bluecole2 wrote:Hi guys,
My wife had recently complained to Solvit regarding this matter. Surprisingly, it's Solvit UK that replied. This is their response below which I'm absolutely unsatisfied with. Please advice me on how to Take this matter forward.
The response of the French Authorities appears to be that, as a French national, your marriage needs to be registered and a Livret de Famille presented with the application. It appears from the correspondence that, as France does not recognise your marriage, the relationship is then not recognised for the purposes of issuing your husband with a visa under EC legislation.
UPDATE
My wife's made another enquiry with 'Europe advice' and this is their response:
Thank you for your anew enquiry.
We do not understand why you are not satisfied with the answers you got and with the answers of SOLVIT in particular.
It is true that acc. to Art.3 of directive 2004/38 (
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex ... 123:EN:PDF) you could not exercise your right of free movement in France if you intended to live in France having your 3rd country national husband with you: “This Directive shall apply to all Union citizens who move to or reside in a Member State other than that of which they are a national, and to their family members as defined in point 2 of Article 2 who accompany or join them.”. But, to our mind, this does not count for a family member of yours (and your husband is a family member, holding a residence card, and accompanying you on short trip within the EU (You could e.g. never drive to Spain from England together with your husband for in any case you would have to cross France). So, in our view, the French embassy is wrong on this point.
Concerning the demand that Your marriage should be registered in the carnet de famille, we find this a bit stubborn, but nonetheless it depends where your marriage took place: if you married your husband within the Union, French authorities have to accept the certificate.
If, however, the French authorities remain stolid, your husband can apply for a Schengenvisa (cp. Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code):
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex ... 810:EN:NOT and
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/ ... 028_en.htm) at the French embassy in London (
http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/-Consulate ... in-London-).
I am aware that marriage does not fall under EC legislation, and it is therefore not possible to overturn any formalities of Member States in respect of the recognition of the marriage. If France requires all marriages involving French nationals to be registered in France, then it will not recognise the marriage for the purposes of identifying your husband as meeting the definition of spouse under Directive 2004/38/EC.
I guess this is the end of the road for the matter, at least for now.
