Travel to Schengen, without visa, for EEA-family members

[uk2005]

i want apply for schengen visa i have right of residence
how can i apply? what document will i need want go france..
is it posible get six month multipol?
becoz will go spain after 2month..
anyone please advice...
last two time get visa based on my marrige of eea national..
now i m divoeced holding RC (right of recidence)..
thnx

[drno_la]

Hi
I'm a British citizen and my wife has the following UK residence permit, as the spouse of a BC:

Hi

I'm a British citizen and my wife has a UK indefinite leave to remain biometric residency permit with identical wording to the one quoted above (ie settlement, indefinite leave to remain, no mention of "family member" anywhere as per UK standard issue.)

We'd love to visit France on a day trip to Calais without the trouble of applying for a visa. Is this possible? How have others reliably achieved this?

Getting a visa through the French embassy is not viable as we live a very long way from London (ie lots do expense getting there), the French charge via tlsconnect processing fee (even if the visa is "free") and demand an in person visit to their embassy. All too much hassle compared with the £30 return ferry.

Also - how have others got their "Residence Documentation. Type of Document: Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA National" card or stamp in passport. I can see no way of getting this out of the UK border agency.

[John]

We'd love to visit France on a day trip to Calais without the trouble of applying for a visa. Is this possible?

No! Your wife does not have a Residence Card or Permanent Residence Card issued under EU legislation, so will need a Schengen Visa to enter anywhere in "Schengen-land".

But as a spouse of a British Citizen it is a much easier process.

It will all be so different once your wife has a British passport!

[drno_la]

How do you go about getting the right words in the right place on the residence permit?

Or, how do you get the right eu compliant residency card?

The uk gov do issue residency cards, but reading the small print they seem aimed at family members of EU nationals not UK citizens, and require being without your passport for 6 months while they (don't) process it.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-residence-card/apply

In my wife's case, giving up her native citizenship may not be in her best interests, as frequent visits or family would cost too much in visa fees.

I suspect turning up at the Calais immigration with marriage cert and me is enough to exert my treaty rights. Applying for a one off visa is not a viable option for reasons of hassle stated above.

[chaoclive]

You're right - family members of British citizens do not normally benefit from the EEA regulations, unless they have exercised treaty rights in another EEA country, e.g. France/Italy etc. and then apply to come back to the UK on a EEA Family Permit. On return to the UK you can then apply for the EEA family member residence card. Processing takes up to 6 months, recently they have been quicker. However, the process for a British citizen to get his/her family members an EEA family member residence card will take much longer than 6 months in total, when you count the moving to the other country, working there for a while (exact amount of time not given) and then applying for permits/cards etc.

RE: giving up citizenship: It's may not be necessary unless her country requires that she can only have 1 citizenship. The UK doesn't care.

RE: Calais. It should be fine and some people have done it before, however, it can be a bit of a wait and hassle. Remember that if she has the visa she will be able to go to other places as well, not only France. It will also make flights easier, is free and should be processed quite quickly. My civil parter has had visas from the Spanish and Dutch Embassies. They were all processed quite quickly and the process (except for the Spanish initially insisting that I had my civil partnership certificate certified by the Spanish Embassy, which I didn't do) was quite smooth.

[Donutz]

Also note that TLS and VFS are entirely optional for any part of the application process of a Schengen visa (as per article 17.5). Sadly not all embassies make this quite clear (which is a violation aswell...). Getting a fast and free visa should be the prefered way when an EU national and non-EU spouse/family travel togethet to an other EU nation. In practise sometimes turning up at the border might be worth the hassle (with the marriage papers and passports ofcourse).

[John]

I suspect turning up at the Calais immigration with marriage cert and me is enough to exert my treaty rights.

You would not get that far! The immigration controls are juxtaposed, so the French ones are in Dover, and the British ones are in Calais.

[SirBaron]

I am a British national, however my mother is German.

I am hoping to get married to my Japanese fiancée early next year with marriage visitor visa, and then emigrate to Germany.

What do I need to do from getting from UK to Germany with me and her setting off from UK and then arriving in Germany.

I am sorry if this is already answered, I am extremely stressed out, and utterly confused.

Do I need to apply for any visa's within the UK to be able to take her with me, or can I simply just take a marriage certificate, fly to Germany and apply for permanently residence for the both of us?

[John]

As you have already worked out, in order for the marriage to take place in the UK, your fiancee needs to apply for a marriage visitor visa before travelling to the UK.

Travelling from the UK to Germany? No problem, just travel, Japanese citizens do not need a Schengen visa to enter "Schengen-land".

How are you going to be exercising Treaty Rights in Germany? Employed? Self-employed? A student? or self-sufficient?

[alia84]

Hello All,

Hopefully someone can advice me as I am seriously confused...

My wife an Iranian national was granted a spouse visa back in 2012. She has recently been granted an ILR in June 2014 and is valid until June 2024.

I am a British national, born in Scotland and currently working in London.

We are both planning to travel to Spain for a weeks holiday at the end of August:

1. Does my wife require a Schengen visa or as we are travelling together is she exempt from this?
2. If Schengen visa is required, has anyone had any recent experience with Spanish VFS in terms of the processing times? On their website it states minimum 4 weeks but wondering if anyone had got their visa quicker?

Many thanks
Ali

[John]

Using your numbering :-

1. Yes she needs a Schengen visa, and I strongly recommend that nothing is booked before the Schengen visa is in the passport.
2. No recent experience, but historically Spain was always difficult, and countries such as France are far easier for Schengen visas.

[Donutz]

Indeed John, though it's best to avoid VFS or TLS if possible since all Schengen applicants are not obligated to use their services and entitled to a direct applications via a Schengen embassy as per article 17.5 of regulation 810/2009. Sadly the Spanish are known for not communicating this clearly (violation EU rules) and embassies are a pain in the behind aswell (asking for many more documents then required such as demanding the marriage is registrated in the EU nationals country). The Spanish ministry IS aware of the rules or so I heard so an appeal to a denial should be succesful.

Writing a letter to the authorties (EU for instance: EU Home Affairs) may be considered, it won't change anything soon but by raising awareness to authroties higher up the chain than embassy level, things may (should) change eventually so people are granted their rights as per EU regulations.

[Msazeed]

Hello,

My Name is Hamza, I'm Syrian married to a Romanian girl,

I went to Jordan to visit my family, and now I wish to go to Norway to join my wife with a nice vacation

is my Romanian residence card for family members enough with my passport ?

and I read a lot about joining the spouse, what is that exactly ?

I mean, just telling the staff at airport "I want to join my wife" ? or I'll need some other documents ?

please I'm crazy confused about that, if there is no problems with my situation please attach me an official text to carry


love u all

Regards

[treetop]

Hi - My wife and I are looking to go to Amsterdam for a few nights for our honeymoon. We got married in July 2014. I'm a UK born citizen and passport holder. My wife is a Thai national/Thai passport holder and here in the UK on a 6 month marriage visa. The visa runs until the end of October 2014.

Would my wife need a Schengen visa in order to travel?

[John]

treetop, your wife will need to convert her fianceé visa into a spouse visa, in the UK, before being able to successfully apply for a Schengen visa.

That is, armed with just a 6-month fianceé visa, they will not issue a Schengen visa to her.

And yes she will need a Schengen visa in order to enter "Schengenland".

[Casa]

Slightly concerning, does your wife have a marriage visit visa or a fiancee visa?

[treetop]

The visa is Type C - Visit - Marriage

Will I be able to change it to a spouse visa here in the UK or will my wife need to travel outside the EU to obtain it?

[Donutz]

As his wife they should grand them "every facility" (see the Schengen handbook) so regardless of visa type any Schengen embassy (in this case the Dutch) should be able to help her getting that free visa for a EU/EEA family member.

[John]

The visa is Type C - Visit - Marriage

Will I be able to change it to a spouse visa here in the UK or will my wife need to travel outside the EU to obtain it?

She will need to return to Thailand in order to apply for a spouse visa.

Why did she apply for Marriage Visit Visa if it was intended she would settle in the UK?

[treetop]

The visa is Type C - Visit - Marriage

Will I be able to change it to a spouse visa here in the UK or will my wife need to travel outside the EU to obtain it?

She will need to return to Thailand in order to apply for a spouse visa.

Why did she apply for Marriage Visit Visa if it was intended she would settle in the UK?

That was what our Lawyer advised at the time. We were pretty clueless about the thing really. Find the whole process to be completely vexing myself. Like being in a maze. Looking back we were not sure whether it would work out for us in the UK as well. Not that it influenced our decision at the time. However things have gone well for us in the UK and as the saying goes, 'life is change.'
Hope that won't prejudice the spouse application.

Am a little confused about my original question though Will my wife be able to get a Schengen visa? Also I'm thinking of applying for her spouse visa sooner rather than later so we won't have to be apart too long. With things going so well it would be deeply hurtful to be apart for an extended period during this happy time.

[John]

I think she needs a Schengen visa, and would need to apply for it in Bangkok!

[Donutz]

Normal applicants who do not have residence in a country can ask for their Schengen application to be accepted, which they should if it would be "unreasonable" to tell the applicant to apply from a country where one has legal lesidency or nationality off.

But since this would be an EU/EEA family member application a visa is a right (if you meet the criteria of being direct family and traveling with the EU national as per directive 2004/38/EC ) and they should be granted every facility. So on a UK visa you can apply for a Schengen visa to join your UK spouse to NL. Infact even without legal status should this be possible (Brax?) though that would be more complicated.

So applying from the UK from any type of visa or residence permit should be fine. The "you must have a residence card valif for atleast 3 months after returning" is complete nonsense, though some Schengen/EU memberstates put this on their list of requirements along with other silly requests which do not apply for EU/EEA applications.

[redordead]

What if my wife's residence card has expired? Would we still be able to immigrate to another country in the EU?

[margarita Bre]

I was born in England but my common law partner is Nigerian he has a residence biometric card and we are travelling to Spain does he need a visa because we are not married or can he travel without one as we are travelling with my children as a family

[John]

So you are British, so your partner is not here in the UK because of EU/EEA legislation.

Accordingly he will need a Schengen visa to enter Spain or any other Schengen area country.