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A Malaysian marrying a German

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Maya Isabella

HI. I am a Malaysian citizen. I grew up in Kuala Lumpur and moved to Melbourne 12yrs ago to study and work.  I have spent the last one year travelling through Europe and I have fallen in love with a German man. I want to move to Berlin as I have also fallen in love with the city too. I have absolutely no plans or desires to go back to Melbourne or to live in Malaysia. We are thinking of getting married to get a partner visa. Is it easier for us to get married in Germany or in Malaysia?

I have been previously married in Australia (divorced now), do you think that would affect anything? (I have all documents to prove divorce and my marriage was registered in Australia, not Malaysia)

Do I even have to declare my previous marriage as it didn't happen in my home country?

beppi

Marrying a foreigner in Germany is notoriously difficult. You can read more about it in this forum and elsewhere.
It is far easier to marry elsewhere and get it recognised here. Denmark, Las Vegas and Singapore are common destinations for this. I don't know about Malaysia or Australia - maybe you can ask on those countries' forums?
And: Yes, you will need all documents about your previous marriage and divorce. It is better to be truthful than later sorry!

TominStuttgart

Proving your divorce in Australia will be very important and might be more difficult than you think. I know someone who holds Canadian, Australian and German passports. He was married and later divorced in Australia. He moved to Germany and married a Polish woman. Yet they fought with government officials for a couple of years to have the marriage recognized. They didn’t want to acknowledge his Australian divorce and threatened to charge him with having illegally married again. They went back to Canada where he is originally from and the same problem; it took them more than 2 years to have the government accept the situation. Seems they were demanding a document that the Australian government stopped issuing many years before the divorce even happened. I would inquire exactly what documentation you need.

beppi

Google "limping marriage", which is the word for a situation where you are, in legal terms, married in one jurisdiction and not married (or divorced) in another.
It can and does happen - and it causes a lot of problems if it does!

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