EU Family member visa denied

My wife recently applied to the Czech Embassy in Nigeria for a single entry schengen visa on the basis of being the spouse of an EU citizen (UK), to accompany me to Prague we have two youngsters who are also UK citizens, she was denied on the grounds of public order and security, and handed a ticked form without any justification. If i wasn't so devastated i might even have found it comedic. A young mother of two with no criminal background whatsoever and the spouse of an EU citizen to boot, deemed a threat to the Czech Rep. This EU Directive as applied by EU embassies and consulates abroad, especially in Africa is utterly shambolic and hugely discriminative, the behaviour of the embassy officials themselves towards applicants is appalling, being made to wait for up to three hours outside in temperatures of up to forty degrees without shade only to be herded around and asked to go away is just inhuman, officials and staff were insultive, abusive and condescending. Needless to say we have put forward a very strong appeal to the Czech authorities and a letter of complaint to the EU commission, but I for one have very little faith in the EU's ability to monitor the implementation of their directives or to call to order renegade embassies who treat Africans as sub-human. We have been frustrated at every turn, and have been given all manner of excuses by EU embassies all in a bid to avoid carrying out their obligations, tellingly it is impossible to find the procedural requirements for applications of a schengen visa for EU family members on any EU member states web-site in Nigeria or most of Africa for that matter, this is so you the applicant can be at the whims and prejudices of the embassies. For a facility that should be little more than a formality it remains little more than a bad joke in poor taste.

Are you both resident in Nigeria? If not, where or what are your living arrangements?

In the refusal letter did the embassy cite the evidence on which they based their decision?

Does your wife any adverse immigration history (though this should not really count against her except if grave)? Has she held previous Schengen visas?

I am just trying to work out what factors may have played a part in the embassy's decision.

An appeal is def. the way to go in the mean time.

As far as I can gather you are a UK citizen trying to exercise your right to free movement in the Czech republic.

This is close to impossible to do in Africa since none of the EU embassies there respect the right to free movement.

I know, because I went through the EXACT same situation last summer with my African wife.

I complained to the Commission, they replied 6 month later that this was a 'focus area' for the them and beyond that they promised to do absolutely F*CK ALL about it.

I still encourage people in your situation to write the Commission a formal complaint and to contact SOLVIT but expect little to no results from it. Complaining simply adds to tthe cumulative burden of mounting evidence that EU embassies in Africa are dearly beloved and CORRUPT.

What I suggest you try is to apply for a normal tourist visa to the UK for your wife. Then once in Europe you can apply for a visa to the Czech republic (if you still want to go there, that is.)

Lodge a complaint with the EU-Commission here:

http://ec.europa.eu/eu_law/your_rights/ ... rms_en.htm

Contact SOLVIT here:
'
http://ec.europa.eu/solvit/site/index_en.htm

Like I said, please do lodge your complaint with both the Commission and SOLVIT but don't expect it to take care of your immediate problem.

In stead, contact your British representation in Nigeria and explain them your situation and that you need to bring your wife and the mother of your children (UK citizens too) with you back to Europe. They should not be allowed to refuse your wife a normal tourist visa to the UK, but if they do you probably need to contact a legal representative in Britain to take on your case.

Also, please write us back here to inform us of the progress in your situation.. I KNOW how frustrating this kind of thing is first hand.

Good luck and best wishes for you and your family,

MSH.

Thank you. I have been absolutely staggered by the jack-boot approach of the Czech consular authorities in particular and the EU embassies in general. As far as i am concerned this is the most insidious use of the grounds of public order and security against an EU family member and completely unjustified for an applicant who does not pose a clear and present threat of any sort, does not have an adverse immigration history or criminal background. As you rightly pointed out, I expect nothing from solvit or the EU, there seems to be some kind of trade-off in the implementation of the directive. I will however will seek recourse through the Czech authorities to the highest possible level, afterall they cannot all be revenants.

Aimar,

Several of the posts asked questions which are quite relevant. You might want to go back and look through them in case there are things you missed.

Why do you have no faith in the EU institutions. Have you or your wife had previous bad experiences?

The refusal letter was simply a ticked form and nothing else, my wife and I were both resident in Nigeria for about seven years untill the last 12 months during which I have been shuttling between Uk and Nigeria. My wife has not held any other Schengen visa. The refusal letter itself is a problem since the directive clearly states that ''any visa refusal on the grounds of public order and security to an applicant who has demonstrated that they fulfill the criteria of the directive must be fully reasoned and justified, it is not enough to simply hand over a form with a ticked box to the family of an EU national denied on those grounds''. As it were its almost impossible to write a coherent appeal under those circumstances.

We had a horrible experience with the Spanish Consulate last year. When you go the consulate you are greeted by a huge poster saying '' don't patronise touts'' however getting an appointment is a nightmare, having waited months and months for a response to my emails for an appointment i finally bit the bullet and paid the touts hanging outside the consulate, lo and behold...three days later my wife's appointment date is confirmed...to the tout...who hands over the email ! In any event it turned out to be a waste of money, the application was refused, the Spanish in blatant disregard of the directive do not recognise marriages between EU nationals and third country nationals unless it is accompanied by a statement of recognition from the EU national's member state, so i've trundled along to the UK high commission and asked very nicely if they would write me something saying my marriage was valid in the UK, the High Commission declined, saying any marriage by a UK citizen validly conducted and recognised in the place it took place is valid in the UK ...end of. So i've written off to Solvit to complain about the boorish Spanish, i get a response from Solvit quoting the directive e.t.c e.t.c and Spain was in contravention blah de blah ...and nothing else, then fully 5 months later i get a cheery email from some chap at solvit saying he has contacted the spanish consulate in Nigeria and been told they have no record of my wife ever having made an application and would i make another appointment to submit an application.....Yeah right !

For good measure, i contacted the German embassy to ask why there was no information on their website with respect to visa applications by EU family members, I was told in clipped teutonic tones ''...ach...vell you see, ve do not receive any applications in this category'' well, i thought, that explains it then, i suppose the Fijians and Samoans are getting married to EU citizens in droves. I am pretty hacked off with this EU malarkey, hacked off i tell you.

Hi Aimar, I've just discovered this site and there's so much I need to read through. I am a British citizen married to a Tunisian. We moved to France last year through the EU Directive and it took four months being stuck in Tunisia with no job and no income fighting all day every day with the French the EU and Solvit in the UK to get a visa that my husband had the immediate right to.
I understand your frustration, my husband was treated like a dog by the French embassy in Tunisia, and lied to by embassy staff on several occasions, they are renowned for treating people badly.
The EU seem to be useless including SOLVIT who are incapable of solving anything. The rights to freedom of movement are supposed to be one of the foundations of the EU but this is utter nonsense.

My husband and I were to travel to the UK for Christmas but were stopped after going through the boarding gate and told that my husband needed a visa which he did not according to EU regulations. So Christmas was cancelled and everything was a nightmare once again.

I am trying to write about this and get it into the press because no one at the EU is interested in even replying. It's disgraceful that people are being treated this way and nothing is being done about it. I interviewed the vice president's spokesman and he said that the only way to get anything done is to get as many people in this position together.

If anyone wants to contact me and share their story or try to get things changed you can PM me.

Aimar wrote:the Spanish in blatant disregard of the directive do not recognise marriages between EU nationals and third country nationals unless it is accompanied by a statement of recognition from the EU national's member state, so i've trundled along to the UK high commission and asked very nicely if they would write me something saying my marriage was valid in the UK, the High Commission declined, saying any marriage by a UK citizen validly conducted and recognised in the place it took place is valid in the UK ...end of.

Did you explain that you needed it for Spanish visa purposes? You should try having the certificate apostilled by the FCO - http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/what- ... galisation

A suggestion is you ask help from your own MEP back in the UK

He can contact the Embassy Directly, or
raise the problem with fellow Czech MEP

This is what they get their big salary for.

just an idea.. nothing to lose.

I wrote to EVERY MEP for London before I left the UK to try and get help with my situation and most did not bother to respond, one of them sent me an email telling me what I'd already told them.
One responded three months later and did submit a question at the European parliament but each time I contacted him urgently it was three months before I got a response so I had to just keep trying to sort the whole mess out myself. Maybe outside of London thy're a bit more efficient?!!!

skele wrote:I wrote to EVERY MEP for London before I left the UK to try and get help with my situation and most did not bother to respond, one of them sent me an email telling me what I'd already told them.
One responded three months later and did submit a question at the European parliament but each time I contacted him urgently it was three months before I got a response so I had to just keep trying to sort the whole mess out myself. Maybe outside of London thy're a bit more efficient?!!!

very bad performance...
just taking a random look at London MEP's websites
with claims of "ensuring that human rights are upheld and civil liberties protected"
and "Do get in touch with any views, feedback or issues I can help with"

http://www.sarahludfordmep.org.uk/en/

I'm Sarah Ludford, your Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for London.

As Liberal Democrat European justice and human rights spokeswoman, I work for European cooperation to tackle serious crime and terrorism and to better manage migration, while always ensuring that human rights are upheld and civil liberties protected.

I also campaign vigorously to protect Londoners' health, interests and well-being and to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for our city, taking full benefit from our EU membership.

On this site you can find out more about me and what I do. You can also subscribe to my regular bulletin about my activities and issues that affect you.

Do get in touch with any views, feedback or issues I can help with.

Sarah

Hmmm, what a crock of s***!

None of them are interested in reality. One citizen's problems are not an issue for them, perhaps if it was something bigger that would get their name in the papers they would be willing to help.
I was pretty shocked that most of them didn't even bother to respond and I emailed and left telephone messages.

Like I said the one that did didn't really help, each time there was a three month wait between responses to messages marked urgent.

Every member state is in the EU for their own benefits, citizens rights don't mean a thing and I am learning that more and more. The only chance of help is from SOLVIT who have no powers, make very little effort and are less than incompetant and certainly unsympathetic to anyone's plight.

I contacted anyone and everyone at the EU when I was stuck in Tunisia and they just don't bother to respond.

I went to the British embassy in Paris the other week to try to get help and three people had to come and speak to me because they no nothing about EU law and all any of them can say is look on our website, the last one just walked away from me.

There really is nowhere to turn.

I would love to know why embassies from ALL member states are instructing their staff to be obstructive and also very rude!

One way of getting more attention from the embassy is to have a good EU law focused lawyer in the EU member state you want to visit or move to.

There was earlier in this forum a dutch lawyer who seemed to be very good at shaking the dutch foreign office when they misbehaved in issuing visas.

The fundamental problem here is that you can not effectively use the legal process of a member state unless you are there or you have a representative there.

And what about people who don't have money for a lawyer? They have no rights at all!

This shows the current state of the European "Union":

On the one hand they brush off legitimate applicants, such as in this thread.

On the other hand clearly illegal immigrants are not immediately returned to their origin, >>but issued with visas after their illegal arrival<<, prompting Germany and France to re-introduce border checks against Schegen-rules, which in turn promts Italy to threaten >>to leave the EU altogether<<.

It´s clearly a breathtaking failure of EU politicians to harmonise and/or organise anything properly...

EU = experience unavailable

I went through the same situation just one month ago. I exspecially went to Nigeria to apply for the Czech visa with my husband. I'm Pole living in Belgium and exercising my rights etc etc. Application denied on the basis of public security. Well, I guess so because the paper they gave to my hubby was in entirely in czech language, they didn't let him get inside the embassy, somebody went outside, gave him this paper and said that he should ask me for the translation. He said that his wife was not Czech but of course he was ignored. I dont really know how to work against them in countries like Nigeria, they just dont want to give your spouse a visa while they gave it to all the people who just travle and stay illegally... The best way is I guess find a good lawyer and shake them until they die. It makes me so angry when other people say that they had no problem with short stay visa application for a spouse. Yeah, but your spouse is not Nigerian. Nigerian need visas even for airport transit.

Hi,


I had the same problem few months ago and it took us more than 4 months to get it sorted out. I would suggest you to contact a lawyer even if you dont have money as then you should be granted a legal aid. Contact the Ombudsman for Chez as I did the same in my case. You have to make sure to follow this up and they understand you won@t rest until you get your rights.

Do not make a mistake of going to various embassies after the rejection as you will be shopping for more rejection stamps and nothing else. You must appeal.

Good luck. Hope things get sorted out for you. I know what you are going through now.

Very gratefull for everyone's contribution to this thread and especially gratefull to hear from Skele. Saddened that quite a few other posters seem to be experiencing the same difficulties my family and i are experiencing. A lack of uniformity and transparency in EU member states embassies dealings is a real problem. Having returned to the UK to consider my options we have decided to await the outcome of the appeal currently placed before the Czech authorities before deciding on the level of legal representation that will be required if necessary. Many thanks.

Aimar,

You wrote:

So i've written off to Solvit to complain about the boorish Spanish, i get a response from Solvit quoting the directive e.t.c e.t.c and Spain was in contravention blah de blah ...and nothing else, then fully 5 months later i get a cheery email from some chap at solvit saying he has contacted the spanish consulate in Nigeria and been told they have no record of my wife ever having made an application and would i make another appointment to submit an application.....Yeah right !

When the Spanish initially refused you, did they give you anything in writing?

Did you ever contact the Spanish embassy to make another appointment? What happened if you did?

Directive, Yes we received the standard refusal form with a handwritten appendage stating our marriage certificate was not legalised. I had also requsted another appointment from the Spanish consulate and there has been no response whatsoever.

Aimar wrote:Directive, Yes we received the standard refusal form with a handwritten appendage stating our marriage certificate was not legalised. I had also requsted another appointment from the Spanish consulate and there has been no response whatsoever.

Get back to Solvit with that result -- keep them informed even if it feels like it is going slowly. Encourage them to escalate it so that you get the appointment.

How did you request the appointment? If by letter, then make sure Solvit gets a copy of the request.

I think your spouse is wasting her time by applying for visa in other EU countries instead of UK. I know a friend who married a Hungarian lady and wanted to apply for visa from Germany embassy and they were asking for a load of documents and legalization of documents. But later they advise him to go to hungarian embassy to apply for visa instead. Which he did and got the visa.
You could make a report to eu commission or solvit they will never resolve the problem for you. Can only tell you what you know. Your appeal could as well take ages.
Other embassies will always presume that something is wrong why you are apply for the first for her in their country and you are not as well living in those countries you are trying to apply for visa. It is much easier when you apply in EU countries or developed countries

koded wrote:You could make a report to eu commission or solvit they will never resolve the problem for you. Can only tell you what you know.

Can you give more details of what you reported to the European Commission and how that went? Did you later have to request the help of the European Ombudsman?

I have used Solvit against an Irish refusal to issue a visa. In the end they were convinced, and finally issued the visa (at no cost, without extra supporting documents, without references from Irish people, without a scheduled trip). So they were helpful in that case! Sorry your experience working with them was no so good...

Perhaps, I could say for ireland and Uk it may be easy to resolve because they clearly understand the law. But for other EU countries it always proof difficulties to resolve visa problem outside EU countries with execption of Sweden.
My friend didnt report his case to SOlvit but I have written to Solvit on my case with no reply and my case had already be resolved internally.
He was advised to obtain Hungarian visa instead since it is the same schengen. Initially, they were questioning the marriage certificate and also if the marriage was real. And like I said my friend went to Hungarian embassy to obtain the visa.
if the OP apply for family permit visa in Irish embassy/or UK embassy it may be better even if they refuse you can use EU commission or solvit to handle the case but not schengen countries. Some Eastern Europe countries that are member of schengen may not even accept the application execpt the eu spouse is living in their country.

Koded, thanks for your comments. I believe we are well within our rights to apply for a EU Schengen visa, the fact that renegade EU member states choose to circumvent or ignore the rules of the directive should not erode those rights. There is no requirement of prior residency in the host EU member state, if there is no question as to the validity of the applicants marriage to an EU citizen and they fall under the directive, the visa must be issued, in my case the visa was denied under the spurrious grounds of public order without justification, it's a systematic exclusion of applicants from certain parts of the world. Regardless, the embassy has to give cogent reasons for the denial and i look forward to the ombudsman's comments with interest.