This particular question is directed at people who've undergone the common-law sponsorship process from within Germany (sidkrose, I'm thinking of you! 
). I'm a Canadian student in Germany, and I'm trying to sponsor my German girlfriend (also a student) for permanent residency under the common-law category. That being the case, I wanted to ask about getting things notarized.
I noticed some of you got your letters/statutory declaration of common-law union notarized by an Ortsvorsteher. We live in Leipzig, and after some searching, I can't seem to find any Ortsvorsteher in the city - they appear they exist only in smaller satellite municipalities around Leipzig, but not in Leipzig proper. I could well be wrong, however, which is why I'm asking - where did you find your Ortsvorsteher? We were at the Bürgeramt today, and they told us to get an Apostille at the Landesdirektion, but according to Wikipedia, Canada isn't a member of the Apostille convention, so I'm kind of at a loss as to where to go.
If someone could offer some advice, that'd be great!
We're basically done with the application besides that, so I'll soon be posting a list of everything we've got to make sure we're not missing anything - and later on, of course, whether we were successful! Hopefully I can make some useful contributions once we know we've done things right.
). I'm a Canadian student in Germany, and I'm trying to sponsor my German girlfriend (also a student) for permanent residency under the common-law category. That being the case, I wanted to ask about getting things notarized. I noticed some of you got your letters/statutory declaration of common-law union notarized by an Ortsvorsteher. We live in Leipzig, and after some searching, I can't seem to find any Ortsvorsteher in the city - they appear they exist only in smaller satellite municipalities around Leipzig, but not in Leipzig proper. I could well be wrong, however, which is why I'm asking - where did you find your Ortsvorsteher? We were at the Bürgeramt today, and they told us to get an Apostille at the Landesdirektion, but according to Wikipedia, Canada isn't a member of the Apostille convention, so I'm kind of at a loss as to where to go.
If someone could offer some advice, that'd be great!
We're basically done with the application besides that, so I'll soon be posting a list of everything we've got to make sure we're not missing anything - and later on, of course, whether we were successful! Hopefully I can make some useful contributions once we know we've done things right.