Visa for Korean partner to live with me in France

I wonder if anyone on these boards can assist with my query please.

I am English and hold a UK/Euro Passport. I have been living in Australia for the past two and a half years but will shortly leave to go to live in France. Clearly as an EC Passport holder there is not a problem.

However I have a Korean girlfriend. She is not a resident visa holder for Australia but nonetheless by a process of constant renewal of visitor visas we have in effect lived together for two years. We have sufficient documentary evidence to be able to prove this - joint bank accounts, joint car insurance etc etc.

I want to apply to take her to France with me as my partner, but cannot identify the process. The Consulate in Sydney is unhelpful.

The Frencg Embassy in Korea has advised her to enter France on a visitor visa and apply for permanent residency/partner visa afterwards, but this seems poor advice.

I suspect there is a procedure for me to apply here in Australia to take her with me (that is what a French national would do) but I simply cannot identify the correct forms and procedure.

Any comments or advice would be appreciated.

It sounds like you have a long term relationship with this woman, and documentary evidence to prove it. Make sure you collect and keep all evidence of you living together, including post to the same address in different names.

As an EU national, you have a (conditional) right of free movement within the EU for periods of more than 3 months. You can move to France as long as (condition) you work there or study or are self sufficient. You wife or your partner has the same right to live with you and work, as long as they travel with you. Wife is easy to prove (wedding certificate), but in your case it is also easy to demonstrate that you have a long term relationship.

Read all about Directive 2004/38/EC, which is all about the free movement rights of EU citizens and their families

In my opinion, the French embassy in Korea is right. If Koreans do not need a visa, then just go and register when you get there and get a job.

Thanks for your reply, however your advice to 'take her to France and worry about it when we get there' is not correct nor good advice.

As she is not my wife she will require some form of long stay visa and we will need to provide proof of relationship at the time of the visa application.

Also, long stay visas are never issued in France - all applications have to be made in the applicant's country of residence.

It seems that France does not have a 'partner visa' in the same form as the UK or Belgium. My investigations so far suggest that she needs to apply for a 'visitor visa' in her home country and specify 'going to live with partner' as the reason for entry into France. She will need to provide proof of relationship with the visa application.

A difficulty is that she cannot apply to live with me in France until I have a permanent address there; we were hoping to enter France together to start our new life there but it seems that I shall have to go first in order to establish an address.

Sorry, but read what I wrote carefully and you will see I offered you no advice. I do think the embassy is correct in it's advice, but in the end it is up to you to decide how you want to handle this.

But you should at least be aware of Directive 2004/38/EC. Your partner is what is known as a "beneficiary" in the Directive (see Article 3 Beneficiaries). An accessible guide which explains this in detail is http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/ ... _ec_en.pdf

Good luck and enjoy Europe!

hatman wrote:Thanks for your reply, however your advice to 'take her to France and worry about it when we get there' is not correct nor good advice.

I think you misunderstand how this works presently in the EU. Remember that your partner would be applying under EU law (specifically Directive 2004/38/EC)

hatman wrote:As she is not my wife she will require some form of long stay visa and we will need to provide proof of relationship at the time of the visa application.

Yes you need proof of the relationship. She needs an entry visa to France, and once there she applies for a Residence Card as the family member of an EU citizen.

hatman wrote:Also, long stay visas are never issued in France - all applications have to be made in the applicant's country of residence.

She does not want a long stay visa. Once she gets to France, she needs to apply for a Residence Card. I have never heard of a Residence Card being issued before somebody is living in the EU member state. It would not be illegal, but I know of no member state that does this.

hatman wrote:It seems that France does not have a 'partner visa' in the same form as the UK or Belgium. My investigations so far suggest that she needs to apply for a 'visitor visa' in her home country and specify 'going to live with partner' as the reason for entry into France. She will need to provide proof of relationship with the visa application.

I agree.

hatman wrote:A difficulty is that she cannot apply to live with me in France until I have a permanent address there; we were hoping to enter France together to start our new life there but it seems that I shall have to go first in order to establish an address.

You definitely do not have to go first. You do not need to have a permanent address there before applying. Do you have any web references to this?