ABSTRACT
State interference with the right of its citizens to free choice of spouse encompasses delays and refusals to grant entry and temporary residence visas to the foreign spouse, delays and refusal to grant permission to marry, and restrictions on the foreign spouse’s rights to reside and work in Germany. The vast majority of foreigners now living in Germany are thus recruited workers and their families, or the succeeding generations of such people. Marriages to non-Germans have increased slowly but steadily since the end of the Second World War. German men marry out far less frequently than do German women. Historically, the rise of nation-states has meant that within the debate about citizenship rights and duties, certain membership criteria have become important politically, legally and ideologically, such as the notion of sharing a common culture or common values. The German romantics of the nineteenth century played a key role in deliberately creating a sense of overarching identity.
