Travelling around Europe with US citizen spouse

[nmeyrick]

Apologies if this has been asked before but I have read many posts which are along similar lines but none which answer my question.

I am a British citizen, my wife a US citizen and we are both resident in the UK. Next year we intend to take a year or so off as a career break to travel around Europe, the plan would be that she will have a spouse visa (currently she has a work permit). We will retain an address in the UK, will not be spending more than 6 months in any other country and plan to return to the UK after our trip so expect to both remain resident in the UK whilst travelling.

I understand that under Directive 2004/38/EC she will, as the spouse of an EU citizen have the right to movement within the EU and can stay in any country for up to 3 months without needing any formalities other than reporting her presence to the authorities.

We will be visiting a number of Schengen countries, primarily Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece and would like to spend more than 90 days at a time within the Schengen area, although not more than 90 days in any one country.

However reading about travel in Europe for US citizens, I gather that whilst they do not need a Schengen visa they are restricted to 90 days out of 180 in the area.

So my question is, would our journey be seen as a series of trips excercising our Treaty rights, with these overriding the Schengen time requirement for US citizens? Or would she still be subject to the maximum time of 90 days in the Schengen area? I have read some information which suggests the latter, but this seems to fly in the face of EU law as it would effectively separate our family.

Any advice or thoughts much appreciated

Thanks
Neil

[86ti]

Theoretically you can do what you propose but you won't have a guarantee that those member states you plan to visit share that point of view (some immigration officers at least seem to have a hard time thinking outside the Schengen "box"). The least you should is collect evidence for how long you have stayed in each member state.

Actually, there are some older bilateral agreements between the US and some European countries still in force that allow a US citizen to stay for up to 3 months in that country with out the 90 days out of 180 restriction (but no more than 6 months a year as that would indicate actual residence). In theory a day outside of Schengen and back should work but yet again I wouldn't rely on that either.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Your US spouse has pretty much the same right of free movement in Europe that you do. You should carry your marriage certificate to prove the relationship.

If you stay in any one country for more than 90 days, you may be required to work (or otherwise exercise your treaty rights). And your wife may be required to register for a Residence Card.

The free movement Directive 2004/38/EC does not talk about any limit of 90 days in Europe out of each half year. It is unclear if those Schengen rules apply for family members of EEA citizens. I tend to doubt they do, and would personally choose to ignore them.

Note that if you wish to work in Europe and then return in the future to the UK, your US spouse could enter the UK on the basis of the European rules. So no spouse visa, no ILR, no life in the UK test, no fees to UKBA. https://eumovement.wordpress.com/2007/0 ... ional-law/ The down side of this is (at least in the past) a slightly slower path to UK citizenship.