Schengen Application rights and wrongs

[stmellon]

According to the Guide on How to get he best out of 38/2004/EC:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/ ... _ec_en.pdf

The right of entry of your third country family members is derived
from their family ties with you, a Union citizen. All the Member
State consular officials can ask for is their passport and a
document establishing their family ties with you, such as
marriage or birth certificate and proof of dependence, where
applicable. Your family members cannot be asked to present
documents such as travel tickets, employment certificate, pay slips,
bank statements, proof of accommodation and means of
subsistence or a medical certificate.

Can anybody point me to where this is stated in the Directive? I sure as heck can't find it. However, I notice that the Italian Consulate in Manchester is still claming:

Spouses and family of U.K./E.U. citizens ....are required to submit the following documents:
flight and accomodation booking together with a current bank statement or credit card statement (to prove means of financial availability for the trip) and photocopies of all documentation including passports and UK visas.

And don't even get me started on the Belgians.....

[alienated]

I can't tell you where to find the basis for that document however I can report that we successfully applied for my Moroccan wife at the French Consulate in Marrakech. I am British. Morocco has a good relationship with France so this may not be surprising. They were efficient (online appointment booking & rescheduling) and treatment was cordial. From what I learned about my rights, they only slightly overstepped by insisting that I enter the first address where we were going to stay (this is marked as not necessary for family members of EU nationals on the Schengen form). A small request though and certainly none of the tickets, funds, employment stuff.

I have to say at Nice airport they were cordial and quick to let her in, in front of me - no questions or extra paperwork. This is how it should be as we did the paperwork weeks before, at the consulate.

The ignorance of airline officials should not be underestimated. Whilst consular and border officials shoould finally be getting used to the rules, check-in staff may press for a return ticket when checking in - they'll just see the Schengen Visa and not be aware of special conditions for family members. I did in fact book return travel with another airline however tried to point out the rules before showing them the return flight paperwork. For the record, the airline was the diabolical Atlas-Blue - proven incompetent in every aspect of running an airline.

[ca.funke]

The right of entry of your third country family members is derived
from their family ties with you, a Union citizen. All the Member
State consular officials can ask for is their passport and a
document establishing their family ties with you, such as
marriage or birth certificate and proof of dependence, where
applicable. Your family members cannot be asked to present
documents such as travel tickets, employment certificate, pay slips,
bank statements, proof of accommodation and means of
subsistence or a medical certificate.

Can anybody point me to where this is stated in the Directive? I sure as heck can't find it. (...)

The facilitation for visas can be found in the directive (2004/38/EC) as follows:

Article 5
Right of entry
1. (...)
2. Family members who are not nationals of a Member State
shall only be required to have an entry visa in accordance with
Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 or, where appropriate, with
national law. For the purposes of this Directive, possession of
the valid residence card referred to in Article 10 shall exempt
such family members from the visa requirement.
Member States shall grant such persons every facility to obtain
the necessary visas. Such visas shall be issued free of charge as
soon as possible and on the basis of an accelerated procedure.
3. (...)
4. (...)
5. (...)

[mym]

As I've pointed out many times before (we need this in a faq somewhere):

There is a mismatch between the 2004 Directive - which says that you have the right to a visa if you prove X, and the pre-existing Common Consular Instructions (which regulate how Schengen visas are actually issued), which say that to get a visa you must provide X, Y and Z.

Until they clear that mismatch up there will always be consulates that will give you the visa you are entitled to but will apply the Schengen Regulations to the process of issuing it.

[ca.funke]

...and the pre-existing Common Consular Instructions (which regulate how Schengen visas are actually issued), which say that to get a visa you must provide X, Y and Z...

What are the "Common Consular Instructions"? Sounds cool !

Please see my extensive work here, which indicates to me that such a "common" paper does not exist, not even inside Schengen!

Or at least it's not used.

[86ti]

What are the "Common Consular Instructions"? Sounds cool !

Please see my extensive work here, which indicates to me that such a "common" paper does not exist, not even inside Schengen!

Or at least it's not used.

Actually, the document does exist here (copy and past please!) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex ... 01):EN:NOT but I don't think it is what you might expect.

EDIT: I think that the embassies that gave you the incorrect answers in your extensive survey actually follow the CCI.

[ca.funke]

...but I don't think it is what you might expect...

Nope I guess it'd take extensive reading to understand what's going on in this document.

But interesting to know. I'll try to get into some of it...