Expert: Aaron Shifferly - 8/11/2009

Question
QUESTION: I am currently stationed in Germany. Active Duty army MP. I recently got married on leave and I was not able to bring my wife with me right away. Now she is very impatient and we are wondering if I can get my orders amended to bring her over before I get housing.

ANSWER: OK .. congrats. I just came from Germany as an MP .. I loved it there. So what you need to do is get with your company PAC clerk and get the Command Sponsorship paperwork started. This will require a certified copy of your marriage certificate amongst other paperwork. Additional paperwork if your wife has kids that need to come with her, but you can follow up with me for that. They cannot and will not assign you housing until you get this done and once it is, you can have her fly over. Have her get her passport now, as that's a key task to getting her in the country. And have her go to the nearest military base in the USA and get her ID (look up or call them for the requirements so she's not turned away) .. She'll also need to undergo some screening to make sure she doesnt have any medical conditions that prohibit her from being stationed in Germany with you.  It should take about 2 months to get all of this done if your PAC section is working right.. just bug them a lot and let your PSG/PL get involved to make sure people are devoting attention to your issue. I hope this answers your question and if you have more, please just follow up with me.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: She has her ID and her passport should be back to her in a couple weeks at most. The command sponsorship paperwork will be completed and turned in within the next two days. My biggest question is will they fly her over as soon as she's sponsored or does she have to wait for me to find a house?

Answer
No.. Assuming you're enlisted you'll be given on post quarters eligibility and moved in. Once you get the sponsorship packet back you're good to go... it will still take a bit of time for her to get all of her affairs in order (i assume so at least) to move over.. so during that time you'll be eligible to find a house (on or off base is local policy dependent)..