Germany's Act on Registered Civil Partnerships (Gesetz über die Eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft — LPartG) allows two adults of the same sex to register what is known as a civil partnership. What does that mean? A civil partnership is a social institution recognized by law and by the state, through which the relationship between two people of the same sex who are not married can be legally formalized. Interestingly, in some countries a civil partnership can also be entered into between people of different sexes.
A bit of history. In Germany, the LPartG was passed on 16 February 2001 and entered into force on 1 August 2001. The bill was introduced in the Bundestag by the Green Party. After the Act entered into force, the state governments of Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia petitioned the Federal Constitutional Court to review its compatibility with the Basic Law — the Constitution. In a ruling of 17 July 2002, the Constitutional Court held that the Act did not conflict with the Constitution.
Conditions for Family Reunification
For family reunification in Germany, applicants generally need to prove sufficient income, adequate housing and, for spouses, a basic A1-level language certificate (§ 30 AufenthG).
According to statistics, more than 35,000 same-sex partnerships were registered in Germany during that period.
Of course, we will not venture to judge whether this is good or bad for the state itself — lawyers stay out of politics. Moreover, we live in a democratic state, and allowing same-sex partnerships is one expression of democracy. We will only say that, in Germany today, the status of registered same-sex civil partnerships is fully equivalent to marriage between opposite-sex partners. In other words, same-sex partners in a registered civil partnership have virtually all the rights granted to married couples: the right to get engaged, obtain housing, reunite with family, adopt children, and so on.
The client — let's call her Leah — came to Germany from Russia, where, as is well known, not only are same-sex marriages not recognized, but no other form of union for same-sex couples is provided for by law either. Moreover, although Russian law recognizes marriages concluded in other countries if they were concluded in accordance with the laws of those countries, same-sex marriages concluded abroad have no legal effect in Russia. This is because, under the Russian Family Code and Civil Code, rules of international law apply in the event of a conflict only where international treaties exist between Russia and the other state concerned. However, Russia has no such international arrangements regarding same-sex marriage. Consequently, a same-sex marriage concluded in another country has no legal consequences for the parties in Russia.
So, Leah came to Germany from Russia and obtained an EU Blue Card here.
Let us once again digress to remind our readers what the EU Blue Card actually is. The EU Blue Card is a residence permit for one of the European Union countries, intended for qualified professionals and their family members. It is granted to nationals of countries outside the EU. The application for a Blue Card is filed with the embassy or consulate of the EU country where the applicant intends to work. In doing so, the applicant must have a genuine arrangement with a prospective employer to provide a position with a salary not below the level set by that state. That is, the applicant must submit an already-signed employment contract or confirmation of a job offer stating the salary. The applicant must hold a completed higher-education degree (German or a recognized foreign equivalent) matching the position the applicant intends to hold.
Leah works at a large company that sells mass-market goods and services online. Her reason for turning to a lawyer was her wish to reunite with her girlfriend, who was living in Russia. To do that, they needed to get married — or, more precisely, register a civil partnership. The lawyer explained to the client that a favorable outcome on the family reunification issue required them to meet several criteria. That is, she needed to have a lawful basis for her stay in Germany — a condition she already met; she needed to be financially secure — a condition she also already met. And one more condition: they needed to register a civil partnership. And they could not do that in Russia. In addition, Leah had been in Germany for only 3 months and did not speak German at all.
The lawyer offered the client a comprehensive service package: ongoing legal advice, representation of her interests, and legal support all the way through to her partner obtaining a residence permit in Germany. Leah agreed.
We held talks with the civil registry office and arranged a date and time for a meeting with our client. The fact is that civil registry offices in Germany are very busy, and scheduling a meeting at a time that suits the client can be quite difficult — it usually takes a considerable amount of time. During the meeting, registry office staff conducted a preliminary interview with our client. We accompanied her, since she does not speak German at all. The registry office provided a list of the required documents and explained the form in which they had to be submitted. We, in turn, explained everything to the client in language she could understand, sent the list of required documents to her girlfriend, and held a phone conversation with her as well. Once all the documents had been gathered, we brought them into line with the registry office's requirements and arranged the next appointment. We then discussed all the next steps with the client. We recommended that she send her girlfriend an invitation so she could obtain a visitor visa for Germany. Leah followed our recommendations, and her girlfriend soon arrived in Germany. Leah came to our office together with her girlfriend. We discussed all the next steps with the two of them and then accompanied them to their meeting at the registry office. It should be said that the registry office staff were quite friendly — they carefully reviewed the documents we submitted and gave explanations and recommendations. We discussed the ceremony for concluding the marriage. The fact is that our clients did not want an elaborate ceremony. They wanted to keep things modest — register the partnership and celebrate the occasion quietly among a small circle, namely themselves and their witness.
A few more matters remained to be resolved: the registry office needed to forward the submitted documents to the immigration authority for review, and our client's girlfriend needed to quit her job in Russia. The fact is, the two women had not expected everything to move so quickly, and were somewhat overwhelmed as a result. We advised them not to worry and to let things unfold in their own time. We suggested that they hold the marriage ceremony — or rather, the civil-partnership registration — in the fall, once the vacation season was over. After that, the family reunification procedure could begin, leading to Leah's partner obtaining a residence permit in Germany. In the meantime, they would be able to wrap up their affairs, prepare themselves mentally, and get ready for the changes ahead in their lives.
For information. As a rule, an application to register a civil partnership is filed at the registry office in the place of residence of one of the partners. That said, a partnership can in fact be registered at any registry office.
Our clients were very pleased with the work of our law firm, noting its professionalism and efficiency. And that is indeed how it was — given Leah's demanding job and the fact that neither of them knew German law or the German language, the two women would not have been able to establish their family for a long time on their own.
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