Travel with Residence Card - Success Stories

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Hi Iam going to Poland with my Polish partner(girl friend )on 8th of September couple of months ago we've been to malta with my Uk Residence card no visa just residence card and no problem in malta or with Ryan air.

I like to know do i have to print Directive or go without Directive like i went to Malta just with my Passport? and on 11th iam coming back to london going on 12th to Greece same with UK residence Card with my partner. iam asking just to be on a safe side do i have to take some other documents with me?

Please Reply

In general, your UK issued article 10 residence card is all you need, but as a contingency...

(For your own peace of mind, bring evidence that are partners (bills, lease perhaps) and your partner's documentation. Print the directive in Polish and English. Keep these aside in case of problems. The only other complication is that your partner is entering home country, it would be useful for them to present evidence of what they are doing in the UK).

[mick5]

I can take my Partner's letter of Job contract myself and my partner has permanent job here in London.
or anything else comes in your mind please let me know so i can arrange it actually we are going to attend my partner's brother's wedding.

Thanks for quick reply.

[mick5]

Here iam back from Corfu (Greece) just arrived today back in london.
Went with Ryan air they didnt ask or said anything just stamped on my Boarding card.
Reached in Corfu airport IMO officer said i cant let you in because we dont believe girl friend/ boy friend we believe married couple i said we are not married and i showed to them the print out from their Greek embassy website where it says " Family member of EEA national" do not need visa if the are traveling together" he said i agreed with you its not your fault but this time i let you in next time better have visa or marriage certificate and make sure on your way back show same thing to IMO if they ask you how you get in?
Today IMO did not ask anything but did not stamp Exit on my passport i was about to board on Plane boarding pass checker woman stopped me and took my passport back to Immigration office and said where is you Exit stamp i said IMO did not stamped after 20 minutes one officer came and took me back to his office and women there asked me same question where is our marriage certificate i said we are not married and she asked where is exit stamp i went mad i said why every one asking me ask you IMO he did not stamp it its not my fault. then she said you can not goback to Uk on this residence stamp its not visa i said its not your problem i want my Passport back plane was about to fly, She said make sure next time get visa i said i wont come here again anyway.

Back here on Stansted airport no question ask no stamp just got in.
I was shocked that how so many European countries need to Educate their staff about this residence card and they really need to educate their staff how to treat their visitors.
One thing for sure next time i will get visa rather being embrace or going through hassle.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Here iam back from Corfu (Greece) just arrived today back in london.
Went with Ryan air they didnt ask or said anything just stamped on my Boarding card.
Reached in Corfu airport IMO officer said i cant let you in because we dont believe girl friend/ boy friend we believe married couple i said we are not married and i showed to them the print out from their Greek embassy website where it says " Family member of EEA national" do not need visa if the are traveling together" he said i agreed with you its not your fault but this time i let you in next time better have visa or marriage certificate and make sure on your way back show same thing to IMO if they ask you how you get in?
Today IMO did not ask anything but did not stamp Exit on my passport i was about to board on Plane boarding pass checker woman stopped me and took my passport back to Immigration office and said where is you Exit stamp i said IMO did not stamped after 20 minutes one officer came and took me back to his office and women there asked me same question where is our marriage certificate i said we are not married and she asked where is exit stamp i went mad i said why every one asking me ask you IMO he did not stamp it its not my fault. then she said you can not goback to Uk on this residence stamp its not visa i said its not your problem i want my Passport back plane was about to fly, She said make sure next time get visa i said i wont come here again anyway.

Back here on Stansted airport no question ask no stamp just got in.
I was shocked that how so many European countries need to Educate their staff about this residence card and they really need to educate their staff how to treat their visitors.
One thing for sure next time i will get visa rather being embrace or going through hassle.

I'm disappointed that your trip was not as smooth as it should have been. Your passport should not have been stamped. Was it the airline that insisted you go back for exit stamp?

[mick5]

I think it was not only Ryane air staff they were dealing easy jet passengers as well, who know were they from airline staff or not but they were speaking Greek if its Ryane air staff they should've speak proper English, But they were not helpful at all they way they speak very straight forward.

[Schengener]

Hello,

I have been reading the entire thread with great interest and learned a lot. A lot of the entries have been about spouses with marriage certificates as family members of EEA nationals. But what about unmarried family members of EEA nationals?

Can EU countries reject entry if a Schengen visa is not presented, because their domestic legislation may not recognize unmarried partnerships in the same way as married partnerships? Does anyone know more details about legislation in France?

I am experiencing some difficulties with the French embassy in London, who I have emailed for permission for him to travel through France coming from Dover ferry, in order to travel to Germany - as main destination, to visit my family for a few days. Germany (and NL where I drive through as well) have already given me green light, that we do not need a Schengen visa, just the French make trouble.

[pinkpanter]

Many people ask the question, can I travel with article 10 residence card with my EU family member without an additional visa. What are people's recent experiences? Did you get on the plane or not?

When?
What airline?
What document did you hold?
What country issued it?
What destination?
Traveling with EEA national or not?
Redress (if any)?

Or did you have no problem whatsoever?

What if you have UK PR (eea) in your passport. Can you still travel with your EEA family member???

[ca.funke]

...BTW, Me - Italian and my Mrs - Colombian! Our daughter - English...

Hi John G,

bit of a late remark, but better late than never:

In this >>post<< I outline the difference between "nationality" and "passport".

I assume your daughter in British because she was born in Britain?

However, since her father is Italian, I assume your daughter is also Italian (whether she possesses a passport or not...). In order to proof this, I recommend getting her registered with the Italian authorities and maybe obtain (another) passport.

For Columbia I don´t know any specifics, but your daughter might well also already be Columbian!

Sorry for being off-topic in this thread...

Rgds, Christian

[sum1]

What if you have UK PR (eea) in your passport. Can you still travel with your EEA family member???

If you go with this Handbook (PDF, page 91), for instance, the answer is yes. The practical problems are that 1) airlines may entirely rely on their database/handbook (the Timatic web page only refers to 'residence permits of EEA family members'); 2) embassy web pages list only the RC; 3) national legislation does not provide for it (I know of only one country which does).

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

@guido, this thread may interest you.

[guido]

@guido, this thread may interest you.

Many thanks for pointing this out to me EUsmileWEallsmile.

I might as well share a story..

I have traveled with my wife three times to Amsterdam (air travel) when she still had her "Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA National" (EEA2 route). The first two times we did not have any issues, but on the third time..

When we approached the immigration officer in Amsterdam the first thought that crossed my mind was "Cr*p, you forgot to take your marriage certificate". "Ah well", I thought,"It went alright the previous two times!" When the immigration officer looked at my wife's Residence Card he seemed unsure what it exactly was. I tried my best to explain to him on what grounds my wife was permitted to enter The Netherlands. He seemed to recall something similar as he was completing some of my sentences. He turned to his colleague, holding up my wife's passport, to seek a last reassurance it seemed and asked, in a confirmation seeking way, "she is alright to enter right?" His colleague turned, had a glance at her Residence Card and replied "Nah, that is for the UK only".. my heart sank..

Luckily the immigration officer was not convinced by his colleague's reply and very kindly asked us to follow him in order for him to make a phone call to his supervisor. When he got off the phone the first thing he asked was "do you have a marriage certificate on you?" .. Arghh.. "No" I replied "I usually do, but this time I forgot". He asked what the purpose of our visit was and I explained to him that a relative had passed away and we were here to attend his funeral. He rang his supervisor again and came back after five minutes and said "thats fine". RELIEVE!

He wished us luck and give his condolences and we were on our way.

The immigration officer was very polite throughout and very helpful. It also seemed to help that my wife already had a old Schengen Visa in her passport, some previous entry/exits stamps and a old stamp she received from a local Dutch police station, which we had to get the first time she entered The Netherlands a while ago (I cannot remember what the exact reason for that was, I think it said in a accompanying letter after the first time she got a Schengen Visa).

[ice_172003]

well it's reassuring that other did go with ryanair and more or less managed to get in without problems. Me (polish) and my husband (turkish with RC of EEA Family member) are going home to my parents for Xmas but i brought ticket very last minute normally i get visa for him just for my peace of mind but it was too late this time to get it (didn't know i will be off for xmas) anyway now I'm all worried what am i going to do if ryanair refuse him boarding or even worse Polish authorities will. Should i carry print out of directive with me as well or only our marriage certificate also do i need english translation of our marriage certificate or polish original will be enough???

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

sylvia532 wrote

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone on this forum had experience travelling to Spain with their EU spouse on the UK Residence Card without previously obtaining Shengen Visa.

I am an EU national and my husband is a non-EU national (he holds a Residence Card). In 2009 we called the Spanish Embassy to ask whether or not my husbands needs to apply for a visa when travelling with me to Spain for a week holiday. The man replied (very abruptly) that he DOES need a visa even when travelling with me because 1. the UK is not a Shengen country and 2. my husband holds a Pakistani passport. I felt at that point that it can't be correct but we decided to go to Greece instead (Greece embassy confirmed that he does not need the visa when travelling with me to Greece).

I checked the Spanish Embassy website a few days ago and this is what I found:
6. Under Directive 2004/38/EC and according to Real Decreto 240/2007, 16 February, family members of an EU/EEA national in possession of a valid UK Residence Card specifying its condition as a family member do not require a visa to enter Spain when travelling with the EU/EEA National or joining him/her in Spain. Otherwise, a visa will be still required (Real Decreto 1161/2009, 10th July 2009). For spouses and/or children of Spanish Nationals the above condition applies provided that the marriage and/or birth is registered according with the Spanish Civil Register (original Libro de Familia). Please note, that the UK Residence Permit must state literally that the holder is a family member of an EU/EEA National. If not, a visa is required.

I understand that this update on the embassy website means we're ok to travel to Spain without a Shengen visa. Does anyone agree? Has anyone entered Spain on a UK Residence Card?

Would be grateful to anyone who shares their experiences

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

sylvia532 wrote

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone on this forum had experience travelling to Spain with their EU spouse on the UK Residence Card without previously obtaining Shengen Visa.

I am an EU national and my husband is a non-EU national (he holds a Residence Card). In 2009 we called the Spanish Embassy to ask whether or not my husbands needs to apply for a visa when travelling with me to Spain for a week holiday. The man replied (very abruptly) that he DOES need a visa even when travelling with me because 1. the UK is not a Shengen country and 2. my husband holds a Pakistani passport. I felt at that point that it can't be correct but we decided to go to Greece instead (Greece embassy confirmed that he does not need the visa when travelling with me to Greece).

I checked the Spanish Embassy website a few days ago and this is what I found:
6. Under Directive 2004/38/EC and according to Real Decreto 240/2007, 16 February, family members of an EU/EEA national in possession of a valid UK Residence Card specifying its condition as a family member do not require a visa to enter Spain when travelling with the EU/EEA National or joining him/her in Spain. Otherwise, a visa will be still required (Real Decreto 1161/2009, 10th July 2009). For spouses and/or children of Spanish Nationals the above condition applies provided that the marriage and/or birth is registered according with the Spanish Civil Register (original Libro de Familia). Please note, that the UK Residence Permit must state literally that the holder is a family member of an EU/EEA National. If not, a visa is required.

I understand that this update on the embassy website means we're ok to travel to Spain without a Shengen visa. Does anyone agree? Has anyone entered Spain on a UK Residence Card?

Would be grateful to anyone who shares their experiences

The law changed and Spain accepts residence cards from all EU and EEA states.

[sylvia532]

Thanks EUsmileWEallsmile for your reply!!
We're planning to travel to Spain Lanzarote in the first week of February.
So far, we've been to Greece (Rhodes) in 2009 and Cyprus in 2012 on UK Residence Card without a visa.

I would like to share my experiences. I must admit that travelling to Rhodes was a bit of a nightmare but we eventually managed to enter Rhodes. We flew from Glasgow and fortunately did not experience any problems when leaving the UK. Problems started when we got off the plane in Rhodes. The immigration officer looked first at my passport (Polish) and told me to go through despite me telling him that my husband and I are travelling together and I'd prefer to wait for him. He said that he can't let my husband through as he doesn't have a Shengen visa. I then showed the immigration officer information we had obtained from the Greek embassy clearly stating that my husband does not need a visa to enter Greece. He looked at it and laughed as the info was in English and he couldn't read English. I showed him our marriage certificate and he requested to see the proof of booked accomodation and return flights which I did show him. Despite all that we were taken to a small room where several officers were looking for info on their computer database. At that point I was fuming! Informed them that I demand their names if they refuse to let us in as I'm intending to make a complaint. Finally, a senior officer turned up with a big smile on his face and let us through. It was so good to speak to a polite individual who actually knew what we're talking about. They of course stamped my husband passport but at that point I had no energy to argue with them, I was just happy they let as go. ON our way back we did not encounter enormous obstacles, however, the officer took agggeeesss checking the RC and kept waving my husband's passport and shouting to other officers in Greek "Pakistani passport". Very strange and unpleasent experience. He also stamped my husband's passport. We travelled to Rhodes in 2009 so I hope the immigration officers have been given some training since....

We then travelled to Cyprus in April this year. Didn't encounter major problems, although we held up the queue a few times as the officers tended to take their time when checking my husband's passport and RC. Surprisingly, the only time I got annoyed was back in the UK! My husband was asked to fill out a landing card by a women who was telling each person in th queue when to come up to the immigration officer's desk (don't really understand what was her role there as anybody knows that you wait until the immigration officer is free in order to come up and show him/her your travelling documents). My husband filled out the landing card and we came up to the desk where I mentioned that he shouldn't have been asked to fill it out. The immigration officer looked at me very amused, pointed at my husband's Pakistani passport and said "with this he has to fill it out". Then thought for a second and said "unless he has the Residence Cad". I said this is exactly what he has. She then changed her attituded and politely said that the person who asked my husband to fill the landing card has no idea about immigration rules. I ignored her comment and we went through. Until this day I don't know what is the point of having that oblivious woman working there and deviding the queue (or whatever she was doing).

This is my experience. I'm hoping that our holiday in Spain will be stress free and that we come across immigration officers and airline staff aware of EU legislation. I will write about my experience.

[craxy1102]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to share a experience with you with travelling with my EEA2 for the very first time.

I was travelling with my wife to Germany for Christmas. I did not have time to apply for the German visa, so me and my wife tried to enter Germany on the account that I was a spouse of a EEA national, entering for a short stay in the country.

WHILE LEAVING THE UK
================
The airline told us that we are boarding the flight on our own risk, as they were not aware of any rule that a non-EEA could enter a EEA country without a visa. (Even though the embassy said we could) I told the lady, we would take our chances.
While entering Germany, my wife was quizzed a little bit, but no major hurdles and we entered Germany without a problem. We showed him our two passports and marriage certificate.

WHILE ENTERING BACK INTO UK
======================
While leaving Germany, the custom officer stopped us for a long time, trying to determine why I was in the country without a visa, and why was my passport not stamped when I entered the country. He also said he had never seen a EEA2 RC ever in his life, and then he went on to take the passport to his colleague, and they whispered a little bit, and he said he had never seen this type of UK RC before, but his colleague confirmed it was legit. He then asked my wife a few questions, etc.
When entering UK, ofcourse there were no problems.

Hope this helps.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to share a experience with you with travelling with my EEA2 for the very first time.

I was travelling with my wife to Germany for Christmas. I did not have time to apply for the German visa, so me and my wife tried to enter Germany on the account that I was a spouse of a EEA national, entering for a short stay in the country.

WHILE LEAVING THE UK
================
The airline told us that we are boarding the flight on our own risk, as they were not aware of any rule that a non-EEA could enter a EEA country without a visa. (Even though the embassy said we could) I told the lady, we would take our chances.
While entering Germany, my wife was quizzed a little bit, but no major hurdles and we entered Germany without a problem. We showed him our two passports and marriage certificate.

WHILE ENTERING BACK INTO UK
======================
While leaving Germany, the custom officer stopped us for a long time, trying to determine why I was in the country without a visa, and why was my passport not stamped when I entered the country. He also said he had never seen a EEA2 RC ever in his life, and then he went on to take the passport to his colleague, and they whispered a little bit, and he said he had never seen this type of UK RC before, but his colleague confirmed it was legit. He then asked my wife a few questions, etc.
When entering UK, ofcourse there were no problems.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for posting this success story.

What airline did not recognise the residence card? The main thing was that you boarded.

The German IO on entry was correct not to stamp your passport. The IO on leaving was not correct to hold you up.

It is worth noting that one never needs an exit visa (see article 4 of directive).

Good to see that you didn't have any issues entering the UK.

[craxy1102]

it was lufthansa

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

it was lufthansa

Well, the main thing is that you boarded of course. I'm glad you stood your ground.

[MarksGrace]

hi I just want to share my experience in using my RC a few times after receiving it... I got my RC last November 2012... as an UNMARRIED PARTNER OF AN EU (IRISH) NATIONAL...

First trip is to IRELAND... we were told by the Irish embassy that I needed a tourist visa to go to Ireland and they only accept RC's with "FAMILY MEMBERS OF EU NATIONAL" and to ask ukba if its the same with the RC that they issue, I was told by the ukba that it's the same, I would have applied for a visa to be sure but because of time restrictions we decided to rely on my RC... we drove to Ireland for xmas and surprise surprise NO IMMIGRATION OFFICER at the port not sure if they checked my passport when we handed our ticket though... going back was a breeze too passport was checked but all's ok.

Second trip is to BULGARIA around January 2013... we were held up at the check in desk by the easyjet staff who rang her supervisor to check if my RC is acceptable and was asked if my partner and I are travelling together ... which we are together with our son... we brought our sons' birth certificate just in case they ask for proof of our relationship... we were allowed to board the flight... in Bulgaria the immigration officer asked me LOADS of questions like where we're staying, for how long, what's the purpose of our stay and then STAMPED my passport with my return date to the UK as well... I knew he wasn't supposed to do that but with a tired baby I just didn't complain....

GOING BACK TO THE UK... A lady in Gatwick asked me to fill out a landing card because I am not EU... I filled out one but was told by the immigration officer that I don't need to do that in the future as long as my partner and I are travelling together....

FEB 20 my son and I went home to the Philippines for a long holiday and we will go back to the UK with my now HUSBAND around June... I hope all goes well....

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

@MarksGrace, Good stories, thanks for posting.

As an point of information, for the UK, you do not have to fill a landing card irrespective as to whether you are travelling alone or with partner. You have a residence card.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Another success story

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 923#826923

[too old]

Thanks to all the members of the this thread who been posting and educating us about the whole process. would any one please shed some light on this, what if i am going back to my non EU home country alone with a residence card. will i need to prove to the airport officials on my way back to UK that who am i and how did i get my RC. ? does it matter if spend more than a month or any amount of time less than 6 months?

Thanks A lot

[szandi1990]

hi guys,

My husband hold a residence card, and I am a Hungarian citizen. We are planning to go and visit my family... Does he need a visa, or are we fine travelling?

[Adel123]

Hello all

I have read most of the posts regarding my situation, yet I am a bit confused.

I am a non EEA family member, I got my EEA2 Residence Card in my passport and I am married to my Belgian wife.

she will be in spain from 20 to 30 June. I can't spend 10 days in spain, so I am planning to go there somwhere between 20-30 (say 22-27 June)

so, do I need to apply for schengen visa ? what I am thinking of, is it considered as joining my wife, thus i can use my RC? can you guys please advise.

Thanks