Atkinsos

Apparently there are 1.5 mill Brits living in Europe. It is more than likely a solution will be found to avoid all returning to the UK. The triggering of article 50 next March does nothing to change the freedom of movement directive that I & others Brits with Thai partners are using to circumnavigate current UK immigration requirements. This will only happen after Brexit actually occurs, apparently within 2yrs of the official trigger date. Regardless of whether Brits in Europe will continue to enjoy visa free living & possibly health benefits etc I am sure the SS loophole that allows us with Thai partners & children to 1st move to Europe & then the UK will most surely be closed & that is what I presume concerns most British on this forum.

Did the same as the OP here in France myself 2 weeks ago. Walked in the office supplies shop pointed at my empty cartridge, don't think I even bothered with same same, & was directed with a smile to the same same cartridge I wanted. Marvelous. If that had happened in my 5yrs in Thailand I'd have dropped dead with amazement

To all, many thanks for your help, we received approval for a 90 day Schengen visa for France this week, submitted with incomplete documentation to TLS who led us to believe we had little hope of getting the visa without the attestation d'accueil. Thankfully they were wrong.

We have chosen France because of the hurdles required to getting the family back to the UK. Planning the same, if not overstaying but claiming the right to stay on the grounds that she is the mother of a UK child.

Our idea is to enrol our 3yr old into school then visit the town hall armed with the birth certificate showing my partner as the mother. I dont believe any EU gov would allow family separation.

Below is a reply from SOLVIT that relates to your situation. (My Initial Q. was based on applying for a long stay 6-12mth visa & no intention to return, but based on their answer & Donutz great help went for a normal 90 day tourist visa).

This being said, the fact that your partner is also the mother of your child, an EU citizen in his/her own right, changes the perspective. There, without question, there is a family tie. So the application should be considered not only as coming from the de facto partner of an EU citizen but also as mother of an EU citizen, all three moving together to France.

We should add that you should not be obliged to apply for a long term visa just because your declared intention is to settle in France; you should be allowed to apply for a short term (3 month) tourist visa and, once on the spot, register with the local town hall as resident EU citizens, and then apply for a residence card for your partner as family member of an EU citizen.

Legal references:
Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of entry and stay.

Our chosen steps to getting back is only possible because as a UK citizen we have chosen an EU country outside of our own. A French person could not use this method/directive to move back to France but would be able to settle presumably in the UK!

Yesterday we received approval for a 90day Schengen visa with no lodging certificate nor French sponsor, only a letter saying I could take care & vouch for her return … oops!! amazing. After 5yrs ... Step 1 of getting back and giving my daughter a descent free education has begun … but this is a whole new topic!

It appears it could be my mistake. I only read the gov.uk website to the point of :

We are unable to certify photocopies of: foreign ID’s and passports, marriage, birth and death certificates.

At this point I telephoned the consular notarial svs. Explaining the certificates I wished to have notarized and for what purpose & was calmly refused point blank but was offered the service of them signing a stat declaration to give to TLS. They would not budge on this but in my haste I probably did NOT mention that the translation was authorised by the Thai MFA.

As today is a holiday I cannot confirm this but it does appear that if I had pointed this out to the person on the phone I could now be ok.

Actually I phoned twice & neither of the assistants prompted me for a the MFA translation option with me only saying 'I have an authorised translation with the original', It was a case of 'under NO circumstances will they legalise a marriage/birth certificate & translation'.

We are going to Bkk on Monday where I will be visiting MFA, the British Embassy & TLS to get this sorted I hope.

SOLVIT may not be necessary only me reading the full text on the gov website before going into full panic mode.

Many thanks 'taxout' & 'oldgit' for all your help. Next week I will update on this to save others angst.

I have read much on this topic but have yet to find someone who found a solution to the problem.

The country in question is France, the agency TLS.

They have refused to accept a MFA translated & certified marriage & birth cirtificate as proof of marriage & UK citizenship of our daughter. Insisting that the documents be legalised by the UK Embassy.Thereby refusing us the 'free & easy visa' route.

The UK Embassy say they do not offer this legalization service.

In theory one can apply directly to the French Embassy, They have not even replied to this request, possibly because the mail was in English!

But practicaly speaking without involving SOLVIT it may be difficult & then once at an interview they may still insist on legalization of the translations & originals by the UK Embassy.

I have read that the Thai embassy in London offer this service of translation & legalisation but we live in Thailand and if a solution isnt found it looks like we will always be living in Thailand!

If anyone has had experiance of this catch 22 between TLS & the British Embassy I would be grateful to know how they got around it.

Well, 'Oldgit', better to deal with the Dutch than the French. Ive just come across what could be a new issue for 'Jacky54', myself & anybody else applying for France under this directive. I have just finished speaking with TLS who I informed I was married (As it is now very likely that we will tie the knot in the coming weeks). The Thai marriage certificate & a notorised translation is not good enough. The certificate must be legalised by the British Embassy. Again I called the Embassy, you can no longer register marriages their & nor will they notorise a marriage certificate.

TLS informed that without this we must still apply for a normal 90 day Schengen & all the other requirements that go along with it.

Regarding the 'Long term partner' bit, It really doesnt work, we are unmarried but have lived together here in Thailand for 4yrs and also have a daughter together who ive got a UK passport. I did all the documentation bit showing a long term loving relationship, photos etc. They wernt interested, it was a marriage certificate or forget it. I even wrote to SOLVIT who confirmed that it is at the countries discretion to what they consider a civil durable relationship. Their suggestion was to just get her feet on the ground in France & then walk into the local Marie & apply to stay. TLS didnt even want our daughters birth cirtificate showing both our names. BUT only last week when my partner went to apply for the 90 day Schengen visa as they said was the 'only way' did they then say to her .... 'you could have applied under the freedom of movement directive for free if you had brought along the birth cirtificate translation notorised by the British Embassy'.The problem now is how to get this done as I cant find anything on the Embassy website to say they will do this. If your married as is 'Jacky54', it should be a painless exercise.

Maybe this is a sign ... time to get married!

Currently doing this now, put in the application last week. Im UK but were not married so it makes things much more difficult.

For helpfull assistance contact TLS Contact visa center Bkk, 02696 3888 take option 2 then 6 to be put through to an English speaking assistant. Tell them your situation & they will lead you to the correct visa to apply for. 99% will be for a 90 day Schengen visa. (All visa applications for France MUST be done online then a visit in person through TLS Contact).

You can go into their web site, select documents & you will see the different visa options.

The easiest by far is for a 'Family private visit', then 'EU citizen's spouse', this visa is free and requires 50% less hoops to jump through than any other application. Do a search on, 'Directive 2004/38/EC . EU freedom of movement'.

On Thai visa you can look up 'Schengen visa, FAQ when applying from Thailand', by Donutz, excellent info in this post on Schengen visa applications.

It all depends on what your wanting. A weekend in Paris or ..... whatever.

Thanks. I did read the Schengen visa FAQ today, most informative. We also did go up to Bkk to visit the French Embassy visa office TLS. They were most helpful and told us to tell the truth!!! This was all fine until I printed of the Long Stay visa application (this visa was their recomendation) and discovered that I was unable to fulfil many of the evidence requirements. My thinking is to go ahead and apply & if refused go the route of a visitors visa as suggested. I will let you know how it goes.

Hello, Im wondering if anyone can advise on this.

I have a Thai partner unmarried & we need a visa for her to go to France, we would like at least one year. We have lived here in Thailand for 5yrs & have a 3yr old daughter together with Thai/UK passport. We want to go to France where I have just taken possession of a new house that has taken 5yrs to build. (They make TV programs out of the experiences Ive had with that one).

We have nothing in the UK, our only home is here in Thailand & now France. The idea is for us to move over to France for one year to finish the house off then sell it. Our daughter im assuming is entitled to go over & enjoy the benefits of school & health etc as I am. But my partner & mother?

Im reading many things such as the Mother of an EEC subject is entitled to a long stay visa for uniting family members. But the visa application form talks about marriage certificates, bank accounts with the French address, proof of local taxes paid on property. The list is never ending & apart from proof that I own a property we dont have anything. After 5yrs here everything as our Thai address on it. Also were not really uniting as were all here in Thai together.

Im under the impression that once her feet are on the ground we could apply to change her status as they couldnt (I hope) throw out the mother of a EEC child who has full rights to residency But even a tourist visa would be difficult as she is a full time mother with no work and we dont know anyone over their to sponser her etc.