Schengen Visa from Belgium

[picosam]

Hello, I'm an Egyptian married to a Belgian citizen. My wife and myself had gone to the Belgian consulate in Cairo to apply for a visa on the 5th of June this year. Today I checked the DOFI website (http://www.dofi.fgov.be/infovisa/francais/visum.htm) and finally there's a decision (two months later) on the issuance of my visa. It says:

Code: Select all

Décision : Octroi du visa sur production de pièces complémentaires
Date de la décision : 29/07/2008 

What I had presented to the consulate were my passport, my wife's passport and our marriage contract which had been legally registered and notarized in the same Belgian consulate.

Now, the decision made reads (in French) that it's a yes in principle, but will only be issued upon giving some complementary documents. The reason I'm posting this is because I want to make sure that they do not have the right to ask for a letter from my employer or for bank statements.

1. Is this correct?
2. If they do ask for them, what options do I have?

Thank you,
Sammy

[ca.funke]

Hi,

the EU-directive which would facilitate your application is 2004/38/EC.

However, in your case this directive does not apply: Your EU-partner is Belgian, and you are applying at the Belgian embassy. Therefore this is a domestic Belgian affair, and the Belgians are free to ask you for whatever they deem appropriate.



You are not specifying if you want to move to Belgium in order to stay there permanently (in which case you'd have no alternative), or if you are planning to visit Belgium (only).

In case of a visit, I would recommend applying for the visa at any other Schengen-country. This would probably give you the right to be treated according to 2004/38/EC, and the visa would have to be treated "at an accelerated speed" without "undue formalities".

Good luck in either case.

Directive 2004/38/EC, Article 3, Section 1
Beneficiaries
This Directive shall apply to all Union citizens who move
to or reside in a Member State other than that of which they
are a national, and to their family members as defined in point
2 of Article 2 who accompany or join them.

[picosam]

Hello. First I'd like to thank you for your very informative answer.
1. This visa was for a visit. I asked for a one year visa so that we do not have to go to the consulate each time we would like to travel. The lady from the consulate called me today and told me that the missing document is a letter from work stating that they do not mind me being on vacation. Since I work as a consultant for a company in the US I'm not bound by physical locations though and hence, I'm not really going to be on vacation while I'm in Europe for 2 months! So I took the contract that I have and bank statements that prove income from this same company for the last 4 months. She said she's going to talk to the consul and see. She said the visa would be issued for 3 months. Can they do this? I asked for 1 year, what happens when I want to leave a month after I come back from this trip, will I wait for 2 more months to ask for a second visa? Anyway she said she was going to talk to the consul about it and see.

2. Which consulate would you think can respect the directive most and issue Schengen visas fast? For the time being, we're interested in staying in Cairo not in living in Europe. However we need to travel there a lot to prepare for our move in late 2009. So I'm not interested in applying for family reunion now.

Thank you again,
Sammy

[ca.funke]

The problem about 2004/38/EC is, that each and every embassy has its own interpretation and deals very differently with it.

This is not limited by country but by embassy - so while the Dutch embassy in London may be great (I don't know, just an example), the Dutch embassy in Dublin may be a pain. (again, just an example)

I know nothing about Cairo, thus you will have to plough through the embassies there to see for yourself. (Give them a call and see what they say. Attempting to change their attitude by mentioning 2004/38/EC usually leads nowhere.)

As you already lodged an application with the Belgian embassy there, you are stuck with them for now - you can only apply for a different Schengen-visa after 6 months passed, or your visa was granted and expired... (They will find out through the SiS!)

The length of the visa is not mentioned in any law, thus you may have to apply for each and every visit, if they refure to give you a multiple-entry for a longer period.

I went through the same pain in Dublin, as my wife is Lebanese and we want to go for the weekend sometimes. No dice - we had to apply each time.

So - good luck in your endeavors!

[picosam]

you cannot apply for another Schengen-visa before 6 months

Even if I use up the upcoming 3 months (maybe) visa and come back to Cairo? At that point can I go apply at, for instance, the French consulate or do I still have to wait for 6 months?

Something else please: does my right to travel to Europe with her include going to the UK? In other words, do we have the right to go apply for a visa to the UK after we come back from Europe this time or is the UK not "included"?

[86ti]

you cannot apply for another Schengen-visa before 6 months

Even if I use up the upcoming 3 months (maybe) visa and come back to Cairo? At that point can I go apply at, for instance, the French consulate or do I still have to wait for 6 months?

Something else please: does my right to travel to Europe with her include going to the UK? In other words, do we have the right to go apply for a visa to the UK after we come back from Europe this time or is the UK not "included"?

A Schengen visa is maximum 90 days per 6 months valid for the whole Schenen area as the name implies. Applying to another embassy/consulate will not help and your application refused. So yes, you will have to wait.

The UK is not Schengen so you have to/can apply to UK embassy ndependently from a Schenge visa.

[picosam]

The UK is not Schengen so you have to/can apply to UK embassy ndependently from a Schenge visa.

Yes of course I understand. My question was actually: do I have the right to get a visit visa to the UK just because I'm married to an EU citizen? The thing is, we intend to travel to the UK for about 3 days while we're in Europe.

Thank you,
Sammy

[mym]

My question was actually: do I have the right to get a visit visa to the UK just because I'm married to an EU citizen?

Yes, you can get an EEAFP and it will be free - BUT as you are applying from outside the EEA/EU you will need to meet the requirements of the UK Immigration Rules to get it.