Refused to process Schengen visa for spouse of EU national

[alienated]

I am a British citizen, my wife is Moroccan, we live in Morocco where we were also legally married. We sought a Schengen Visa for her as the spouse of an EU national to visit France and maybe beyond. We reserved and attended an appointment at the French Consulate in Agadir.

I had compiled a complete and thorough dossier with application form (for 90 days, multiple entry), photos, passports (inc mine - British), ID card, Marriage Act (Moroccan and certified French translation), and an annual Schengen medical insurance/repatriation policy (the latter is required here). All originals and photocopies of everything, as requested.

Alarmingly to me, they would not accept the original Marriage Act as proof of being my wife. Our marriage in Morocco is legal and has already been recognised by the British Embassy in Rabat (insofar as acceptance for a UK Family Visitor Visa). The French woman in charge, who was far from calm or polite, said that we needed something from the British to qualify the spouse relationship. What exactly can the British provide that differs from the legal marriage in Morocco, and that very clearly references us by our names, dates/places of birth, passport number/ID card etc., with the corresponding passports, ID cards provided (and both of us present).

A general warning to anyone else applying for visas for France in Morocco:
Upon arrival they told us that because our town of marriage fell under the jurisdiction of Marrakech, that is where we would have to apply. The two towns are equidistant from our town. They both have French Consulates which, like the others in Morocco, require appointments. There was no prior warning as to the distinction in jurisdictions when booking the appointment, or printing the application form, or the list of documents to produce. Despite my polite protest to this effect, they said that is the case and it stands, and we need to apply in Marrakech.

The consular official concluded by stating that we could instead apply for a standard Schengen visitor visa. Apart from being an obvious fact, it should have also been very clear that we would not have had the necessary extra paperwork required to so. On principal I wish to pursue this route. The woman was clearly extremely stressed, even before our arrival, however I saw no reason for her to screech at me in the way that she did.

I have already made another appointment, this time in Marrakech, although that is six weeks away - I will monitor for a cancellation. Tomorrow I will attempt to make sense of what they require in terms of proof of our marriage. In the meantime, and/or above and beyond that:

Any suggestions regarding:
- the requested paperwork?
- whether this request is justified?
- whether the treatment falls within or beyond the boundaries of reasonable behaviour? If beyond, where do I/should I report it?
- anything else?

[alienated]

A kind gentleman from the British Consulate promptly confirmed that they can provide an attestation to recognise the marriage, for 530dh (about 40 GBP). It is not a validation of the marriage however he says that it is normally accepted by the French Consulate for these purposes.

What is required?
- Act of Marriage with French translation (yes, French is okay for the British)
- A photocopy of my wife's ID card.

These papers were in front of the French consular official. Pointless bureaucracy and, notwithstanding chancing upon a cancellation, 7-8 WEEKS before appointments are available.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

I would suggest you immediately contact Solvit for their assistance. http://eumovement.wordpress.com/help-eu-solvit/

I would also strongly urge you to write to the European Comission and send a copy of the letter to the French Embassy.

Did the French want money for the visa application?

Only if you kick up a fuss will they get their act together.

[alienated]

I will report this and I will at the same time also continue my own efforts to obtain the visa for my wife. From what I have learned, I don't think I should have to pay £40 for this attestation, nor should I have to turn to another consulate visa section to get where I want to be, however a cancellation has come up in Marrakech, and with the courteous and expeditious efforts of the British Consular Staff, I may be able to obtain the attestation and so theoretically the visa by the week-end. That may be optimistic, naive or both - it shouldn't be but I'm going to give it a go. That doesn't mean I'm leaving alone the treatment from sunny Agadir, no sir-ee.

They did not ask for money, and I have the feeling they would not have because the "form checker" had scribbled on the application something to the effect that it was recognised to be for a family member of EU national. As I said, they didn't really process the application, they refused to process it for the reasons first mentioned above, but I suppose they would have asked for money had I pursued their "offered alternative" of a standard visa!!

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Please at least complain to Solvit. It gets recorded and comes up in the management statistics.

[alienated]

Well I'm happy to say we were today issued with a six month 90 day multiple entry visa.

I found the set up at Marrakech to be efficient, and the consular official who dealt with us had very good spirits, which in my experience is rare, and in stark contrast to the person who screeched at me in Agadir.

They looked immediately for the British Attestation to our marriage, not interested in anything else so, right or wrong, I reckon you're not going to get far without that or a fight in French Consulates in Morocco. If I followed the EU directive on this to a T, then they overstepped it in terms of questions but no more than I was comfortable answering. They asked for our first address in France, and pressed for it when I spoke about it not being a requirement under the Directive, even on the Schengen form it is marked as not necessary. I provided it nonetheless. They also wanted to ask me about my status in Morocco which seemed above and beyond the necessary however everyone was in good spirit and I'm prepared to give a little. There was never any question of asking for a fee.

Overall the experience of obtaining a family short-stay schengen visa in Marrakech was relatively pain-free and far less hassle and intrusive than the first time we went for a visitor visa to my own country (UK).

Over the next couple of days I will report the Agadir experience along with a note of everything out of the ordinary in both places.

[archigabe]

Try these information sources if you have more problems...
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/f ... ily_en.htm
http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l33152.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/general_inf ... dex_en.htm

[alienated]

Where indeed do I report this? The Solvit form requires an address in the EU. If this is for a particular French Consulate in Morocco - what do people suggest?

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Send it by fax or post to the UK if the online form does not do what you want.

[alienated]

Solvit came back to me very quickly because the general objective had been achieved. They simply say try contacting the very general "your voice" feedback email address for the EU. I had no reply.

I need an organisation called Reportit. Any other ideas where to register this?

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Solvit came back to me very quickly because the general objective had been achieved.

What does this mean?

[alienated]

Sorry, something was eaten there! I meant to say "Solvit came back to me very quickly and said they couldn't help because the general objective had been achieved" (as in I had ultimately obtained the visa, albeit with difficulties).

I am wondering where I may be able to report this.

[jamesmrichardson]

Sorry to hear about your issue, in Morocco NOTHING is straightforward, even dealing with French Embassy its still like dealing with a Moroccan court which I'm sure you found the process when getting married full of holes and "issues"!

Glad you got the visa in the end!

I was in a similar situation where the French Embassy in Rabat made it difficult.

We did get the visa in the end.

My experience was;

I filled out the visa form and when it gets to the part "Spouse of EU national", I filled out this part and left the rest of the form blank where it said spouse of EU national doe's not need to fill in these fields.

We get the appointment, arrive at the embassy and line up in 30c heat with about 50+ people in the line. We get to the entrance, she is allowed to go in, I am not, so I wait outside.

The first thing that happened was she called me on the phone and said they were telling her she had to pay to enter to process her application, I told her to tell them, NO you don't need to pay because I am British. She told them, but they are insistent, I asked to talk to who ever was asking this, they didn't speak English so I just told her pay it (not so much), but less hassle..

Anyway she go's in.. 20 minutes later she comes out really upset. They told her they would not process this application because it was incomplete. After weeks of waiting for an appointment then being sent around loops trying to get everything ready for this day, thats understandable, the process in Morocco for anything is just not the way it is in the western world! ..

However she was told It was missing, 3 months of pay slips from me, my bank statement, a translation of the marriage certificate in ENGLISH!! (we had translation in French certified and our original Arabic one), a written letter stating that I am responsible for her in terms of finance. These are all the things which because I am an EU citizen I should not have to provide. Basically being EU citizen doesn't make any difference.

So the next couple of days it was getting everything they asked for

The following day took it all in and a week later or so back in the line of 50+ people who were there to collect their passport from the window in the wall on the outside. Standing there you can see who has been rejected and allowed by the look on peoples faces as they take there passport back, it is pretty sad really.

We got the passport back, scanned through it and saw nothing in it! We walked off a bit up the street and then kept scanning, eventually found she had the visa label in there on the very first page.

I'm not going to waste my time with SOLVIT for getting my money back or complaining about the process because I know in Morocco nothing will change guaranteed. It is a waste of time complaining about it.

Now we are currently in Australia. I am a citizen here also. I am undecided of if my future is in Australia or UK so we came here for 1 year, she has a family visit visa 12 months which the process was online and much easier.

I've decided to take a holiday this February to France again with her so we made appointment in Sydney (which took 2 days). I again filled in the application form ticking the box for "spouse of EU national". Which was accepted. They accepted our Moroccan marriage certificate and just the certified french translation, airline tickets and insurance. And did not charge us. The process is completely different in the western world really I could not believe it. Anyway that was about 5 days ago, we are checking online daily for the outcome/time to go pick up her passport (at this time of year they likely took days off for holiday so likely early January we will have a result).

Though I think that it will be ok. I will update here about that outcome.

Though I strongly suggest if you need to go back to France with her get the visa in the UK NOT Morocco!!

Enjoy

[jamesmrichardson]

Visa was issued

Honestly next time you need to apply do it from anywhere apart from Morocco.

It is a much simpler straightforward process.

[Donutz]

Great, but if you and nobody else complaints to the French (embassy and ministry) and Solvit or EU Commission nothing will ever change. You could have send an e-mail or phone call to actual French staff (officers), rather then giving in to incompetent locally hired people who apparany are not trained well enough (which is the embassies responsibility) . With complaints the same -normal- service you experienced in Oz can also be given in Morocco.