Travel to Schengen, without visa, for EEA-family members

[uk21411]

URGENT advice needed - Hi everyone, I need to travel to Netherlands on 7 July 2016. My wife is a British citizen and I have a spouse visa (FLRM) with a BRP card. Do I need the visa to travel to Netherlands along with her ? Thanks in advance for your reply.

[noajthan]

Note to all on UK migration route and holding BRP for ILR.

If married to a British citizen you are not (in this context) the family member of an EEA/EU citizen; you do not have an EU 'Residence Card' you have a UK BRP card.

You will not get far with your UK-issued BRP (ILR) card.

To visit a country in Schengen zone apply for a Schengen visa

[Mercyknight]

So I was interested to see if we'd have been able to travel without a Schengen visa (my wife is South African and has ILR in the UK) and she's married to me (UK Citizen) - in the end we got a Schengen visa for peace of mind.

However, Ryanair never checked her Schengen and just asked if she was married to me and asked to see her Biometric Residence card and put their stamp on the ticket. No Schengen check this far.

We had no problems getting on the plane and had we travelled without one we'd have crossed this hurdle.

When we got to Lisbon. I took our British passports and my wife's South African passport to Non-EEA line (we were the only ones in it) and the boarder office flicked through her passport and found the Schengen visa and scanned it. At this point I reckon we'd have been allowed to apply for a Schengen visa at the border under EU law?

What do you guys think?

[noajthan]

So I was interested to see if we'd have been able to travel without a Schengen visa (my wife is South African and has ILR in the UK) and she's married to me (UK Citizen) - in the end we got a Schengen visa for peace of mind.

However, Ryanair never checked her Schengen and just asked if she was married to me and asked to see her Biometric Residence card and put their stamp on the ticket. No Schengen check this far.

We had no problems getting on the plane and had we travelled without one we'd have crossed this hurdle.

When we got to Lisbon. I took our British passports and my wife's South African passport to Non-EEA line (we were the only ones in it) and the boarder office flicked through her passport and found the Schengen visa and scanned it. At this point I reckon we'd have been allowed to apply for a Schengen visa at the border under EU law?

What do you guys think?

Best thing you did was get the Schengen.

I've even had budget carrier staff delay a whole plane whilst hunting for my wife's visa when she was travelling to a country for which she was visafree.

[janmah]

Hello there

We (Myself, wife and son) are British citizens and my parents Indian passport holder having ILR since 2006.
We would like to travel together to Spain for holiday (for a week) in coming weeks. Wondering if my parents need visa before we travel.
Looking into Spain's visa eligibility they are looking for following specific word in the residence permit, "Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA/EU National". Looking into French website, they mention visa exemption for "their UK residency states “Family Member of an EEA national” or “permanent residence card”

My parents have ILR stamp on their passport and don't have a residency card.

Can my parents travel with me without Visa to Spain?

Many thanks
JM

[Casa]

Hello there

We (Myself, wife and son) are British citizens and my parents Indian passport holder having ILR since 2006.
We would like to travel together to Spain for holiday (for a week) in coming weeks. Wondering if my parents need visa before we travel.
Looking into Spain's visa eligibility they are looking for following specific word in the residence permit, "Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA/EU National". Looking into French website, they mention visa exemption for "their UK residency states “Family Member of an EEA national” or “permanent residence card”

My parents have ILR stamp on their passport and don't have a residency card.

Can my parents travel with me without Visa to Spain? NO They will need a Schengen visa. Without one the airline will refuse them boarding as they will not be permitted entry by Spanish border control.

Many thanks
JM

[janmah]

Many thanks Casa.

[alang]

Hi there,
I am sure my question has been covered in this forum but after spending several hours reading, I don't see anything absolutely clear (sorry if I have missed something obvious).

I have Irish/NZ dual citizenship
My wife has NZ citizenship (visa free country)
We currently live in Australia
We are planning to travel to Europe in June, entering via Italy, then travel Europe for about two years. We don't need to work as we can support ourselves.

If my wife gets a Schengen short stay visa on arrival in Italy and we are bound by the conditions, we are very limited in our itinerary due to the 90 day/180 day limits, so we want to exercise our rights to move and reside in Europe without this restriction.

The system seems to be set up so that if you stay more than 3 months in a specific country then you are supposed to apply for a resident's permit however, we would not expect to be in a country for this length of time (not in one stay anyway).

The right to "move and reside" for Union citizens and family doesn't seem to be defined clearly anywhere that I can find and for family members have their movement restricted by the Schengen visa seems to be in contradiction to this principle. Does 'move and reside' include moving freely between the member state countries for the purposes of tourism or does it only relate to actually moving to live?

Is there any treaty right or mechanism for an EU citizen with a non EU spouse (and no residence cards), to move around and in and out of Schengen for an extended period (provided the 3 month limit is respected)?

One concern that I have is that if my wife is granted entry in Italy (by default this would be the short stay Schengen), then later we exercise our right to freely cross borders, at some stage we will have overstayed the Schengen visa and may have trouble re-entering the common border.

Thanks for your assistance and guidance on this.

Alan

[mgb]

You wife cannot get a schengen visa. A NZ passport entitle to a visafree entry and she will get a entry stamp in her passport. Her stay is allowed for 90 days in a 180 days period under schengen rules.
A family member of a eu citizen is only partially subject to the schengen rules if accompanied by the eu citizen. Due to article 5 of the eu directive the family member need only a visa for crossing the border. This means for the schengen area crossing the schengen external border. The right for a visafree entry overrule this precondition.
The stay itself is covered directly by the eu directive 2004/38. Article 6 of the directive give a unconditional right of stay for 3 month for eu citizen and family member in every eu country except in the home country of the eu citizen.
Article 4 give a right of exit without visa.
The problem is to find a border officer who know enough about eu law if you both leave the schengen area after a longer stay.
Minimum requirement would the marriage certivicate preferable with a apostille certificate and your irish passport beside the passport of your wife.

[alang]

Thanks mgb,
There seems to be an implicit right of residence of up to 3 months in any country but the right to exceed the 3 month Schengen limit for the non EU spouse of an EU citizen (who are not EU residents) whilst exercising this right and travelling from country to country is not written anywhere that I can find. It seems to be a major gap in the guidance information and regulations as I have come across many others who have an identical situation. Surely this has been clarified somewhere official.

My concern is when re-entering Schengen and convincing airline officials to let us on the plane, then convincing the border guards who speak another language, that we are legal.

The Italian consular official I spoke to in Melbourne was adamant that my wife could only stay for 3 months out of 6 months unless we apply for Italian (or other EU country) residents permit so he was obviously not aware of our EU rights.

Thanks for directing me to the appropriate articles and if you have any other resources which we can use to help us it would be great.

The other avenue we can use is to fall back on the various bilateral agreements that NZ has with most of the Schengen countries allowing NZ citizens to stay visa free for up to 3 months and this does not count towards the Schengen 3 months. These rights certainly seem to be there but again the challenge will be finding officials who know them and explaining that we have not overstayed the Schengen limit because we were under an alternative visa waiver system.

[alang]

Hi, would another option (to avoid having to deal with ignorant border guards) be to travel back over to England early in the trip and apply for a "EEA Family Member Residence Card' for my wife. We have an address there we can use and can stay in England for a few months and do whatever is necessary to obtain this.

I understand that if she has this then the border officials do not stamp her passport going into and out of Schengen. I presume that if they are not stamping her passport in and out then they would not be concerned about the 90/180 day restrictions?

[kthomsen]

Hi,

I have heard a bit about the German border control being a bit strange and kinda follow their own rules.
Anyone having experience doing this in Germany?

And.. Can anyone tell if my situation would work with the 2. solution?

Me: Danish citizen
Wife: Algerian citizen, NO visa to Germany

Would it be possible to show up in the airport and go to the border control with our passports, marriage certificate in English and German (and original + German translation is legalized in Denmark), and ask for her to accompany me while I exercise my right of free movement to seek a job in Germany? And without having a residence in Germany already? So, only with a hotel/Airbnb booking?

Hopefully someone can tell me if this should be fine or not? And yes, I know that the hard part is to get her to the german border, but.. that's another thing I'll deal with

Thanks!

[mclook23]

Require clarification:

Non EEA of EEA citizens are issued biometric Permanent Residence card. The biometric Permanent Residence card states on the bottom of the card: 'Residence Card of family member of Union Citizen'

This statement was not the case in the past for Permanent Residence card endorsed in passport.

Questions: with BPR with Type Permanent Residence is Schengen Visa required when traveling for a week with EEA national to Spain?

I questioned the Spain consulate who stated: It would seem in this instance that the person does not require a visa to visit Spain, so long as they Travel with their EU spouse.

Why does the consulate use the word 'would seem'?

[theunforgiven]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to let you know about my experience with shengen visa for a non eu spouse.

Applied for a visa as travelling to switzerland. Just had to get the eu spouse paperwork together and fill out the application form. Switzerland embassy do a walk in appointment for eu spouse visa from 10am to 11.30am. Wife went with a copy of all the paperwork on monday at 10.30am. spent 5 mins submitting it and was asked to come back on wednesday the same week to collect passport. She went wednesday afternoon and was issued a 3 month multi visa. All good and free of charge. Easy peasy. All the best ya'll!

[Sincejan]

Hello Guys need help

I'm a Pakistani national and my wife is Spanish national.
We got married on last year November in Pakistan. We planned to meet and spend sometime together in France.
I applied to French embassy clearly staying on cover letter that I will be Joining my wife in France under the free movement law.
I was asked to provide the tickets and hotel booking which I did along with marriage registration certificate arrested by foreign ministry. On interview day I was asked to get my marriage certificate legalised by Spanish embassy. My application was taken and after few days I got a refusal saying my marriage doesn't constitute to be valid. I sent my marriage certificate to Spanish embassy and got the registration certificate legalised.
I again applied in French embassy. On interview day I was treates really badly by the frencFrench embassy now asking me if I had REGISTERED my marriage with Spanish embassy. I told them I was asked to get it legalised only. They took my application and again same refusal.

I have checked with Spanish embassy and registro civil takes more than a year. Please help what should i do.
There's nowhere in EU law which say register the marriage with embassy. Can anybody guide me any other ways. Please help

[CR001]

Hello Guys need help

I'm a Pakistani national and my wife is Spanish national.
We got married on last year November in Pakistan. We planned to meet and spend sometime together in France.
I applied to French embassy clearly staying on cover letter that I will be Joining my wife in France under the free movement law.
I was asked to provide the tickets and hotel booking which I did along with marriage registration certificate arrested by foreign ministry. On interview day I was asked to get my marriage certificate legalised by Spanish embassy. My application was taken and after few days I got a refusal saying my marriage doesn't constitute to be valid. I sent my marriage certificate to Spanish embassy and got the registration certificate legalised.
I again applied in French embassy. On interview day I was treates really badly by the frencFrench embassy now asking me if I had REGISTERED my marriage with Spanish embassy. I told them I was asked to get it legalised only. They took my application and again same refusal.

I have checked with Spanish embassy and registro civil takes more than a year. Please help what should i do.
There's nowhere in EU law which say register the marriage with embassy. Can anybody guide me any other ways. Please help

Can you please refrain from posting your exact same query in various topics. Continue in your existing topic you already have!!

europe-immigration-forum/eu-spouse-visa ... l#p1477145

[Sincejan]

Not all people check all the topics plus my question also comes under the directive 2004/38/EC.
I was urgently looking for some advice. Delete it if you have such big issue with my question.

[e2saleh]

Hi,

Apologies if this is a repeated question. I actually went through many other posts but could not find an exact case like mine. My scenario is:
- Myself and two kids are all British nationals
- My wife has a resident permit (spouse of a UK settled person - obtained as FLR-M).

We would like to go to Italy for a week visit, does my wife need a Schengen visa?

Thanks,

[CR001]

Hi,

Apologies if this is a repeated question. I actually went through many other posts but could not find an exact case like mine. My scenario is:
- Myself and two kids are all British nationals
- My wife has a resident permit (spouse of a UK settled person - obtained as FLR-M).

We would like to go to Italy for a week visit, does my wife need a Schengen visa?

Thanks,

Yes, your spouse needs a Schengen visa.

[truffelmayo]

I will enter the NL from the US with my French citizen husband who is currently working in the NL. What do I need to enter besides the MVV (authorisation for temporary stay from the Dutch consulate)? Will not having a job negatively impact my application?

[Neelam81]

Hi i am a uk citizen and my huband has a indian passport but he has settlement in the UK and thats what his residence permit say's i am very confused on what type of visa to apply for as the spanish website states the following
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Under Directive 2004/38/EC and according to Real Decreto 240/2007, 16 February, Family members of an EU/EEA National in possession of a valid 1*UK Residence Permit / 2* British Residence Permit card are not required of a visa to enter Spain if traveling with or intending to join the EEA family member. If the person travels without the family member, they would be required to apply under the Tourist visa category and provide all of the required documentation for the same, and would be required to pay the visa fee in addition to the service charge. Please note that the UK Residence Permit/BRP card must state the exact following wording
1* “Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA/EU National”2 * “Residence Card of a Family Member of a Union Citizen”
as he's a spouse of a eu national should i apply for eu spouse visa or tourist?

please help i'm very confused

Thanks in advance x

[Lymesix]

I have just received my Schengen visa from France and it states under remarks as "family member EU/EEA. Does this mean I can travel alone without my husband in the future?

Appreciate your any response. Thanks

[Kulsumahmedmia]

Hi, I hold portuguese passport (EEA National) Living in UK.

I m planning to travel to Portugal for official reason for couple of days with my husband who is indian National, he has got 5 years UK residence visa which says to join EEA family member.

People says that he can only travel with me without portugal visa if i have my marriage registered in portugal. My marriage is registered in India, not in portugal.
can he still travel with me without visa or do i have to get his visa to travel portugal?

Please help!!

[Kulsumahmedmia]

Hi, I hold portuguese passport (EEA National) Living in UK.

I m planning to travel to Portugal for official reason for couple of days with my husband who is indian National, he has got 5 years UK residence visa which says to join EEA family member.

People says that he can only travel with me without portugal visa if i have my marriage registered in portugal. My marriage is registered in India, not in portugal.
can he still travel with me without visa or do i have to get his visa to travel portugal?

Please help!!

[Scampaboy]

Hi,

I’m looking for some advice.

I have previously used this route when travelling with my son (dual British and Russian but no British passport)

Now I made a mistake and booked a flight for my wife to return to Russia with a 16 hour stopover in Germany. She would be travelling with my daughter who is dual national ( British and Russian without a uk passport. Inside her Russian passport she has a “certificate of right to abode uk)
My daughter is the eu national and my wife is the non eu family member.
I have copies of birth certificates, wedding certificates. I can send wth my wife a copy of my passport.

Is this route possible in this situation?
Wife non eu - no visa
Daughter dual Russian and British - certificate of right to abode.