Denied German Residence Permit EEA family member

[StillEU]

I am a UK citizen and my wife is a Thai national currently in the UK with an almost expired UK spouse visa. We are in the process of moving to Germany and have tried to apply for a German residence permit. The application was refused for two reasons, firstly for not having a marriage certificate and offical translation being legalised by the Thai embassy in London, we only have a translation legalised by the Thai embassy in London. The application was also denied for not having proof of residency in the UK, they said they require a council tax statement and we only provided bank statements, payslips and letter from her employer. We will be unable to get a recent council tax bill as our current accomodation is provided by my employer, and the only previous one we have is dated in November 2016.

How can we get a translated certificate legalised by the German embassy in Thailand when we live in the UK?

If we're unable to get the required documents in time, will we be able to exercise EU treaty rights at the
juxtaposed border in Dover and drive from France to Germany and apply for residency once there?

[mgb]

Your wife should apply for a visa for the family member of a eu citizen and not for a residence permit due to national german immigration law.
Getting a visa from the french border post before you enter the ferry in Dover is a other possibility.

[StillEU]

She applied for a Family Reunion (Residence Permit), which according to the below was the correct one.

http://www.uk.diplo.de/contentblob/4271 ... man_UK.pdf

Will our current marriage certificate English translation legalised by the Thai embassy in London be enough to get a visa at the French border or do they require some further legalisation as well? We've previously traveled to France on the Eurostar and they didn't ask to see the marriage certificate at all, have things changed now?

[mgb]

Your wife applied for the wrong visa.
Your wife is not subject to the national german immigration law.
Take a look at the schengen visa application form and read what is mentioned for the axterisks.

http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/cae/serv ... agEngl.pdf

[StillEU]

Sorry wrong link, correct is below.
re: Joining EU/EEA spouse or moving together with EU/EEA spouse to Germany


http://www.uk.diplo.de/contentblob/4271 ... tional.pdf

We could apply for a short term schengen and apply for a residence card when we arrive we had hoped to do it in one. Even if we do apply for a schengen I'm guessing they'll need a legalisation from the Germany embassy in Thailand as well.

Will France accept the legalised copy by the Thai embassy in London?

[mgb]

There are tons of errors offered in the link which are breaking german law and eu law.

For the marriage certificate take a look at Visa handbook C(2010) 1620 final section III family members of eu citizen, subsection 3.7 burden of proof last sentence:

"A Member State may require that the relevant documents are translated, notarised or legalised where the original document is drawn up in a language that is not understood by the authorities of the Member State concerned or if there are doubts as to the authenticity of the document."

https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites ... ted_en.pdf

If the marriage certificate is legalised from the thai embassy it is legalised.

[StillEU]

Thanks for the information mgb. We've decided to travel to Germany through France and obtain a visa at Folkestone. While I'm sure it will be OK, my wife wants reassuring so I have been trying to clarify with the French embassy whether this will be OK and what documents will be needed, and they have refused to answer and told me to contact TLScontact with any questions. TLScontact have replied with a resounding NO, no schengen visa will be issued at the border, it must be applied for in advance, and will only be issued if the trip finishes 3 months before the end date of the UK spouse visa.

Has the law changed recently regarding visa on arrival for non-EU family members or are TLScontact wrong?

[mgb]

Nothing changed. Some people simply don't understand what a family member of a eu citizen is.