Did anyone travell to Europe just with residency card?

I (German) would like to take my Sri Lankan Husband to Germany. We live in the Uk and he has a family permit for 6 month and is waiting for his EEA2 residency card.
I belive, he doesn't actually need an Schengen Visa to travell to Europe, as I'm an EEAnational, is that rigth??
Did anyone travell without Visa, only with residency card, or even waiting for residency card to Europe??
What are your experience at the airports??
Would it be enough, if we travel together and we take our marriage certificate and payslips (to prove we work in the UK) with us??
I know a lot people asked similar things before, but I could not find any own experiences.

well to my knowledge as mu partner is from india background but he's been in switzerland for almost 30 years he still needs his indian passport to get there even though he has got nationalty and a residence card of siwtzerland so to be honest i don't think a residence card will do as he needs his passport and he has to have residence to to travle there so yes he will most likely need a visa to get there and he won't get a residency card based on you being a eea citizen uk rules comply different to eu in terms of immigration and nationalty so my advice would be to go see an immigration advisory person they wil tell you all you need you don't want any hang ups when you get over there and you can't get back becuase you have not got the neccessary documents....

Thanks for the answer.
Sorry, I didn't write very clearly. We only want to go to Germany for Holiday, we live and work both in the UK. And the residency card will be in the passport, so he will have both together.
There is the "DIRECTIVE 2004/58/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT" which actually allows you, if you have the right to be in one of the EU countries, to go to any other EU countries: free movement in the EU. And you shoudn't be requiere to hold a travell VISA, even if non-EEA national with residency card. (please correct me, if I'm wrong)
But, as not everyone is aware of this law, there might be problems by traveling without a (unnecessary??) Visa.
Any advice or experiences on this??

Sunshine82 wrote:There is the "DIRECTIVE 2004/58/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT" which actually allows you, if you have the right to be in one of the EU countries, to go to any other EU countries: free movement in the EU. And you shoudn't be requiere to hold a travell VISA, even if non-EEA national with residency card.

Just a note, the directive is 2004/38, although there was a typo in one of the official publications.

Anyway, you are right in theory. The law states this, and in my view actually quite clearly. However, most implementations are flawed in one way or another. You can use the Residence Card to travel within the Schengel area, but getting into it or out of it can be difficult.

It all depends on the country where you enter the Schengen area. I do not know any implementation that is actually correct (and the UK has it wrong, too). I guess in some countries you will be able to convince at least a senior immigration official of your right. In other countries that would be a pointless exercise.

Tom

Sunshine82 wrote:Thanks for the answer.
Sorry, I didn't write very clearly. We only want to go to Germany for Holiday, we live and work both in the UK. And the residency card will be in the passport, so he will have both together.
There is the "DIRECTIVE 2004/58/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT" which actually allows you, if you have the right to be in one of the EU countries, to go to any other EU countries: free movement in the EU. And you shoudn't be requiere to hold a travell VISA, even if non-EEA national with residency card. (please correct me, if I'm wrong)
But, as not everyone is aware of this law, there might be problems by traveling without a (unnecessary??) Visa.
Any advice or experiences on this??

As pointed out, it is actually called Directive 2004/38/EC. They did a typo in the correction, which is almost beyond my ability to understand.

If your husband has a Residence Card, then he should be able to travel without an additional visa.

The Italians lay it out clearly at http://www.conslondra.esteri.it/Consola ... in_italia/

The EU Directive 2004/38/CE has been implemented in Italy. Therefore, family members of EU citizens who do not have the nationality of a Member State, but have the new residence permits issued by the British Home Office bearing the following indication:

"RESIDENCE DOCUMENTATION
Type of Document : Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA National"

WILL NOT NEED A SCHENGEN VISA FOR A SHORT STAY

If you have doubts about your status or the validity of your Permit, please contact us by mail. (visti.londra@esteri.it)

Note that the German embassy in Ireland says that this does not apply for entering Germany if the EU spouse is a German citizen. I think they are legally wrong, especially if the EU spouse is working (and thus exercsing treaty rights).

You should always carry your marriage certificate when travelling, since you can use that to force entry in case they do not consider the visa to be in order.

Note that all of this requires a Residence Card. An EEA family permit is not enough.

I think the UK is the worst when it comes to applying the directive.
We wanted to travel to London from Ireland for 3 days, and I had to fill out a 155 question visa application form even though my spouse is an E.U citizen and I have a full Irish residency card. I cannot tolerate having to answer 155 questions on intimate financial and family details every time we want to go to the UK for a weekend. It seems like they are building some kind of a STASI style database in the UK on E.U/Non E.U families.

You do not need to answer all those questions on the EEA family permit application. They can ask all they want, including questions about your favourite colour, but you do not need to answer and they still must issue the visa.

You do not need to answer questions about:
(1) work
(2) financial affairs
(3) where you will stay or who with

Same thing goes the Irish visa questions. A friend left most of them blank, including ones they said were required to be answered, and the visa was still issued.

Give it a go! I can help you identify questions to not-answer if you want.

The Netherlands is one of the countries that follows the directive. If you are married to a EU citizen and have a residence Permit from the UK (and probably anoy other EU country) you don't need a visa to enter the netherland. All you need is your passports, and a copy of your marriage certificate (if your residence permit does not state your EU spouses name).

This Info comes from the dutch embassy in London.

Maybe it's time to start a sticky post for E.U countries that have implemented Directive 2004/38/EC correctly and don't require visas for E.U family members?

I found something interessting on the homepage of the German Embassy in London:

You DO NOT need a visa for Germany short stays if you are:
- a citizen of the EU/EEA/EFTA
- a family member of an EU/EEA/EFTA national (but NOT a German citizen) if you hold a British Residence Card and if you are travelling together with the EU/EEA/EFTA national

And if you don't have a residency card:
Spouses of EU and German nationals and other applicants who do not wish to use the services of the above mentioned automated appointment booking system may obtain an appointment by calling 020 7823 2854 (Monday to Friday 08:30-10:30). Please note that only a limited number of appointments are available using this telephone number. Alternatively you may use the 24-hour fully automated appointment booking system mentioned above.

Documents required for spouses of EU nationals:
-spouse's passport + copy
-applicant's passport + copy
-marriage certificate
-family book (livre de famille) - for spouses of French, Italian, Portugese and Spanish citizens.
- address in Germany
- visa application form with one passport picture

Application by post:
If you are a spouse of an EU or German national, or if you have had a Schengen visa from the German Embassy London issued within the past 12 months, you may apply by post. In addition to the required documents please add a self-addressed "Special Delivery" envelope and the visa fee in postal orders. (There is no visa fee for spouses of EU or German nationals.) Please be aware that application by post can take eight working days."