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Hi,

I am a non EEA family member of an EEA/ EU citizen ( Lithuanian), I currently hold an EEA 2 residency card issued in the UK and valid for 5 years,

My wife and I wanted to visit family in Lithuania, we did not have any problems in the UK we passed through check in , they only had a look at our marriage certificate.

But arriving to Lithuania we were immediately asked to provide marriage certificate and to provide them with the address where we are going to stay and for how long , and they stamped my passport claiming that I m a third country national and I wont be treated as an EU national whatsoever.

The border officer referred us to his manager to clarify the things , but he insisted that the passport has to be stamped and the document I have is not a residency card of a family member of an EU national.

we only want to know if what the border officers have done is correct , if not is there any legal text to prove they are wrong?

many thanks

Which Lithuanian airport did you travel Vilnius, kaunas, palanga? At Vilnius airport the immigration staff is fully trained and educated with EU directive and donot insists any document except EEA2 RC. If the holder is third country citizen then they always check EEA2 RC with red laser machine and scanned too. Legally they do not stamp but if they stamp on entry then donot forget to ask them to stamp again on exit.

Point them to Article 5 of Directive 2004/38 which says Residence Cards allow visa-free travel throughout the EU. They're not supposed to be stamping the passports of family members with RCs, but never mind. Each Member State has to transpose the Directive into their national legislation, so no doubt it will say the same thing about RCs in Lithuanian law.

Problem is that they said they Do not recognize UK EEA2 as a document for family member of EU citizen , they insisted it should have been a sperate card not a visa sticker on passport.

we traveled to Kaunas airport

we did travel to spain before , only thing spanish officer did it look at my EEA 2 and let me in with a smile , But lithuanian officer turned it into investigation and took him few minutes to decide, he even asked where we are going to stay and that we wont be allowed in without a Valid adress in Lithuania.

A badly-trained Lithuanian immigation officer I'm afraid. I don't know if you can be bothered but you could complain to the Lithuanian government immigration authorities and also to the European Commission. An Article 10 Residence Card issued by whichever EU country is most certainly valid for travel throughout the EU. Plus it is left up to individual Member States to decide what format the RC should take - there is no Directive rule that they should be uniform in look throughout the EU. That said, I think it looks so much more professional if the RC is in the form of a separate card than simply a sticker in the passport, but blame the UK.

which airways u fly?

So strange that you faced all this at Kaunas airport but at Vilnius airport the staff from gatekeeper, security, immigration all familiar with EEA2 RC. But as your passport stamped but donot forget to ask for exit stamp and do not close passport so quickly but let the stamp dry because they use ink from the time when it first discover

we used Ryanair, we did not have any problems before ,

We told the lithuanian officers that we have been in spain and they did not stamp my passport , their answer was "Spain did not do its job properly." they should give me a stamp.

they said i am a thrid country national and i will be treated so , even if married to EU citizen, because according to them i do not hold EU residency card for family member, i only hold some kind of visa they said.

Maybe they are little correct because EU directive does not cover EU national and its family member in EU national's own country of origin unless use the surinder Singh route.

i think so, as my wife was living and working( exercing treaty rights ) in uk for 3 years now ,

amazighman wrote:Hi,

I am a non EEA family member of an EEA/ EU citizen ( Lithuanian), I currently hold an EEA 2 residency card issued in the UK and valid for 5 years,

My wife and I wanted to visit family in Lithuania, we did not have any problems in the UK we passed through check in , they only had a look at our marriage certificate.

But arriving to Lithuania we were immediately asked to provide marriage certificate and to provide them with the address where we are going to stay and for how long , and they stamped my passport claiming that I m a third country national and I wont be treated as an EU national whatsoever.

The border officer referred us to his manager to clarify the things , but he insisted that the passport has to be stamped and the document I have is not a residency card of a family member of an EU national.

we only want to know if what the border officers have done is correct , if not is there any legal text to prove they are wrong?

many thanks

This might sound stupid but just out of interest, is the stamping of passport a negative thing? If I can remember, I think the lady on the desk at Vilnius airport stamped my passport last time I was there. I was not really in the mood to ask why she was checking my passport and my EEA 2 as there was no way she will deny me entry because, all I needed at that moment was a wee and to get home from the bloody cold weather. However, I'ld expect immigration officers especially at Vilnius airport to know better, but eh! its Lithuania I am not surprised.