Scanghen Visa for Spouse of EEA National

I am a non EEA Spouse of an EEA national and have a 10 year Permanent Resident Card for UK. My previous resident stamps clearly stated the fact that I am a family member of an EEA National. My current Irish Visa (expires Jun 2012) states that but not the Uk resident card. most Schengen countries ask for this statement clearly to exempt from the visa. Example [url]http://es.vfsglobal.co.uk/eea.html[/url]
I have had had many Schengen visas issued by French Embassy in the past (last one expired in May 2009) but now its complicated as i have to apply through agencies. But what I want to know is is there a way around it. I am not moaning about applying for another visa but seems unfair that i have to apply everytime i travel to Schengen countries just because UKBA does not write family member of EEA National on the Permanent Residency Card. Please Advice.
many Thanks

even if it did write EEA fam member, if you travel alone, you are still a holder of a non-EU passport and require a visa!

You are only exempt from a visa requirement if you are travelling/joining your EEA family member and you have sufficient proof of that etc. It is straightforward really. Schengen visa just makes travelling easier and you should be able to get that easily and for free!

P.S. another question would be the airline staff, if they are trained or not, if latter- enjoy convincing them to allow you to board without a visa!

kaushikpaul wrote:I am a non EEA Spouse of an EEA national and have a 10 year Permanent Resident Card for UK. My previous resident stamps clearly stated the fact that I am a family member of an EEA National. My current Irish Visa (expires Jun 2012) states that but not the Uk resident card. most Schengen countries ask for this statement clearly to exempt from the visa. Example http://es.vfsglobal.co.uk/eea.html
I have had had many Schengen visas issued by French Embassy in the past (last one expired in May 2009) but now its complicated as i have to apply through agencies. But what I want to know is is there a way around it. I am not moaning about applying for another visa but seems unfair that i have to apply everytime i travel to Schengen countries just because UKBA does not write family member of EEA National on the Permanent Residency Card. Please Advice.
many Thanks

You have raised a lot of issues here, and I understand your frustration.

Start with the UK EEA Family residence card,
Here is what the current card looks like.
It is a passport vignette sticker. If the UKBA do not have the passport,
they will put the vignette onto an A4-sized piece of paper called a "Immigration Status Document".


Can it be that you have the old format, and need to have
it replaced even its not expired to get the new format.

With the new format of residence card you should have no more
need for Schengen visas, provided you accompany your EU spouse
Here is the airline database for checking visas
http://www.delta.com/planning_reservati ... /index.jsp

Visa required, except for A max. stay of 3 months:

- for those, irrespective of nationality, holding family
member" residence permit issued by United Kingdom to a
family member of an EEA national TIRGL/EEA or national
of Switzerland, provided travelling with or travelling to
join the EEA national or national of Switzerland;

BEST THING IS APPLY FOR A BRITISH PASSPORT OTHERWISE YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR SCHENGEN VISA IF YOU WILL TRAVEL ALONE NOT ACCOMPNING WITH UR PARTNER OR JOING HER..

I HAD TO PAY £55

What exactly does your Residence Card say? When did you get it?

If you travel regularly to Schengen with your EU spouse, then you should be able to get a multi year multi entry visa.

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:What exactly does your Residence Card say? When did you get it?

Think the OP has a PR sticker as per excerpt from original post: "I am a non EEA Spouse of an EEA national and have a 10 year Permanent Resident Card for UK."

If recall clearly, the PR should also read - 'PR card of family member of EEA citizen'.

thanks for your replies. My residence Stamps (as they were then) was given for a year and then for 5 years and it clearly said family member of EEA national. But now with the PR sticker it does not mention the family member thing. I have a long term Irish visa with family member line in it but thats not acceptable in the schengen countries. My travels to europe will be with my spouse so thats not the problem but it seems that i will have to go through the agencies that the consulates now engage and even though its free I have to pay the service charge. But the real problem is taking time off work and travelling to London for this as most will not accept postal applications anymore.

A permanent residence card does not mention 'family member' anymore because permanent residence is a right obtained independent of the EEA family member. PR card holders should be able to travel with the same rights (page 91) as holders of ordinary residence card.

thanks 86ti but how practical is it to be able to convince the airline staff and then the immigration staff at the arrival airport. what are the chances of convincing the embassy to issue me with a long term visa?

86ti wrote:A permanent residence card does not mention 'family member' anymore because permanent residence is a right obtained independent of the EEA family member. PR card holders should be able to travel with the same rights (page 91) as holders of ordinary residence card.

Thanks for correcting; I see that here: http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 6100d0165a

The 2006 regs are just over five years old (if I can count right). While of course some will have qualified prior to 2011 many others won't have. There will be progressively more people with these as they qualify for permanent residence. In time airlines, border officials etc will become used to them. They are as valid as residence cards of course for travel purposes.