murielvcb wrote:Just received an email from Solvit (that was quick because I submitted the form yesterday!)
Here it is:
I must first of all advise that your husband does not have the right to move freely throughout the EU. The right is for you to be accompanied by your husband, your right to be with your family members. Therefore, in line with Article 3 of Directive 2004/38/EC, your husband would need to present evidence that he is travelling either with you, or to meet you in Belgium, in order for the Belgian Authorities to be satisfied that he is eligible to obtain a visa under the Directive.
Can you please confirm that, when you made your applications, you enclosed details of your travel arrangements.
I have to say that I am more than confused now!
No need to be confused.
The law is written in a very unclear, complicated manner, which doesn´t allow anyone to understand it, not me, not you, not the EU who designed it, not the governments affected and -last but not least- not the borderguards who should base their decisions on it.
First of all it´s a good idea to have a copy of the law handy:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/sit ... 350048.pdf
Now we can dig into it:
Article 10 proposes that family-members of EU-citizens should be issued a residence card:
Article 10
Issue of residence cards
1. The right of residence of family members of a Union citizen who are not nationals of a Member State shall be evidenced by the issuing of a document called ‘Residence card of a family member of a Union citizen’ no later than six months from the date on which they submit the application. A certificate of application for the residence card shall be issued immediately.
2. For the residence card to be issued, Member States shall require presentation of the following documents:
(a) a valid passport;
(b) a document attesting to the existence of a family relationship or of a registered partnership;
(...some more stuff follows, which regulates other relations than "married")
Now we come to "Entry", which is regulated in Article 5:
(I´m deleting irrelevant parts, inserting (...), always read the original
)
Article 5
Right of entry
1. (...)Member States shall grant (...) family members who are not
nationals of a Member State leave to enter their territory with a valid
passport.(...)
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. The host Member State shall not place an entry or exit
stamp in the passport of family members who are not nationals
of a Member State provided that they present the residence
card provided for in Article 10.
4. Where (...) a family member who is not a
national of a Member State, does not have the necessary travel
documents or, if required, the necessary visas, the Member
State concerned shall, before turning them back, give such
persons every reasonable opportunity to obtain the necessary
documents or have them brought to them within a reasonable
period of time or to corroborate or prove by other means that
they are covered by the right of free movement and residence.
5. (...)
My personal summary is:
1. If you have a ‘Residence card of a family member of a Union citizen’ (Art. 10) you don´t need any visa for anywhere in the EU (Art. 5, section 2).
2. You can always get a visa, free of charge, through an accelerated procedure (Art. 5, section 2).
3. Even if you have no visa, you can prove in any other suitable way that you are covered by this law, and hence travel without visa (Art. 5, section 4).
I hope this answers your question?
PS - this does not discuss all the ambiguities which are currently discussed between the EU, different governments and others - this is only my interpretation, but so far I managed to talk everyone (Ryanair, borderguards) into it...
