Family reunification for refugees and protection status holders in Germany

Key Takeaways

• A recognized refugee or asylum grantee has a legal claim to bring a spouse and minor children. A minor refugee’s parents can also join if no custodial parent lives in Germany.
• Refugee families skip the income and housing tests if they apply for a residence permit within three months after the sponsor’s recognition becomes final.
• The family does not skip the income and housing tests if it could live together in a non-EU country with which the sponsor or family has a special connection.
• If the family misses the three-month deadline, the authorities may still waive the income and housing tests at their discretion.
• Subsidiary protection gives the family no legal claim to a residence permit. Family reunification with these sponsors is suspended through 23 July 2027, but hardship cases can still be approved.
• Humanitarian permit holders, such as trafficking victims, can bring a spouse or minor child only for narrow reasons. Some permits allow no family reunification.
• A person with a tolerated stay (Duldung) cannot bring family members, because a Duldung is not a residence permit.

Table of contents

Family reunification for refugees and other protection status holders in Germany has separate rules.

Learn how to apply for family reunification in Germany ->

The sponsor is the family member who already lives in Germany. The sponsor’s status decides how strong the family’s right to join is.

How does family reunification for refugees and protection status holders differ from standard family reunification in Germany?

Family reunification for refugees and protection status holders in Germany differs from standard family reunification in four ways:

• The protection status sets the strength of the right. A refugee or asylum grantee has a legal claim to a residence permit for their family. A person with subsidiary protection has no such claim.
• Refugee families can skip the income and housing tests. The standard route requires both.
• A three-month application deadline applies. Families must apply for a residence permit within three months after the refugee’s recognition becomes final to receive the income and housing waiver.
• The language rules are lighter. A joining spouse can skip the A1 German test if the marriage existed before the refugee moved their center of life to Germany (§ 30(1) AufenthG). A refugee’s child aged 16 or 17 who does not move to Germany with the parents also skips the German language or integration requirement (§ 32(2) AufenthG).

Family members abroad apply for a visa. Family members who already live in Germany ask for asylum themselves under Section 26 of the Asylum Act (Asylgesetz, AsylG).

What are refugee status, subsidiary protection, and a tolerated stay?

A protection status is the legal recognition that a person cannot safely return to their home country. The sponsor holds one of these:

• Asylum or refugee status. Refugee status protects a person who faces persecution at home and follows EU Regulation 2024/1347 (§ 3 AsylG). Asylum protects a person who is politically persecuted (Art. 16a Basic Law).
• Subsidiary protection. This status covers a person who does not qualify as a refugee but would face a real risk of serious harm if returned (Art. 3(6) Regulation (EU) 2024/1347). Serious harm means one of these (Art. 15 Regulation (EU) 2024/1347):
  • The death penalty or execution.
  • Torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
  • A serious and individual threat to a civilian’s life or person from indiscriminate violence in an armed conflict.
• Tolerated stay (Duldung). This is not a protection status. The person must leave Germany, but the deportation is suspended, for example, while it is impossible (§ 60a(2) and (3) AufenthG).

Which protection statuses allow family reunification in Germany?

Most protection statuses allow family reunification in Germany. However, only some of them give the family a legal claim to a residence permit.

Your sponsor has	Who can join?	What can the family claim?	Main conditions
Asylum or refugee status	– A spouse – Minor unmarried children – The parents of a minor refugee	A legal claim to a residence permit	The usual conditions apply to a spouse and children (§§ 30(1) and 32(1) AufenthG). For parents, no custodial parent of the child lives in Germany (§ 36(1) AufenthG).
Subsidiary protection	– A spouse – A minor unmarried child – The parents of a minor, if no custodial parent lives in Germany	No legal claim for a residence permit. The authorities may grant a permit for humanitarian reasons.	Family reunification is suspended through 23 July 2027 (§ 104(14) AufenthG).
Temporary protection under § 24 AufenthG	– A spouse – A minor unmarried child – The spouse’s minor unmarried child	A residence permit	The flight separated the family, and the relative is taken over from another EU state or is outside the EU and in need of protection (§ 29(4) AufenthG).
A humanitarian permit under: – § 22 AufenthG – § 23(1) or (2) AufenthG – § 25(3) AufenthG (deportation ban) – § 25(4a) sentence 1 AufenthG (trafficking victim) – § 25a(1) or § 25b(1) AufenthG (well-integrated tolerated persons)	– A spouse – A minor child	A residence permit, but only in limited cases	The reason must be under international law, humanitarian reasons, or Germany’s political interests (§ 29(3) AufenthG).
A permit under: – § 25(4), (4b), or (5) AufenthG – § 25a(2) or § 25b(4) AufenthG – § 104a(1) sentence 1, § 104b, or § 104c AufenthG	None	No family reunification	—

A tolerated stay (Duldung) is not a protection status, so it does not appear in the table.

What family reunification rights do resettlement refugees have?

A resettlement refugee is a protection seeker selected for resettlement. This person receives an admission commitment (Aufnahmezusage) from the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, BAMF) under § 23(4) AufenthG. The Federal Ministry of the Interior may order BAMF to issue these commitments.

The family of a resettlement refugee gets the same waivers, on the same conditions, as a recognized refugee’s family. These waivers cover three requirements:

• The income and housing tests.
• The A1 German test.
• The German language or integration requirement for a child aged 16 or 17 who does not move to Germany with the parents (§ 32(2) AufenthG).

Which income and housing requirements are waived for refugee families in Germany?

Refugee families in Germany can have the income and housing tests for a residence permit waived (§ 29(2) AufenthG).

The waiver covers the spouse and minor unmarried children of a sponsor with one of these permits:

• Asylum, or refugee status
• A resettlement permit under § 23(4) AufenthG
• A settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) under § 26(3) AufenthG
• A settlement permit under § 26(4) AufenthG, granted after a subsidiary protection permit

The authorities must waive the income and housing tests if both of these conditions are met:

• The family applies for the residence permit within three months after the refugees’ recognition becomes final and unappealable, or after the resettlement permit is issued.
• The family cannot live together in a non-EU country to which the sponsor or the family has a special connection.

The income and housing tests for a residence permit do not apply to the parents of a minor refugee if no custodial parent lives in Germany (§ 36(1) AufenthG). This rule sets no application deadline for them.

Families of people with temporary protection also do not need to meet the secured livelihood requirement, because § 29(4) AufenthG exempts them from the general requirements in § 5(1).

How do refugee families meet the three-month application deadline?

Refugee families can follow any one of these steps to meet the three-month application deadline:

• The sponsor in Germany applies for the family’s residence permit within the three months (§ 29(2) AufenthG).
• The family abroad submits the visa application within the three months.
• The family abroad completes the timely notification (fristwahrende Anzeige) on the Federal Foreign Office’s family reunification web portal.

Print the timely notification and submit it with the visa application. The portal does not store the notification electronically or forward it to the competent authority, so without the printout, the notification is not recognized (fap.diplo.de).

Which cases still have to meet the usual family reunification requirements in Germany?

Three situations leave the family under the usual requirements for a residence permit, without an automatic waiver.

• Late applications and families with a non-EU option. The authorities decide whether to waive the income and housing tests.
• Sponsors who endanger security. The authorities must refuse family reunification if the sponsor endangers Germany’s free democratic order or security. The same applies to a sponsor who incites hatred against population groups or takes part in violence for political or religious aims (§ 27(3a) AufenthG).
• Subsidiary protection and humanitarian permits. The authorities may grant these families a permit only for limited reasons.

The authorities weigh each late application case by case. If your family missed the three-month application deadline, feel free to contact us for help asking the authorities to waive the income and housing tests.

How does family reunification work for people with subsidiary protection in Germany?

Family reunification for people with subsidiary protection in Germany gives the family no legal claim to a residence permit.

Family reunification for people with subsidiary protection is also suspended. It began on 24 July 2025 and lasts through 23 July 2027 (§ 104(14) AufenthG). The earlier law returns automatically if the suspension is not extended or changed.

What can families do while family reunification for subsidiary protection is suspended?

Families of people with subsidiary protection can still report a hardship case during the suspension. Two admission rules stay open:

• § 22 AufenthG allows a residence permit for a person admitted from abroad for urgent humanitarian reasons or reasons under international law (§ 22 AufenthG).
• § 23 AufenthG covers admission under state and federal programs (§ 23 AufenthG).

The family emails its reasons to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) at [email protected] (Federal Foreign Office).

IOM forwards the notice to the Bundesverwaltungsamt (Federal Office of Administration, BVA), and then to the responsible German embassy or consulate (the mission).

The German mission then does one of two things:

• If the notice points to a hardship case, it contacts the family to arrange a priority appointment for the visa application.
• If the notice shows no hardship case, it sends a written refusal. A refused family can still submit a visa application.

NOTE: If a visa application is refused, the letter names the Berlin Administrative Court and a one-month deadline to sue. The deadline runs from the announcement of the decision (Bekanntgabe)

If you need help describing your family’s hardship case, feel free to contact us.

What changes when the suspension of family reunification for families with subsidiary protection ends?

The authorities may again grant family members a residence permit for humanitarian reasons once the suspension ends (§ 36a(1) AufenthG).

The permit may go to a spouse, a minor unmarried child, or the parents of a minor with subsidiary protection. But the family cannot demand it, because it has no legal claim (§ 36a(1) sentence 3 AufenthG).

Which humanitarian reasons count for subsidiary protection families?

Humanitarian reasons include these cases (§ 36a(2) AufenthG):

• The family has been unable to live together for a long time.
• A minor unmarried child is among the family members kept apart.
• The life, physical integrity, or freedom of the spouse, child, or parents is seriously at risk in the country where they live.
• The sponsor or the family member is seriously ill, needs care because of severe impairment of independence or abilities, or has a severe disability. A qualified certificate must make the illness, need for care, or disability credible, unless other indications of it exist for the family member abroad.

What limits apply to the subsidiary protection route?

Two limits apply to family reunification with subsidiary protection holders:

• A monthly cap. Up to 1,000 national visas per month can be issued (§ 36a(2) AufenthG).
• Exclusions. A permit is normally ruled out if one of these applies (§ 36a(3) AufenthG):
  • The marriage did not exist before the flight.
  • The sponsor has certain criminal convictions.
  • The sponsor’s permit is not expected to be extended, and no other residence title is expected to be issued to the sponsor.
  • The sponsor has requested a Grenzübertrittsbescheinigung (border certificate)

Can a person with a tolerated stay bring family members to Germany?

No, a person with a tolerated stay cannot bring family members to Germany, because a Duldung is not a residence permit.

Family reunification requires the sponsor to hold a residence title, such as a residence permit, a settlement permit, or an EU Blue Card (§ 29(1) AufenthG). A Duldung is not a residence title, so it cannot meet this requirement (§ 4(1) AufenthG).

A Duldung suspends a deportation, for example, while it is impossible (§ 60a(2) AufenthG). The duty to leave Germany stays in place (§ 60a(3) AufenthG).

A sponsor with a Duldung can still receive a residence permit. That permit then decides whether and which family members can join the sponsor.

Two permits allow a spouse or minor child to join the sponsor, but only for reasons under international law, humanitarian reasons, or Germany’s political interests:

• A permit for well-integrated young people (§ 25a(1) AufenthG).
• A permit for sustainable integration (§ 25b(1) AufenthG).

A permit because departure is impossible (§ 25(5) AufenthG) does not allow family reunification.

Family members who already live in Germany with the permit holder can instead apply for their own permits under § 25a(2) or § 25b(4) AufenthG.

How does trafficking-victim status affect family reunification in Germany?

Trafficking-victim status gives the victim a temporary residence permit, but it gives the victim’s family only a limited route to join them.

A victim of an offence under §§ 232 to 233a of the Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB) should receive a permit under § 25(4a) AufenthG.

The permit is available even if the victim is enforceably required to leave Germany, and all of these conditions must be met:

• The prosecutor or criminal court considers the victim’s presence in Germany sensible for the criminal case, because the victim’s statements make the investigation easier.
• The victim has cut all contact with the people accused of the offence.
• The victim has declared a willingness to testify as a witness in the criminal case.

The authorities must also suspend the deportation of a witness needed in proceedings for a serious crime (Verbrechen) (§ 60a(2) AufenthG).

The victim’s spouse or minor child can join only for

• reasons under international law
• humanitarian reasons
• Germany’s political interests

This limit comes from § 29(3) AufenthG and covers a § 25(4a) sentence 1 permit.

A victim of certain illegal-employment offences may receive a temporary permit under § 25(4b) AufenthG. That permit allows no family reunification at all (§ 29(3) sentence 3 AufenthG).

The offences are in § 10(1) and § 11(1) no. 3 of the Schwarzarbeitsbekämpfungsgesetz (Act to Combat Undeclared Work and Unlawful Employment). They are also in § 15a of the Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz (Act on Temporary Agency Work).

FAQ

References

• Aufenthaltsgesetz (AufenthG)
• Asylgesetz (AsylG)
• Auswärtiges Amt, Wichtige Information: Aussetzung des Familiennachzugs zu subsidiär Schutzberechtigten