Hi,
I am a Citizen of India and I am soon going to marry my German girlfriend after 11yrs of relation. The situation is bit complex. We lived together for first 4 yrs together then I have been moving to different countries for my work. Right now also I am in China and I have work contract here for 2 more years. However, getting tired of all the time applying for visa for rest of the years, I.e. For her visit to me and mine to hers, we finally decided to get marry this January and to settle down finally. Does anyone know what happens after I get marry in Germany? Do I need to be in Germany for 2-3 years continuosly to apply for citizenship? Or, I can apply for long term visa and continue my work in China? If I could get long term visa I can visit her twice a year and so she can to me. The situation is that I have to be in China for next two years. Then, I have recently got PR for Canada and I also need to be there for 3 years. The idea behind all these are to finally make things easier for our visit and to settle either in Germany or Canada.
Any suggestions/comments are welcome...

Cheers

I married an englishman... you have to follow that countries immigration laws it's that simple

My suggestion is to consult with an Immigration Attorney - this is far too complicated for a simple answer.

I do believe Penelo hit the nail on the head.

What I meant was if you marry in that country you have to follow their laws if it says like in england you have to stay in that country and be able to support yourself for a year before they grant you any citizenship

But I would ask like judykay says... I know I was not allowed to leave the country for no more than 2 weeks or it would be invalid

I absolutely agreed with your advice. I just think (because of all the confusing circumstances) that the OP needs to consult with an Attorney.

Advice based on experience is always very much appreciated.

Thanks for the answers folks... I know if we follow the immigration rules it is easy... It is a globalized world now and people keep moving to different places for the work. In that case either one also needs to keep changing the partners or try their best to stick together. In my case, though we are living in different countries, we wanted to keep things simple, which I know is not that straightforward. I don't intend to be a citizen of that country, instead just wanted to have long term visa than tourist visa which we need to take at the moment when we wanted to visit.

Anyway, lets see how things work out