Schengen visa for spouse of EEA National issued before Brexit? What happens to visa after October'19?

[Lawgic]

Hi all, didn't seem to find anything relevant/similar.

Me: British national, got married recently
Wife: NON-EEA national

Both currently living in Russia and wanted to travel to France for holidays.

1) consulate website states that visa fee is only waived for spouses of French nationals?! and for others it is EUR 66 (which is unlawful under Directive 2004/38, I presume)
2) main question - what will happen if she gets a visa in September 2019 that says "family member of an EEA national" but after end of October, presumably, if UK leaves the EU, will the visa become invalid?

I can only assume that there will be transitional provisions for a while but no info.

Would appreciate if anyone already thought about this and has an answer.

[ibwe]

Hi all, didn't seem to find anything relevant/similar.

Me: British national, got married recently
Wife: NON-EEA national

Both currently living in Russia and wanted to travel to France for holidays.

1) consulate website states that visa fee is only waived for spouses of French nationals?! and for others it is EUR 66 (which is unlawful under Directive 2004/38, I presume)
2) main question - what will happen if she gets a visa in September 2019 that says "family member of an EEA national" but after end of October, presumably, if UK leaves the EU, will the visa become invalid?

I can only assume that there will be transitional provisions for a while but no info.

Would appreciate if anyone already thought about this and has an answer.

Hi,

1) As a non-EEA national married to an EU spouse, I think the info you read from the website about fees belongs to a different category. From 'French-visas' website, you need to use the 'visa wizard' and select "Yes" under the family member from an EU country (excluding France), the EEA or the Swiss Confederation? question. The visa wizard will give you all the information you need in terms of documents and fees. As long as UK is in EU - the visa fee is waived. You might have to pay some processing fees from third party like TLScontact but I think they also waive the fees for family members of EEA/EU citizens.

2) Well, if you plan to travel before October 31st, 2019 then there is nothing to worry - given that the French will definitely give her not more that 3 month visa - they might even give less than that!

If you plan to travel after October 31st and the British authorities did not, by then, secure the extension from EU to January 2020 - then her visa's validity
a) will be automatically cancelled in the event of no deal Brexit,
b) won't be affected as the visa itself does not denote the nationality of the EU/EEA citizen unless further checks are required (in matters of national security). [This is purely my opinion - maybe when they scan the visa they do see the info on EU/EEA spouse. I say this because most of the times, based on my experience, they just verify the visa and stamp it]
c) will continue to the date of provisional extension, if deemed so by Brussels.

In short no one has a clear answer to that other than hoping that your plans for EU/EEA family member travel will start well before October 31st, for now.

Conversely, if you want to be on the safe side, you might just ask her to go with the normal visit/tourism visa and pay the EUR 66 as well as providing more documents.

[Lawgic]

Good one, thanks. I didn't think about point 2b but I guess they may ask her to show proof of family relation and it will state that spouse is UK national.

Other than that, with the speed this is dragging on, i wouldn't be surprised with another extension and in any case the free movement right may be within the transitional arrangements (even though govt denies this).

Interesting times and really an unnecessary move by the UK with Brexit. Pain in the bum)

Hi all, didn't seem to find anything relevant/similar.

Me: British national, got married recently
Wife: NON-EEA national

Both currently living in Russia and wanted to travel to France for holidays.

1) consulate website states that visa fee is only waived for spouses of French nationals?! and for others it is EUR 66 (which is unlawful under Directive 2004/38, I presume)
2) main question - what will happen if she gets a visa in September 2019 that says "family member of an EEA national" but after end of October, presumably, if UK leaves the EU, will the visa become invalid?

I can only assume that there will be transitional provisions for a while but no info.

Would appreciate if anyone already thought about this and has an answer.

Hi,

1) As a non-EEA national married to an EU spouse, I think the info you read from the website about fees belongs to a different category. From 'French-visas' website, you need to use the 'visa wizard' and select "Yes" under the family member from an EU country (excluding France), the EEA or the Swiss Confederation? question. The visa wizard will give you all the information you need in terms of documents and fees. As long as UK is in EU - the visa fee is waived. You might have to pay some processing fees from third party like TLScontact but I think they also waive the fees for family members of EEA/EU citizens.

2) Well, if you plan to travel before October 31st, 2019 then there is nothing to worry - given that the French will definitely give her not more that 3 month visa - they might even give less than that!

If you plan to travel after October 31st and the British authorities did not, by then, secure the extension from EU to January 2020 - then her visa's validity
a) will be automatically cancelled in the event of no deal Brexit,
b) won't be affected as the visa itself does not denote the nationality of the EU/EEA citizen unless further checks are required (in matters of national security). [This is purely my opinion - maybe when they scan the visa they do see the info on EU/EEA spouse. I say this because most of the times, based on my experience, they just verify the visa and stamp it]
c) will continue to the date of provisional extension, if deemed so by Brussels.

In short no one has a clear answer to that other than hoping that your plans for EU/EEA family member travel will start well before October 31st, for now.

Conversely, if you want to be on the safe side, you might just ask her to go with the normal visit/tourism visa and pay the EUR 66 as well as providing more documents.