90 days tourist visa for US citizens in SCHENGEN

bunny80 · Post by **bunny80** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:06 am

if a US citizen leaves the SCHENGEN area after 85 days can they return after several weeks to stay for 5 more days or are the 90 days up ?

i am romanian and my fiancee is american, we are in romania right now but we want to use the 5 days she presumably has left to get married in Denmark. if we could do that, would her status change once we have the marriage certificate or would she need to leave the SCHENGEN area anyway?

cheers!

EDIT: this is a visa she got on arrival, nothing special, just stamped in when she landed in Vienna.

Richard66 · Post by **Richard66** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:46 pm

That is correct: you have 5 vdays left. When you marry, of course, all changes and there is no need to leave, but a residence card must be requested.

bunny80 · Post by **bunny80** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:38 pm

Richard66 wrote:That is correct: you have 5 vdays left. When you marry, of course, all changes and there is no need to leave, but a residence card must be requested.

thanks, Richard! do you know how long that would take and what would they want to see from us? do we just get it, is it a right or do we need to fulfill any conditions? does it matter what SCHENGEN country we get it from? does she get the 90 days in any SCHENGEN country as any EU citizen once we have the marriage certificate and the residence card is proof of that and just a formality?

the marriage would be arranged online and it would only take us 1-2 days for the ceremony and the rest once we arrive in Denmark. so she'd only have 1-2 extra days left out of the 90.

by the way, do you know if a layover in a SCHENGEN country on her way to the US would eat up one of her 90 days?

Richard66 · Post by **Richard66** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:48 am

You need to get if from the country where you decide to live. Once you decide that you apply.

You can stay up to 3 months in any EEA country, no strings attached. After that you must be a worker, self-employed, self-sufficient or a student.

You marriage will need to be legitimate, of course: that is a condition.

bunny80 · Post by **bunny80** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:35 pm

what if we don't know where we want to live yet? we are self-sufficient and we aren't sure yet where we want to live because of several reasons. we called the danish immigration office but they didn't seem to know what to say and the embassy gave us a horribly wrong answer( that basically she would get 3 months in each EU country , to them it seems it's still the 80's).

can we live in a Schengen state(for less than 3 months/state) without her having a residence card until we decide what country would be best for us and apply for it there and then?

the danish immigration office said that right after the marriage we would have to apply for a residence card (before her tourist visa expires) and that once we do that we could wait in denmark but it would take 6 months. where can i find out about all these things, it's very confusing? i tried finding EU family law lawyers here in romania and denmark but couldn't find anything, i'm not even sure who i'm supposed to ask about this to get proper legal advice.

cheers!

jenangeles · Post by **jenangeles** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:04 am

are you intending to settle in Denmark? if not, I would find somewhere else to get married.. I would not want to deal with the Danish Immigration Service if I didn't have to. they have yet to give me a straight answer in the 3 months I've been dealing with him and I don't think they are any easier to deal with if you're the spouse of an EU citizen from what I've heard from friends.

I was looking into what would happen if I were to marry my Scottish boyfriend here (I'm American as well and we're living in Copenhagen at the moment) and it just seemed like it would be more of a headache for me than if I were to get a work visa on my own merit. of course, saying that its taken them 3 months so far to process my work visa and it hasn't even been approved yet. one other thing, if you're going to get married and apply for residence permits in Denmark you're going to need to have a LOT of money saved up bc you're going to have to be able to show that you can support the both of you while you're waiting for residence permits.

someone might be able to help you out a bit more if you post on http://www.foreignersindenmark.dk though

bunny80 · Post by **bunny80** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:15 am

jenangeles wrote:are you intending to settle in Denmark? if not, I would find somewhere else to get married.. I would not want to deal with the Danish Immigration Service if I didn't have to. they have yet to give me a straight answer in the 3 months I've been dealing with him and I don't think they are any easier to deal with if you're the spouse of an EU citizen from what I've heard from friends.

I was looking into what would happen if I were to marry my Scottish boyfriend here (I'm American as well and we're living in Copenhagen at the moment) and it just seemed like it would be more of a headache for me than if I were to get a work visa on my own merit. of course, saying that its taken them 3 months so far to process my work visa and it hasn't even been approved yet. one other thing, if you're going to get married and apply for residence permits in Denmark you're going to need to have a LOT of money saved up bc you're going to have to be able to show that you can support the both of you while you're waiting for residence permits.

someone might be able to help you out a bit more if you post on http://www.foreignersindenmark.dk though

thanks, jena!

we don't want to live in Denmark but it seems like the easiest place in Europe where you can marry a non-EEA citizen. we were planning on getting married on the island of Bornholm but they have new rules and require new documents for which she would have to go back to the US so right now we're still considering other options.

what about if we get married in Romania? would she have the right to travel with me if we don't plan on living in Romania ? is she allowed to travel in most EU countries with our marriage certificate as proof (since the residence card would take ages)?

charles4u · Post by **charles4u** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:38 pm

Bunny80 whats the problem getting a residence here in Romania ?

I stay in Timisoara Romania and got my residence after I got married to my Romanian partner.

So why all the stress going to Denmark just for EU residence when she can have it here.

Yes she can travel with you without visa within EU countries except UK and Ireland

bunny80 · Post by **bunny80** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:49 pm

charles4u wrote:Bunny80 whats the problem getting a residence here in Romania ?

I stay in Timisoara Romania and got my residence after I got married to my Romanian partner.

So why all the stress going to Denmark just for EU residence when she can have it here.

Yes she can travel with you without visa within EU countries except UK and Ireland

Hi Charles,

she doesn't like it here and neither do I (for many different reasons) and we thought we would have to live here for months while we wait for her residence card. sorry but i am not sure I understand: can she travel with me in the EU after she gets a romanian resident card(for which from what i know we would have to wait several months) or right after we get married?

cheers!

charles4u · Post by **charles4u** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 2:03 pm

bunny80 wrote:Hi Charles,

she doesn't like it here and neither do I (for many different reasons) and we thought we would have to live here for months while we wait for her residence card. sorry but i am not sure I understand: can she travel with me in the EU after she gets a romanian resident card(for which from what i know we would have to wait several months) or right after we get married?

cheers!

The residence she will get be as a family member for 5 years and it takes just maximum of 2 months to get it, Yes she can travel with it within the EU except UK and Ireland.

All EU takes months and so far I see Romania to be the fastest cus of the less applicants, To get this type of card...you have to present a marriage certificate with some of her other documents but marriage cert is a MUST. So when you apply with all this document....it will take maximum 2 months if not less to get the card.

Richard66 · Post by **Richard66** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:25 pm

It seems to me first you need to decide where you are going to live. Consider the language barrier. If you go somewhere like Hungary or Lithuania you probably will not even manage to leave the station (it was our case in Hungary) unless you walk and have a map!

Also consider that your marriage certificate will most probably need to be translated and certified, unless you marry in a country that issues multilingual certificates (Vienna and Paris conventions).

charles4u · Post by **charles4u** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:26 pm

Richard66 wrote:It seems to me first you need to decide where you are going to live. Consider the language barrier. If you go somewhere like Hungary or Lithuania you probably will not even manage to leave the station (it was our case in Hungary) unless you walk and have a map!

Also consider that your marriage certificate will most probably need to be translated and certified, unless you marry in a country that issues multilingual certificates (Vienna and Paris conventions).

Well for Romania...its a multilingual certificate, about 3 languages.

bunny80 · Post by **bunny80** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:56 pm

really sorry but i still don't understand the resident card concept

can we leave romania right after the wedding without her having any type of resident card and just the marriage certificate with us? can we live around europe for 3 months or less in each Schengen country untill we decide what place we like most and apply for the resident card there?

Richard, i know exactly what you mean, we would look for a country where english is spoken by most... plus my french , even though rusty, isn't too bad.

charles4u · Post by **charles4u** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:27 am

bunny80 wrote:really sorry but i still don't understand the resident card concept

can we leave romania right after the wedding without her having any type of resident card and just the marriage certificate with us? can we live around europe for 3 months or less in each Schengen country untill we decide what place we like most and apply for the resident card there?
.

She cant live in Romania if he or she is not having a valid visa or residence, after the marriage ...I suggest you apply for a residence cus if not they will stamp her passport not to return for some years and send the record to EU.

You need to have a marriage certificate plus residence card as a family member of an EU citizen, without this 2..I dont think you will even be allowed to board the plane or cross the boarder from Arad. but if lucky you pass through ..I dont think she will be allowed entry at the airport immigration control (But I cant be sure cus you said she is an American citizen passport holder).

bunny80 · Post by **bunny80** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:53 am

we called the czech and french embassies in Bucharest and both said she would need a visa or a romanian resident card... but after that we looked at Ireland because we could go there soon since it's not Schengen and found this:

In order to benefit from the Regulations it was a requirement that the family member must be arriving from another EU state where he or she was legally resident. However, on 25 July 2008 the European Court of Justice ruled that EU Directive 2004/38/EC prevents legislation by an EU state which requires non-EU spouses of an EU national to have been resident in another EU state. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform have, therefore, removed this requirement and are reviewing all applications made for an EU family residence card since 28 April 2006, which were refused.

so doesn't this mean EU states must consider resident card applications even if she wasn't a resident of Romania (or have a romanian resident card)?

btw charles, do you know any romanian lawyers that deal with immigration to RO or at least the right authories i could ask about residency etc.? cheers.

ciaramc · Post by **ciaramc** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:54 am

Bunny....when you decide where you want to live with your future wife.....go to that country with her .....and apply for a residence card! It varies from country to country so look into the places that issue it the quickest!

If you get married in Romania apply for the residence card there! Then you can travel for a couple of months! as your wife is not visa required!!!

But if she has already used up her 90 days either she applies for her resident card as soon as you two get married or she leaves and goes back to the states and starts from there! She is supposed to be able to travel with you as a spouse of an EU citizen according to the directive but it will be better for you two if you apply for the residence card! As Charles said it is quite easy to get it in Romania...word of advise don't come to Italy to try get it!!! You could be very unlucky like me!!!

charles4u · Post by **charles4u** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:22 pm

I must say I dont understand Bunny80's problems.

Is he just looking for the easiest place to get a residence or they want to settle down somewhere or what exactly ?

All EU countries require the family member or spouse to have EU residence card as a family member of an EU citizen before being able to benefit from the free-movement (NO VISA).

So as have said, things are much complicated than the other in most of this EU countries and I find Romania to be less stressful once you fulfill the requirements. You said your partner is an American so I dont know how things will be for the movement thing cus already he doesnt need visa for EU countries. Go to you city's police station...they have immigration center there or they will direct you to where its at and then ask for the details of getting the resident (its not as hard as you think to get this residence in Romania most expecially if you married).

bunny80 · Post by **bunny80** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:47 pm

charles4u wrote:I must say I dont understand Bunny80's problems.

Is he just looking for the easiest place to get a residence or they want to settle down somewhere or what exactly ?

All EU countries require the family member or spouse to have EU residence card as a family member of an EU citizen before being able to benefit from the free-movement (NO VISA).

So as have said, things are much complicated than the other in most of this EU countries and I find Romania to be less stressful once you fulfill the requirements. You said your partner is an American so I dont know how things will be for the movement thing cus already he doesnt need visa for EU countries. Go to you city's police station...they have immigration center there or they will direct you to where its at and then ask for the details of getting the resident (its not as hard as you think to get this residence in Romania most expecially if you married).

we would both like to leave Romania as soon as possible for different reasons, especially her. she called the US embassy today and they said the resident card would take about a month to get.

did they ask you to prove your partner owns a home in Romania? i was reading a list on the immigration police site and i saw that. i live in rented apartments so i am not sure how that would work (but my mom owns her house so maybe she could vouch for us).

also do they want me to have a job? i play online poker for a living and have very healthy savings plus bank statements. cheers.

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90 days tourist visa for US citizens in SCHENGEN

90 days tourist visa for US citizens in SCHENGEN