New German Work VISA Regulations

I am attaching the new German Work VISA regulations in English in this mail,and in German in the following mail. This new law is effective from January 1, 2005. The previous regulations are no longer in force ( Existing VISAs will stay in force). I will request theGroup Moderators to keep these documents in the attachments section of thegroup homepage since they are very important for the members. These are very long documents but the sections on Residence Permit and Settlement Permits are the most important. Following are the major changes - In future Ausl?nderbeh?rde will be responsible for issuing of both workpermits and visas. This means that the Arbeitsamt will be no longer involved in the VISA work. This also means that the VISA applications will take very long time to be processed, since Ausl?nderbeh?rde has no experience for this! - Green Cards will expire as planned but the holders of Green Cards can apply for a residence permit. This actually should be done sooner than later! The holders of the Green Card can expect a favorable treatment for the new residence pemits, although they will still need to meet the qualifying requirements and documents. - There is a new section on integration program but nobody, even the employees of Ausl?nderbh?rde know what that means. Usually a Zertifikat Deutsch certificate will suffice as a proof of being sufficiently integrated, or at least displaying an inclination to do so! - You can notice that the new German law treats a German Partner and Spouse equally. Nevertheless a marriage provides a stronger ground to the VISA application. This is one of the most misused sections of the immigration law, and a lot depends on the discretion of the concerned official here. It is also extremely difficult to get married in Germany. They often require documents non-existent in India, e.g a proof that you are not currently married. The easiest place to get legally married is Denmark.