Cut a long story short, had a nightmare applying under Directive 2004/38/EC for a visa to Ireland for my Egyptian husband in Cairo just so he could accompany me to my brothers wedding in July 2017 (I am British). We never got the visa or any outcome as they didnt inform us of the back log so we ended up withdrawing the application to cancel it.
Getting the passport back took two attempts both needing a day off work as you can only collect after 2pm if security let you in and you can find someone to park your car as the area has no available parking. Once we got the passport back we were then told you need to contact Abu Dhabi to get your papers back! No one ever mentioned our papers going to Abu Dhabi and Egypt is not listed on the website as being processed there. So we emailed AD, they responded that we must at our own cost send a courier to collect the documents and they will not return them to the Cairo Embassy. Sorry but this is a free of charge application, there were no costs involved what so ever so how they got to AD I have no idea as we certainly didnt pay or authorise them to be sent there. Whatever the outcome of the application they are supposed to return our official documents including our wedding certificate back to us.
I complained to Cairo they said its not their problem, I complained to AD, I sent the directive plus links and info from their own website. The staff at AD tried to tell me our application is not exempt and sent me a list of family members who are exempt including the word spouse! I asked for the complaint to be escalated to a manager and they responded referring me to the first email and that it would be their last.
Can someone please advise me of the next level to take this to ie solvit? Irish Ombudsman? etc
Thank you in Advance
Nikki
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