How can Non-EEA on UK CoA travel to Ireland with EU spouse?

Hello all,

I am a non-EEA national married to an EU citizen. I currently have a CoA (Certificate of Apoplication) from the UK Home Office.
I and my husband need to travel outside the UK for a naturalisation exam during this month. One of the options is Ireland.

I was wondering whether:
1) Can I enter Ireland with the CoA from UK if I am travelling with my spouse?
2) If (1) is not possible, can I apply for a EEA Family Permit to travel together with my EU-spouse to Ireland to take the exam?

If I travel to a Schengen country instead, can I apply for a EU family visa (aka EEA Family Permit)?

Thanks for input. We have been contacting a lot of authorities but information provided is very confusing.

ijjlian wrote:Hello all,

I am a non-EEA national married to an EU citizen. I currently have a CoA (Certificate of Apoplication) from the UK Home Office.
I and my husband need to travel outside the UK for a naturalisation exam during this month. One of the options is Ireland.

I was wondering whether:
1) Can I enter Ireland with the CoA from UK if I am travelling with my spouse?
2) If (1) is not possible, can I apply for a EEA Family Permit to travel together with my EU-spouse to Ireland to take the exam?

If I travel to a Schengen country instead, can I apply for a EU family visa (aka EEA Family Permit)?

Thanks for input. We have been contacting a lot of authorities but information provided is very confusing.

1) A COA is not a travel document.
You should be able to enter with spouse and proof of relationship.
May be easier via ferry or land border.

See https://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... to-travel/

2) No, a FP is a UK document used to enter UK not to enter Ireland.

For Schengen country apply for a Schengen visa.

noajthan wrote:
2) No, a FP is a UK document used to enter UK not to enter Ireland.

For Schengen country apply for a Schengen visa.

Many thanks for this answer.

Given that I only hold a UK CoA,

1. can I apply for a visa for the family member of an EEA national for Ireland from the UK?
( see: http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Fa ... 20citizens )

2. Can I apply for a visa for the family member of an EEA national for Schengen countries?

I tried dicussing this with many embassies but they keep saying that I cannot apply for this type of visa. Is this correct?
What kind of visa do I then need to apply for?

3. Would my EU-partner need to be seeking job/employed etc in the country that i am applying to? He is working full-time in the UK.

I cannot believe that it seems to be in everyway restricted that I travel anywhere else while waiting for my residence card for 6 months in the UK. This sounds unreal.

4. As a side note, I still hold a German residence card but it has been already over 6 months since I moved to the UK. (My first application in the UK for the 5-year RC was refused as I stupidly didnt submit my passport but my ID by misinterprting the guidance)

5. In case I cannot apply for a visa with the status of a EEA-spouse, and if I need to apply for a Schengen visa, can I apply from the UK as I reside here without a residence permit.

These loopholes in the law are created on purpose or what?

ijjlian wrote:Many thanks for this answer.
Given that I only hold a UK CoA, can I apply for a visa for the family member of an EEA national for Ireland?
( see: http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Fa ... 20citizens )

I tried dicussing this with many embassies but they keep saying that I cannot apply for this type of visa. Is this correct?

What kind of visa do I then need to apply for?

I cannot believe that it seems to be in everyway restricted that I travel anywhere else while waiting for my residence card for 6 months in the UK.

This sounds unreal.

As a side note, I still hold a German residence card but it has been already over 6 months since I moved to the UK. (My first application in the UK for the 5-year RC was refused as I stupidly didnt submit my passport but my ID by misinterprting the guidance)

You can only submit an EU Id in lieu of passport if an EEA national.

An Article 10 RC should (or may) gain you entry into Eire.

If you notice the INIS type C guidance says

If you are a non-EEA national
... does not hold a document called “Residence card of a family member of a Union citizen” as referred to in Articles 5(2) and 10(1) of Directive 2004/38/EC on the rights of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of Member States

Dear all,

I am opening this topic here as this bizarre situtation can only happen in the UK. And this area seems to be visited by people with UK issues.

I am a non-EU national married to an EU citizen. We live in the UK. We need to travel for an important reason (I have to take Dutch naturalisation exam in Dutch embassy of another country than in the UK, as this year no exams offered in the UK and Dutch parliament is about to vote to change the law).

I entered the UK from Germany where we lived between 2013 -2016. I was on a EU family residence card.

To enter the UK, I applied and got an EEA Family Permit with expiry in June 2016. I moved to the UK in January 2016.

I applied for an EEA Residence Card in March 2016, got a refusal in October 2016 as I misunderstood the guidance and submitted my ID instead of my passport. I filled in their small box explaining that I needed my passport for business travel. Stupid me.

I issued a second EEA residence card application in October and got my CoA in the beginning of Nov 2016 (with work).

Against this background, what are our options for travelling to other EU countries together with EU spouse? I do not want to go to the route of going to border and demanding access. It also seems to board planes with only the papers we hold. Thus, which visas can we apply for?

Specifically:

1. Can one apply for a visa of a EEA/EU family member under the EEA Directive 2004/38/EC for the destination country?
We will issue this application from the UK where we live together.

Embassies of NL and Switzerland already told us that we cannot do this. Irish embassy told us that this should be possible, but taking long as it is complicated and thet have a lot of application recently.

2. Is there any other type of visa we might get success with my current status within a shorther time?


If you have had experince, would be great if you share here.

You can travel to other EEA member states with your article 10 residence card as long as you are accompanied by your EEA spouse.

If you go alone, you will need a Schengen visa.

Merged posts - no need for multiple posts.

You are already being answered in this original topic.

Noajthan, apologies for multiple. Ijust noticed the post would pass better here and EEA route has more traffic. Thanks for merging and putting under this category.

Regarding my residence card, it has been more than 6 months since I moved to the UK from Germany. I understand from German official sites that the Res Card becomes invalid after 6 months following my leave.

Thus I am counting with the fact that I am only holding a CoA from the UK.

Can I make EU-spouse visa applications to Schengen and Ireland on this basis?

Schengen visa does not apply to Ireland as they are not party to the Schengen agreement.

How do you possess a UK CoA and not have a residence card

ohara wrote:Schengen visa does not apply to Ireland as they are not party to the Schengen agreement.

How do you possess a UK CoA and not have a residence card

One first receives the CoA and then after 6 months you can get a resience card.

My questions is: Can I apply for a visa with the status of an EU family member 1) to Ireland for Irish entry or 2) to Schengen countries for Schengen entry?

I know that Ireland is not a Schengen country but is part of EEA.

We live in UK. My husband works in the UK. We want to travel to eaither Ireland or a Schengen country for an exam.

I read on Irish website that my EU spouse should be moving to or residing in IReland for me to apply for a EU spouse visa under the directive.

Is this correct?

Can I not apply if we are travelling together to Ireland?

Any ideas please. I do not want to risk getting a visa refusal.

ijjlian wrote:I read on Irish website that my EU spouse should be moving to or residing in IReland for me to apply for a EU spouse visa under the directive.

Is this correct?

Can I not apply if we are travelling together to Ireland?

Any ideas please. I do not want to risk getting a visa refusal.

Travelling together is fine, that's similar to joining or moving to Eire (together).

If the applicant is a visa national. And the applicant wants to travel to Ireland with spouse. Would this work to enter Ireland?

We already have answer to a FOI request for entering back to the UK.

Can travelling by ferry be counted as travelling by land?

How likely will our tavel be successful?

Thanks for confirming this. In this case I will go forward and file an application for a visa in case I am assigned to the exam in Eire. Or any other EU country.

Is there any knowledge present regards to which country processes the EU family visa quickest?

Is there a place where I can find template cover letters?

I will update the forum with the outcome when I reach there.

Hello again,

noajthan, I was just wondering something in case I do not have time to apply for a EU spouse visa to Ireland.

Can I use the same method you explain in the post below. You have a good entry dated Sun Aug 14, 2016 5:25 pm.
( http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 14749.html )

I think my Dutch husband and I might try entering Ireland from seaborder with all documentation at hand once I receive my passport back from Home Office.

Is there a worse-case scenario than that we could be refused entry?

We are really counting on this trip for my naturalisation as a Dutch citizen and we need to make it work. :/

ijjlian wrote:Hello again,

noajthan, I was just wondering something in case I do not have time to apply for a EU spouse visa to Ireland.

Can I use the same method you explain in the post below. You have a good entry dated Sun Aug 14, 2016 5:25 pm.
( http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 14749.html )

I think my Dutch husband and I might try entering Ireland from seaborder with all documentation at hand once I receive my passport back from Home Office.

Is there a worse-case scenario than that we could be refused entry?

We are really counting on this trip for my naturalisation as a Dutch citizen and we need to make it work. :/

The linked post (above) was more about entering UK. But principle remains the same.

You should be able to enter Eire with your spouse and if carrying your proof of id (passports) and relationship (marriage certificate). Take that Article 10 RC too.
May be easier via ferry or land border.

See https://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... to-travel/

Worst case you are invited to return to UK. But insist on any refusal being recorded in writing along with the official's 'reasons'. As you do have an EU-given right to attempt to enter a memberstate.

Thanks again for the incredibly quick answer. I will sit tight until I have the passport and try one of the options as it comes.

This is a really good forum. Thanks for sustaining it.

If I applied for a IRish tourist visa type-c, is there a risk that my visa application would be refused because I only have a Coa from the UK?

Is it a very bad thing to get a visa refusal for this? Will it make my life more difficult in future?

I'll put my recent story here. Hope it helps.

My husband is Greek. On 27th Jan 2017, I applied with the Greek Embassy a Schengen visa. By that time, my student visa expires in one week, and I haven't received my COA (only submitted my biometric information few days ago). I took the biometric letter and proof of requesting my passport back letter from the HO to the embassy, but the Greek embassy rejected my application, and the reason was that my UK visa expires soon, and those letters from HO can't guarantee they will approve my application.

Now, I'm not sure whether I should risk flying to Greece, and see whether the broader control will let me in.

Ijjlian, any update from your side? Did you try to enter Ireland?