Expelled but still want to Visit Your Children

Sharky had been sentenced to prison and expelled from Germany. Having a minor here, he wants to be able to visit his child whilst he is still fighting to obtain visit rights for his children. The foreigners office refused. Can this be? The OVG Bremen gave an answer on February 2, 2007 (re 1 A 130/06).

Sharky had been sentenced to imprisonment for nine years for drug trafficking. Due to this penalty, Bremen expelled him from Germany in 1999. He has been divorced since 2001. Custody for his children was exclusively granted to his divorced wife. He has had no contact to his children and his ex refuses to allow any contact between them and him.

Sharky is attempting with legal action to obtain either a residence permit or a right to entry.In order to be able to visit his children. The court denied compelling legal reasons – in spite of his expulsion – for him to be in Germany for family reasons. Following §25 V AufenthG, a foreigner can have the enforceable right to remain in Germany when he has a personal relationship to his children. Important is the real but not legal relationship to his children and their dependency on this relationship for their benefit. In this case, Sharky had completely lost contact to his offspring – especially since his wife refused to allow any contact between him and them.

His application to have the right to entry Germany (§11 AufenthG) was also dismissed. Since there was no agreement on visiting his children, his ‘sole’ reason for being in Germany could by no means be achieved. The right of entry can only be granted when there is an agreement between the parents on visiting rights. Note: this agreement does not have to be in force before the expulsion, there must however be an agreement.




Published on the old CMS: 2008/5/1
Read on the old CMS till November 2008: 2,679 reads