EU family member obligated to return to country to get visa

[dsanchez]

Here's my situation:

I have a French resident permit expiring in 10 days (I was studying there) and now I'm in Slovakia applying for a resident permit as a husband of a slovak citizen.

The problem is that my resident permit expires soon and they told me (in the slovak inmigration office) that I must return to my country to apply for a slovak visa because at the time when I will have my slovak resident permit I will be "ilegal" (it takes about 1 month to get the resident permit and I just have 10 days left with the french resident permit as I wrote above)

Does Directive 2004/38/EC can apply in this case?

What are your thoughts about this?

[dsanchez]

Just changed the topic's title, hope someone will be able to tell me more about my situation.

[86ti]

EU law would apply if your spouse had exercised treaty rights previously together with you. Otherwise you will have to comply with the national law.

[dsanchez]

Thank you. In that case, Can I come back to Europe in 1 month or shall I stay away 90 days before return? Notice I had a resident permit before as student, no turist.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

husband of a slovak citizen

Was your husband working in France, and were you together there? When did he finish working?

[dsanchez]

husband of a slovak citizen

Was your husband working in France, and were you together there? When did he finish working?

I'm the husband

My wife is slovak.

It seems that finally I will solve my issue. This is how:

As my french resident permit is valid until 1st october 2010, I just called today to the slovak embassy in Paris asking them if they could issue a "Schengen visa" valid from the 2nd october. This way I will be "legal" in Slovakia and will be able to wait there for my resident permit until it's ready. They said this is possible so I'm travelling to Paris next week (I'm now in Slovakia)

Now I'm just curious about the fact of asking for a Schengen visa already in the Schengen area. I wonder if I will be obligated to exit Schengen (for example to Ukraine) and then back with a stamp on this visa?

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Was your wife working in France, and were you there together? Is your wife working in Slovakia?

If so there is NO need for you to go to Paris.

Go to Paris if you want a quick break there, but I would personally not bother.

Your first 90 days in Slovakia are without restriction. You can even work!

After 90 days, you can be required to apply for a Residence Card. But if you have done that, you can continue to work. You will NOT be "illegal" in any sense of the word.

[dsanchez]

Was your wife working in France, and were you there together? Is your wife working in Slovakia?

Thanks for your answer.

Actually the answer is no. We were living in Peru for 2 years, then I went to study in France for 2 years (we were already married) and she went to study to Slovakia (crazy but we managed to do it). I finished my studies last july so I went to Slovakia to live with my wife (she's a slovak national)

On monday, we went to apply for resident permit and they (the slovak inmigration office) told me it would take about 1 month to get it, and since my french resident permit was valid till 1st october I would have to go back to my country (Peru) to get a visa and come back. Hopefully the slovak embassy in Paris is going to give me the visa cause it would have been too expensive to go to Peru in the last minute!

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Unfortunately that means you are not covered by Directive 2004/38/EC. If you later decide to move anywhere else in Europe, or following time elsewhere in Europe you decide to move back to Slovakia, it should be very straight forward.

Enjoy the croissant!

[dsanchez]

Thanks for your answer.

Have you heard of people getting the schengen visa while in the schengen area? Cause it will be kind of bizarre to have this visa valid from the 2nd october already in the schengen area but without stamp on it. I wonder if the embassy will advice me to quit the schengen area and come back to get a "stamp" on the visa.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

There is another thread about the non-EU wife of a UK citizen who tried to get a Swiss visa in Austria. She was told she did not need it, and they refused to issue it.

[dsanchez]

There is another thread about the non-EU wife of a UK citizen who tried to get a Swiss visa in Austria. She was told she did not need it, and they refused to issue it.

I see. I think this case is a bit different because my wife is slovak (so schengen area), while UK is non-schengen. I will update you about how all this goes. Thanks very much for your advices and your awesome blog!

[dsanchez]

The Slovak Embassy in Paris gave me a Schengen visa valid for 90 days starting 2nd october (my french resident permit expired 1st October), so now I am back in Slovakia. So yes, Schengen Visa issued in the Schengen Area is possible, althought probably some other EU countries won't help with that.