Applying for a Schengen Visa whilst on a UK tourist visa

Hi all,

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

My problem is this: my wife who is a Chinese national (I'm a UK national), is currently in the UK with me on a 6 month tourist visa. She came to visit my father before he passed away from cancer. Unfortunately he did pass away whilst she has been here. Sob story over, we're now looking to find settlement into the UK through the Surinder Singh route. I have a job offer waiting in Spain and it's my hope that we could travel from the UK together to Spain next month.

My wife does not have a UK residency permit or anything of that kind. She is only on a tourist visa. I've emailed the Europa 'grow your own europe' advice people about a million times and they have basically said she is legally able to apply for a Schengen visa to travel with me to Spain from the UK.

Here is the problem, Spain's VFS service directly told me that she cannot apply from the UK because she doesn't have a UK residency permit. She needs to fly all the way back to China to submit her visa. In a make believe world where money grows on trees that would be fine, but I don't want to spends hundreds of pounds flying back to China simply to submit a visa when I've had it confirmed by Europe that she is well within her legal rights to ask from here. My question is, is there anything that can be done in this situation? I'm guessing you can't just show up at the Spanish consulate in London and start screaming your demands.

Or should I simply resign myself to the reality that European countries not following rules seem to do whatever they want and we have to take it.

The other thing I should say is, we were married in China. We had the marriage certificate notarised and legalised there in her home city and translated into English and Spanish.

My only other idea was to try another EU country as a first point of entry and then head to Spain from there. Greece's embassy website says you don't need to book an appointment and can just show up to apply for your Schengen visa with proof of marriage and whatnot. Also, the aim once getting the Schengen visa is to apply for a Spanish residency card after 3 months in Spain.

Any help or advice or just a slap in the face for asking questions with impossible answers would be great. Thank you so much.

VFS is a useless and entirely optional external service party. All applicants, especially spouse of an EU/EEA national can apply directly at the Schengen embassies but some are very reluctant.

VFS is very wrong here: as the spouse of an EU national she can apply from any place in the world, including the UK. An appointment must be given ASAP etc.

More info (incase of trouble, contact the EU ombudsman SOLVIT via the contact info at the bottom of this page):
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/tr ... dex_en.htm

And even more on EU Home Affairs (you may wish to sent them a mail aswell with your experience, the EU Commission wouldbe interested):
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/wh ... dex_en.htm
(see the two handbooks there in PDF form, the first has a dedicated chapter on EU/EEA family member applications from around page 83 or so).

Thanks a lot for your reply.

VFS really are useless, though they sadly seem to be taking over the world of visa applications.

The consulate and websites say nothing of being able to apply there or even being able to book an appointment for that purpose. I guess showing up is also likely to get me booted out or refused entry, so I'm not really sure how to proceed really, other than applying at one of the countries that more easily processes Schengen visas and then going from there to Spain to settle.

I did wonder about SOLVIT but I assume they take ages to sort things out and it isn't really a solution to a problem I'd like to deal with my the end of next month.

It staggers me how it's not massively apparent that they make it hugely difficult for non-eu's to apply from anywhere but their home country. It's basically on the front of every VFS website and is in violation of people's rights.

I may as you say mail those people mentioned, just to flag it up for other people also being completely screwed over as well.

Thank you kindly for your response.

You could refer to the visa handbook part III
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/po ... 620_en.pdf
and ask them where is this precondition.

Hi,
I live in the UK with my husband. We both hold British passport. My parents are visiting to UK. They live in India and hold Indian passport. when they arrive to UK, we are planning a family road trip to Europe for about a month. We may not be able to book all the accommodation before hand. in this case, can they get the Schengen visa from India.
Please guide me.
Thanks in advance.
regards,