Immigrationboards.com

Hello,
I am a non EU/ EEA family member with UK residence issued by the home office on a piece of paper- Immigration status document. It clearly states that I am a EEA family member.
I am having to travel to France for business for 3 days and applied to the TLScontact office for a business visa with all documents required. I was turned away saying that I cannot apply with a residence permit sticker outside my passport and asked me to contact the French consulate by email.

This is the reply I received from the consulate when I sent them a copy of my residence document by email:

''I regret to confirm that your UK residence permit must be endorsed in your passport or in the form of an identity card in order to submit a business visa application at the French Consulate.

Regards,
NLR,
FCG, London''

I wrote an email asking if I can apply for a EU spouse visa with proof of travel of my EU partner but haven't received a reply.

Does anybody know how I can travel to France now? Anybody else had a similar problem? If yes, how did you solve it?

Thanks!

This is probably not the best forum to ask re French immigration procedures. I suspect that this arbitrary requirement is probably not legal under EU law but I also suspect that it would be time consuming and perhaps to do anything about it.

As a practical solution, if your RC "issued by the home office on a piece of paper" is a simply the standard sticker (pictures here: http://www.mzv.cz/london/en/visa_and_co ... o_not.html), why don't you just insert the sticker into your passport, or staple it in?

I'm not clear what an "EU spouse visa" is. The "visa" issued to the spouse of an EEA person is the residence card that you already have. If you are travelling together with your spouse, the TLS website makes it pretty obvious that you do not require any visa whatsoever (https://www.tlscontact.com/gb2fr/login.php).

a_c wrote:Hello,
I am a non EU/ EEA family member with UK residence issued by the home office on a piece of paper- Immigration status document. It clearly states that I am a EEA family member.
I am having to travel to France for business for 3 days and applied to the TLScontact office for a business visa with all documents required. I was turned away saying that I cannot apply with a residence permit sticker outside my passport and asked me to contact the French consulate by email.

This is the reply I received from the consulate when I sent them a copy of my residence document by email:

''I regret to confirm that your UK residence permit must be endorsed in your passport or in the form of an identity card in order to submit a business visa application at the French Consulate.

Regards,
NLR,
FCG, London''

I wrote an email asking if I can apply for a EU spouse visa with proof of travel of my EU partner but haven't received a reply.

Does anybody know how I can travel to France now? Anybody else had a similar problem? If yes, how did you solve it?

Thanks!

Thank you Herald for your response.
It is illegal to remove the sticker that the home office has issued and stick it in my passport. Even if I staple the paper to my passport, it is considered by the French consulate as a separate document.

My query is regarding a Schenghen visa for a EEA family member and not immigration to France. EU spouse visa= EEA family member visa which is required while travelling without EU partner to meet them in the EU state.

OK, if the French won't accept that (though I'm not entirely sure how they would know), I guess sticking it in your passport is not an option.

Regarding the "Schenghen visa": I know very little about immigration (I use the word to mean any border control, not relocation) procedures in France and the remainder of the Schengen zone but from a quick glance online:
-Though commonly referred to as a "Schengen Visa", you are basically applying for French immigration document.
-You should apply for a normal short stay visa to France (http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/Visa-for-f ... n-European)
-I can't find any references to a specific "EEA spouse" visa for, so assume it doesn't exist, and that your marriage to an EEA citizen will have no bearing on the application.

It is true that obtaining a short stay visa for one Schengen zone country provides you access to all Schengen zone countries. So if you have any difficulty/delay with the French application, you could always apply for a visa to a more "friendly" Schengen country. There are many discussions of this detailing which countries are currently most accessible in this regard.

Hope this helps

a_c wrote:Thank you Herald for your response.
It is illegal to remove the sticker that the home office has issued and stick it in my passport. Even if I staple the paper to my passport, it is considered by the French consulate as a separate document.

My query is regarding a Schenghen visa for a EEA family member and not immigration to France. EU spouse visa= EEA family member visa which is required while travelling without EU partner to meet them in the EU state.

This is for future users with the same problem.

I contacted The European advice: http://europa.eu/youreurope/advice/index_en.htm and they forwarded my case to Solvit mentioning

''Since the problem here seems to be largely caused by absence of direct communication between the concerned French and UK authorities, we transfer your case to SOLVIT.''

Solvit came back to me immediately asking for further details. They have taken up my case mainly because of 2 reasons:
I work at a UK registered company and I need to travel for business. My EEA family status doesn't seem to be of interest.

In the meanwhile, I wrote to the home office posing this problem and this was their reply:

''
Dear xxxx,

Thank you for your email.

An Immigration Status Document (ISD) is given to an applicant following the grant of leave where no passport is held, or where it would not be appropriate to endorse a national passport. The ISD provides details of the applicant, and also indicates the status that the applicant has been given.

This information can be found in the Home Office’s ‘Guidance for issuing status documentation’. I have provided you with a link to this below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... usdocs.pdf

Your Immigration Status Document should also state the following:

“This Immigration Status Document has been endorsed in place of a valid national passport or travel document and confers upon the person named leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom or a right of residence in the United Kingdom for the period indicated. It does not certify the accuracy of the personal particulars, which are those supplied by the person who made the application. It remains the property of Her Majesty’s Government and may be withdrawn at any time. It should not be tampered with or passed to an unauthorised person...”

Therefore we would not be able to provide you with any further confirmation that your document is valid.

If you alter your document, or the circumstances by which you were granted that document change, your residence card may become invalid.

Your Immigration Status Document, if issued by the United Kingdom, only confirms your right of residence in the United Kingdom and other countries are not obliged to accept this document.

If you have any further queries in relation to a European application, you may wish to contact the European Enquiries Helpline on 0300 123 2253.

Yours sincerely,

xxxx

| Customer Service Advisor
UK Visas and Immigration | Home Office | Customer Contact Centre | Ground Floor | Vulcan House - Iron | Sheffield | S3 8NS | Tel: 0300 123 2253
Accredited to the Customer Service Excellence standard



I pasted this email to the person at SOLVIT on my case and they replied to me saying


''Good morning xxx

I have already posted the complaint on SOLVIT, but this will be helpful if further information is sought.

There is a European Commission Communication that I have referred to, which states that there is no format in EU legislation for the EU residence card but that a stand-alone document is preferred by the European Commission. This has no legal weight, of course, and I can confirm that the UK Home Office almost always issue the document as a sticker inside a passport. This is likely to be the reason for the response you have received, that a stand-alone document by the UK has never been seen. I have referred to the Communication, that the UK does issue stand-alone documents depending on the individual circumstances of the application, and also the Van der Elst ECJ ruling about the paperwork that should be presented for a business visa application from the non EU employee of a business needing a temporary entry entitlement.

I will be in touch as soon as I receive a response, but you might find it helpful to also copy your Home Office communication to the official you have had contact with. It is possible that he will accept the statement and overturn his decision.

Regards

xxx
UK SOLVIT Centre
Direct line: xxx


Hope something gets done before my travel. Will keep you posted!

Glad to hear SOLVIT is proving useful!

a_c wrote:This is for future users with the same problem.

I contacted The European advice: http://europa.eu/youreurope/advice/index_en.htm and they forwarded my case to Solvit mentioning

''Since the problem here seems to be largely caused by absence of direct communication between the concerned French and UK authorities, we transfer your case to SOLVIT.''

Solvit came back to me immediately asking for further details. They have taken up my case mainly because of 2 reasons:
I work at a UK registered company and I need to travel for business. My EEA family status doesn't seem to be of interest.

In the meanwhile, I wrote to the home office posing this problem and this was their reply:

''
Dear xxxx,

Thank you for your email.

An Immigration Status Document (ISD) is given to an applicant following the grant of leave where no passport is held, or where it would not be appropriate to endorse a national passport. The ISD provides details of the applicant, and also indicates the status that the applicant has been given.

This information can be found in the Home Office’s ‘Guidance for issuing status documentation’. I have provided you with a link to this below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... usdocs.pdf

Your Immigration Status Document should also state the following:

“This Immigration Status Document has been endorsed in place of a valid national passport or travel document and confers upon the person named leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom or a right of residence in the United Kingdom for the period indicated. It does not certify the accuracy of the personal particulars, which are those supplied by the person who made the application. It remains the property of Her Majesty’s Government and may be withdrawn at any time. It should not be tampered with or passed to an unauthorised person...”

Therefore we would not be able to provide you with any further confirmation that your document is valid.

If you alter your document, or the circumstances by which you were granted that document change, your residence card may become invalid.

Your Immigration Status Document, if issued by the United Kingdom, only confirms your right of residence in the United Kingdom and other countries are not obliged to accept this document.

If you have any further queries in relation to a European application, you may wish to contact the European Enquiries Helpline on 0300 123 2253.

Yours sincerely,

xxxx

| Customer Service Advisor
UK Visas and Immigration | Home Office | Customer Contact Centre | Ground Floor | Vulcan House - Iron | Sheffield | S3 8NS | Tel: 0300 123 2253
Accredited to the Customer Service Excellence standard



I pasted this email to the person at SOLVIT on my case and they replied to me saying


''Good morning xxx

I have already posted the complaint on SOLVIT, but this will be helpful if further information is sought.

There is a European Commission Communication that I have referred to, which states that there is no format in EU legislation for the EU residence card but that a stand-alone document is preferred by the European Commission. This has no legal weight, of course, and I can confirm that the UK Home Office almost always issue the document as a sticker inside a passport. This is likely to be the reason for the response you have received, that a stand-alone document by the UK has never been seen. I have referred to the Communication, that the UK does issue stand-alone documents depending on the individual circumstances of the application, and also the Van der Elst ECJ ruling about the paperwork that should be presented for a business visa application from the non EU employee of a business needing a temporary entry entitlement.

I will be in touch as soon as I receive a response, but you might find it helpful to also copy your Home Office communication to the official you have had contact with. It is possible that he will accept the statement and overturn his decision.

Regards

xxx
UK SOLVIT Centre
Direct line: xxx


Hope something gets done before my travel. Will keep you posted!

Solivit has resolved the case and I have been asked by the French embassy to submit my application but I do not have time before the trip! I had changed my trip to Italy instead already( I got the Visa from them in 2 days).
In the future, Solvit has assured me that the French embassy cannot refuse to take my application because of the fact that my EEA residence permit is in a paper outside the passport!

hi there,

I am in similar situation, went through same procedure with TLS couple of days back. please advise if Italy consulate have same requirements as french?
is there any official letter which can help me with my application through TLS? i can provide my email address if needed.

Many thanks

VIC

Suprised at the experience you both had.

I have my RC on A4 paper as well and applied for French visa through TLS contact without problems. I did provide my marriace certificate and my eea husband's passport.

My 2nd application with them for a visitors visa suprised me the most cos I recieved a circulation visa valid for 4.7 years just valid till my password expires.

I really was happy with that cos it saves me the hassle of looking for a visa when planning to travel schengen

If useful I apllied for visitor as a spouse of Eea (which is a free of charge application )

thanks.

i wanted to do the same but no luck. i don't know is it worth booking another appointment and seeing them again? i carried all the documents required but nothing. did you use TLS in london?

hi Annebee
after getting 4+years french visa would you able to travel alone to France if you need to or does he need to accompany you at all times?
and if you know can A4 paper permit holder can apply for to get that sticker on passport and is there any same day service? please advise.

many thanks