many thanks for this, vinny

alan

I wonder if anyone could point me in the right direction so I can help a friend of mine. They are a married Indian couple, she came over in 2004 on a 5 yr work permit, expiring 2009. He came over in 2006 on dependent visa expiring the same time as her work permit. I assume she will be able to apply ...

I didn't mean a reference to the (proposed) legislation itself, John, just clarification on the 'consultation process' you were referring to in your first post in this thread. Were you referring to the process published last week by the Home Secretary on changing the route to citizenship? I don't ne...

Can you give me a reference for this law, John? My civil partner entered Dec 05, got flr feb 06 and ilr last month jan 08. Under current law, we can appy for nationality in dec 08 but are you saying it may be jan 09 if that law goes through in time? Strangely, we were told we needed to wait 12 month...

I think it is a very hard to classify this as a 'fraud', djb. It is an easy 'mistake' to make when you have been living in your own, paying council tax by direct debit. Only rarely do the council tax people inquire if you are still entitled to the single person discount. Fortunately, I heard about t...

Would it not be better to get on with your life and put this down to experience? Apply next time for a schengen visa - dead easy to do if you choose your embassy and all you have to pay for is the cost of postage. (about £10). There is enough ambiguity in the Directive to mean that the idea of visa...

I would recommend the Dutch embassy for a schengen visa, although you ought to be prepared to go the Holland once during the period of its validity. They have regional offices manned by 'real' people and you can ring up and make an appointment at your convenience (no expensive phone lines). There ar...

Further to my last post, I have just realised that when Oscar went alone (in March this year), he flew on two Air France flights via Paris (ie London - Paris, Paris - Bogota), not via Madrid. We also went together last summer when via Madrid on two Iberia flights (ie London - Madrid, Madrid- Bogota)...

Are you travelling with the same airline throughout? eg Iberia London/Madrid and Madrid/Mexico. If so, I suggest you ring the airline for clarification. My partner, Oscar, had a similar issue a few months ago. He is colombian and I (British) am his civil partner. He went to Colombia via Madrid (trav...

before we all get up in arms over this, it is worth remembering the following: 1. (non-EC) family members who possess a residence card of a Schengen state would have been able to get in to another Schengen state anyway under the Schengen agreement "in their own right", ie without reference to their ...

It seems to me that where a non-EC partner is travelling without visa but with the partner and a marriage/civil partnership certificate, the key issue is whether the worst case scenario is that the immigration personnel on the border must issue a schengen visa AT THE BORDER or whether, eventually, t...

It is interesting that the Belgians say that they have not yet implemented the Directive but are still prepared to issue it 'free' to family members. Does this suggest that the basis for the free visa predates the Directive and was introduced earlier (by the Schengen agreement itself perhaps?) If so...

Flyboy et al, I am puzzled by the website requirements (for a visa national), which are headed ...family reunification for DEPENDANTS of EU Nationals.. and requires the EU national to have maintained the dependant for 1 year or more prior to application. I am not sure why the spouse needs to be a 'd...

thanks, that's very helpful

Directive, thanks for this. As a matter of interest, if Oscar (a visa national) and I were going to relocate to Spain, would he be able to just get a schengen visit visa (from Spanish or indeed any consulate) to get into Spain or would it be better to go to the spanish embassy and apply for the a vi...

Sorry for this further postscript but I couldn't resist looking at the Spanish implementation law on this and (in Article 8 of that law) they DO have an "EEA family permit" but it only needs to be applied for if the family member wishes to reside there for more than 3 months (ie applied for in Spain...

Thanks again for these posts. Docterror, yes sorry, you are correct about Reg 12. I had thought it strange that if you hopover to Frances for a weekend you would be treated as a French 'resident' (you would, of course, not be so for tax purposes) but there can be no other interpretation. I also look...

Thanks to both Docterror and Directive for taking the trouble to read and respond to my posts! I don't want to make too much of this, but will respond to one of your points, Docterror, (point (a) re Reg 12(1).) I think we need to focus on the EEA national rather than the family member to see what th...

Further to my most recent post, for yet another inconsistent implementation (tho I don't read Dutch and it may be that the website doesn't reflect the law) see the Dutch position at http://www.netherlands-embassy.org.uk/visas_mvvs/visa_fees Note that an "EEA family permit for the UK" is required to ...

Docterror, I am also worried by this, especially as I have looked into this a bit more now as a result of your post. I think the 'national law' referred to in Article 5.2 is the law governing visa nationals for non-Schengen countries such as the UK. Regulation 539/2001 prescribes the list of countri...

Further to my last post, I should just say that Oscar's visa does not mention "EU family member" at all and there is nothing to suggest Oscar did not apply as an ordinary individual 'in his own right'. I have also had a quick look at the Directive and although Article 3 seems to prescribe that the r...

Oscar had a multi-entry schengen visa from the spanish consulate in December - it says nothing about me travelling with him (tho in fact we did travel together). We presented our civil partnership certificate and had the application accepted without charge. It had not occurred to me that he might ha...

Well done, we are delighted for you.

alan and oscar

In relation to the discussion between Docterror and Dawie, I would like to ask one question. My non-EC partner has a UK 2 year residence permit (as my civil partner) but not an EC family permit. Can we apply for one as well in the UK and if so, does than mean we could travel to other schengen states...

In my view you ought to go to the issuing country at least once as otherwise you might be accused of manipulating the system. I could see that causing you problems if you applied at the Dutch embassy in the future (ie if you obviously hadn't used the visa to go to Holland). However, whether that wou...