just contact a lawyer directly, but it may cost you.

    parent

    Thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely look into the hotline

    parent root

  • First of all, whatever residency visa you apply for, which you do online, gives you a defacto visa extension until a decision is made on your visa. And this often takes 2 to 3 months. With these new rules, which may spur an increase in applications, it may take even longer. Takeaway - apply for a visa, any visa. As long as you don't leave Schengen, the application itself lets you stay temporarily.

    Secondly, apply for a family visa because you are married to a german citizen.

    parent

  • Your wife doesn’t need an income as a German citizen. But the problem might be, that you have to return to your country and apply through the embassy for a family reunion visa, also you will need to have an A1 German certificate not older than 12 months

    parent

    My husband is a German citizen, and he needed an income when we were applying for my visa. The employee from the Ausländerbehörde specifically told him that he just met the cut-off (if I'm not mistaken, he was told he needed to not qualify for state assistance). But we also didn't apply through Berlin.

    parent root

    Well we applied through Berlin, and the LEA told us they don’t check apartment size or salary if it’s a German citizen

    parent root

  • Thats a relief to hear about IU but i have a related question to one of my friends who was enrolled there and for some reasons he couldn’t pay some fees and later he got the big court letter to pay for the sum and in the end they decided that my friend have to pay every month some amount, in that scenario should he keep paying or what?

    parent

  • Boycott private uni public are the best ones

    parent

  • You can probably get the visa, but you cannot apply for it in Germany as a general rule. 

    Bürgergeld is not a hard exclusion criteria. 

    The big issue you need to work around is that you will most likely have to leave and then apply for the visa from Ghana. 

    parent

  • Apply for the spouse visa asap! From my understanding as long as you have a visa application in process by the deadline your visa is still okay. Have the confirmation of your visa application on you at all times just in case.

    Obviously I'm not a lawyer but when my language visa was running out and I was waiting for my student visa to process that is what they told me.

    parent

  • As far as I know, if you are married to a German or another EU national, they can’t just seperate you from your family and deport you - even after your visa or residence permit expires. You better talk to a good lawyer specialized in this area.

    parent

    That’s a really reassuring point, thank you for sharing it. It definitely gives me a bit more peace of mind while I navigate this. Since you mentioned finding a good lawyer, do you happen to have any specific recommendations for immigration firms in Berlin that are known for being responsive or specializing in § 28 (German spouse) cases? I’m trying to move as fast as possible before the January 7th deadline. Thanks again for the support!

    parent root