Success at last!
I have been from pillar to post, trying to get the information I needed from the French Consular office in Montreal. In desperation I started contacting other French Consular offices like Toronto, the High Commission in Ottawa, even the the Consular office in London. I also sent emails to anyone I could think of that might be able to shed some light.
Eventually I got an email back from EUROPE DIRECT (
http://ec.europa.eu/europedirect/)
This was their exact response:
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to inform you that family members, irrespective of their nationality, have the right to accompany and establish themselves with a European Union citizen on the territory of the Member States of the European Union. Family members who can enjoy rights under Community law include the spouse, minor (under 21) or dependent children, and dependent ascendants, though in the case of students only the spouse and dependent children enjoy this right.
When entering a territory of a Member State Family members who are not nationals of a Member State shall only be required to have an entry visa in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 or, where appropriate, with national law. Say to consult the Annex I of 539/2001
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/doc_ce ... l/visa/doc_
freetravel_visa_en.htm
Members of the family must provide proof of identity and of the family link to an EU citizen.
Information on the conditions and administrative formalities for applying EU citizens' right to move and reside freely throughout the European Union can be found on the following web sites of Directorate-General Freedom, Security and Justice of the European Commission:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/ci ... itizenship
_movement_en.htm
The travelling rights of the non-EU citizens are available on the web site of the Directorate-General (DG) for Justice, Freedom and Security at the following address:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/fr ... freetravel
_thirdcountry_en.htm
Family members of Union citizens who are not nationals of a Member State must apply for a residence permit for family members of Union citizens. These permits are valid for at least five years from their date of issue.
http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/nav/en/c ... /eu-guide/
living/index_en.html#11324_4
Further information on the right of Union citizens and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States can be found at the following web site of the "Summaries of legislation – Activities of the European Union" database:
http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l33152.htm
For further specific questions you can contact Directorate-General Freedom, Security and Justice directly:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/contact_us2_en.htm
For further country specific information you can contact the national authorities of France:
http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries ... ance/index_
en.htm
We would also like to inform you that a service called the Signpost Service is also available to you if you feel you are facing difficulties in exercising your rights in the European Union and the Single Market. The legal experts of the Signpost Service will research your question and within 6-8 days advise you further in your own language, by phone or by e-mail as required. Please contact EUROPE DIRECT for further information.
We hope that this information will be of use to you.
With kind regards,
EUROPE DIRECT"
After reading this email and following the links, I really paid a lot of attention to the exact wording in the 2004/38/EC Directive. It clearly states that I (the citizen of a third - or foreign country to the EU, regardless of nationality) have the right to move to and reside freely anywhere within the EU, as long as I have family ties to an EU citizen.
The only other requirements are that I need to have a valid passport and an entry visa. But, because of these rights, the entry visa only serves as a formality, and should be processed by whichever consular section I was dealing with on an accelerated procedure, be free of charge and that no other documentation other than my valid passport, marriage certificate to my EU wife and a copy of her EU passport would be required.
Not only was it my right to have the entry visa processed at a priority level and free of charge, but even if I showed up at the EU borders demanding entry without a valid entry visa, that I could not be turned back simply for lacking such an administrative formality such as an entry visa, when my rights as the spouse of an EU citizen granted me that right of entry if I could prove that I was tied to an EU citizen and that I was in fact covered by the 2004/38/EC Directive.
I contacted the Consular office in Toronto as they were actually willing to give me some information, and quoted these rights according to the Directive to them. After a short hold they came back to me and said that I was absolutely correct and as stated above cannot be denied entry or asked for any other information such as bank statements, travel tickets or anything, other than my valid passport, marriage certificate to EU spouse and copy of EU spouse's valid passport in order to get my "formality" entry visa into any member state of the EU.
To conclude, I want to apologize for the long winded post, but I wanted to share as much information as possible with anyone finding themselves in a similar situation.
Hope this helps you as much as it has helped me.
Au revoir and bonne chance!
L.
