Have the GNIB Card - Now Have New Problems

After six months waiting for the GNIB card, finally it arrived and with it, a stamp in the passport to stay for a further year.

Now it seems the process of getting visas for the rest of Europe is raising its ugly head. My wife and I want to travel to Denmark for her sisters wedding in January and at the end of February go on our VERY VERY late honeymoon.

To go to Denmark we need a shengan visa which will only be issued for the days we are staying. In addition (to passports and normal items) they want bank statements, hotel reservations, plane tickets, an invitation from Denmark, travel insurance documents. And to make this even worse - all of these must be handed in person to their staff between the hours of 9am and 10.30am mon-thurs in Dublin - Fantastic we live in cork!!!!

This request may also take 4-5 weeks to process - utter rubbish!

So again my wife’s passport will be out of her possession, meaning we can’t apply for the British visa which we need to pass through Heathrow on the way to our honeymoon. To get the British visa will take a further 4 weeks.

It seems that during the one year period that my wife’s passport is stamped for, she will actually be able to leave Ireland for slightly less than 6 months of it due to bureaucracy.

Can anyone tell me:

* Is there an easier way to handle this schengan visa problem - why is it not possible to get a one year visa?
* How long does UK visa processing actually take?

If you have been through this, please post, I want to hear how you got on,

Thanks,

Zen63

Hi zen63,

Out of curiousity, are you sure that your wife needs a transit visa for London Heathrow? Your wife is Russian right? I checked on http://www.delta.com/planning_reservati ... /index.jsp and it says Russians with Irish Residency do not need transit visas. Or do you plan to stop over in the UK?

Where are you honeymooning in Feb? Another EU country? You can submit these details to the Danish embassy and ask them to issue a multiple entry visa for both trips. The German embassy told us that "if had submitted evidence of our 2nd planned trip in Jan, they could have issued a multiple entry". You could try to kill 2 birds with the one stone this way ???

Hi Scrudu,

I have checked what you said - and it seems to be correct. I will not attempt to transit through the UK with my wife and no EEA Permit.

I'll post how it works when we go,

Thanks,

Zen63