COVID dilemma - 90/180 expired, where to go next?

[cindy2813]

Hello all, I will try to summarise the facts.

We are a couple (1 UK citizen, 1 non-EU citizen) and baby (UK citizen), all residents but not citizens of a non-EU country (don't want to state which as not to give away too much identifiable information). We are currently in Austria and soon will leave here. Non-EU spouse is in Schengen visa-free but subject to the 90 in 180 days rule. She was about to overstay the 90 days in 180 so we applied for a residence card in Austria to the competent authority in accordance with EU/Schengen guidance to persons stranded due to COVID. The authority did not process the application because it does not understand the rules - it did not accept or reject, it simply did not process it. We could have legally stayed until the application was rejected and then an appeal unsuccessful, in accordance with EU law, but they have not rejected it. Anyway we soon need to leave for tax reasons.

We cannot return to our country of residence due to unrealistic quarantine arrangements for our baby. It is not impossible but is highly unrealistic without going into too many details, including possibility of baby being forceably separated from parents. A risk we cannot take. We cannot go back until they relax their quarantine arrangements, could be a while. We cannot go to the UK for tax reasons. We cannot go to a non-Schengen European country for various reasons, some have too high COVID rates, other require visas but embassies are not accepting visa applications. We cannot go to the non-EU spouse's home country which currently has high COVID rates so too dangerous.

Our question is whether we can go to another Schengen country and the non-EU spouse applies there for a temporary residence permit (e.g. for 6 months max) under EU law due to COVID exceptional circumstances. This process would take some time, and she cannot be required to leave until the application is rejected and the appeal exhausted under EU law. This may buy us some time in the hope that the quarantine arrangements improve in our country of residence. But would a refusal create big problems for the non-EU spouse? And is there a reasonable chance of getting the e.g. 6 months temporary residence permit approved on exceptional grounds?

We really don't know what to do and are very stressed by this. Money is not the problem, within reason, we can supply bank statements showing we can easily support ourselves independently, have health insurance etc. Thank you for any advice.

[CR001]

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[CR001]

Your spouse appears to be from the Ukraine based on your other username previous posts.

Ukraine has quite a low COVID rate with 53.5k cases to-date and around 1300 deaths and as if yesterday, 638 new cases.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

[ALKB]

Hello all, I will try to summarise the facts.

We are a couple (1 UK citizen, 1 non-EU citizen) and baby (UK citizen), all residents but not citizens of a non-EU country (don't want to state which as not to give away too much identifiable information). We are currently in Austria and soon will leave here. Non-EU spouse is in Schengen visa-free but subject to the 90 in 180 days rule. She was about to overstay the 90 days in 180 so we applied for a residence card in Austria to the competent authority in accordance with EU/Schengen guidance to persons stranded due to COVID. The authority did not process the application because it does not understand the rules - it did not accept or reject, it simply did not process it. We could have legally stayed until the application was rejected and then an appeal unsuccessful, in accordance with EU law, but they have not rejected it. Anyway we soon need to leave for tax reasons.

We cannot return to our country of residence due to unrealistic quarantine arrangements for our baby. It is not impossible but is highly unrealistic without going into too many details, including possibility of baby being forceably separated from parents. A risk we cannot take. We cannot go back until they relax their quarantine arrangements, could be a while. We cannot go to the UK for tax reasons. We cannot go to a non-Schengen European country for various reasons, some have too high COVID rates, other require visas but embassies are not accepting visa applications. We cannot go to the non-EU spouse's home country which currently has high COVID rates so too dangerous.

Our question is whether we can go to another Schengen country and the non-EU spouse applies there for a temporary residence permit (e.g. for 6 months max) under EU law due to COVID exceptional circumstances. This process would take some time, and she cannot be required to leave until the application is rejected and the appeal exhausted under EU law. This may buy us some time in the hope that the quarantine arrangements improve in our country of residence. But would a refusal create big problems for the non-EU spouse? And is there a reasonable chance of getting the e.g. 6 months temporary residence permit approved on exceptional grounds?

We really don't know what to do and are very stressed by this. Money is not the problem, within reason, we can supply bank statements showing we can easily support ourselves independently, have health insurance etc. Thank you for any advice.

When did you submit the RC application in Austria and when did you register your residence there?

Did they just receive your application and then did nothing? They can take up to 6 months for processing under EU law, was this exceeded?

I am not sure I understand your situation completely but it sounds like you want to keep moving to avoid becoming tax resident. Movement is restricted due to COVID, sometimes even within a country. I don't think temporarily moving for tax reasons would count as exceptional circumstances during the pandemic but I'd be very happy to be corrected.