Travel from UK to Germany

[gprit]

My Thai wife has UK Settlement Visa. She wishes to visit her sister and family in Germany in August on her own. I was planning to have to apply for Schengen Visa (but not easy to get to London to apply in person).
However, I have just read about UK Residence card(??), which was new to me.
a) can my wife apply for this? What are the benefits?
b) Can she use this to travel freely to and from Germany without Schengen Visa?

thanks

[noajthan]

My Thai wife has UK Settlement Visa. She wishes to visit her sister and family in Germany in August on her own. I was planning to have to apply for Schengen Visa (but not easy to get to London to apply in person).
However, I have just read about UK Residence card(??), which was new to me.
a) can my wife apply for this? What are the benefits?
b) Can she use this to travel freely to and from Germany without Schengen Visa?

thanks

1) No. That is for persons on EU migration route.
With settlement visa you are on UK route.

Anyway RCs take months to process; not for solo travel.

2) No.

It's Schengen for your case.

[secret.simon]

The UK Residence Card is available to non-EEA spouses of either non-British EEA citizens or British citizens returning from the EEA (the Surinder Singh route).

As your wife is in the UK under a visa issued under the UK Immigration Rules, she is not eligible for a Residence Card, which is issued under the EEA Regulations, not the UK Immigration Route.

She will need a Schengen visa to travel within the EU.

Even if she had a UK Residence Card, my understanding is that she could only travel across the EU with it if she was either accompanying you or travelling to join you in another EEA country. Travel on her own would still require a Schengen visa, which for her, as the spouse of an EEA citizen, should be free.