Bastian

His wife cannot give him full custody of the baby, only the family court can do that.

He can ask his embassy, but if the mother does not cooperate he will probably have no choice but to ask the family court to give him sole custody. Will require a lawyer, quite some time and I imagine it will be difficult to convince the judges that the mother should no longer have custody.

If the job she has lined up pays at least € 37,128 (in 2014) per year, she may receive a "blue card" and can come to Germany.

If she earns more than € 46,400 she will get the card without problems.

If she earns less than € 46,400 but at least € 37,128 she would first have to pass a "Vorrangprüfung", meaning it would first have to be confirmed that there is no other jobseeker with matching qualifications, who is German, an EU citizen or has a work permit for Germany. However, if the job is in the area of math, sciences, engineering, IT (so called shortage-jobs), then there will be no Vorrangprüfung and a yearly income of € 37,128 is sufficient.

If she does not earn that much she could try to get a residence permit through her son analog to the Chen case, but I don't know, whether she could then also get a work permit.

I suggest you ask in this board: http://www.info4alien.de/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi

Neither statement is correct.

Your wife certainly does not need an A1 certificate. Neither is a "formal obligation" required.

Your wife can simply travel to Germany, stating that she is travelling to join her husband in Germany. But get her a visa sticker in her passport before travelling anyway else the airline may refuse to let her on the plane.

At the embassy she would need to produce her passport, marriage certificate, proof that you are residing in Germany (the registration of your address) and maybe proof of health insurance coverage.

When getting her a residence card at the alien office in Germany you will probably have to show that you can support her by producing employment contract/payslips, rent-agreement.

Your wife does not have a residence permit for Germany, as you are not German, but she has a residence card for family members of EU citizens.

The residence permit costs about € 100 and requires the spouse to show A1 language proficiency and is valid for a maximum of three years.

The residence card costs a maximum of € 28.80, does not come with any language requirements and is valid for five years.

Also, as your wife she can take up employment immediately, regardless, whether she already has been issued the residence card (even though employers may insist, she show them her card first).

If you move back to the UK after some time in Germany, you can take advantage of the less strict rules for EU citizens and their family members. Certainly after two years, maybe earlier.

Theoretically your girl friend can visit you in Germany on a Schengen visa for up to three months within half a year. However, she will find it very difficult to convince the embassy that she is firmly rooted in Thailand if she can spend that much time in Germany.

If your girl friend wants to live with you in Germany, you need to marry her unless she qualifies for a visa independently of you (e. g. for studying).

1. If my Thai wife has the Schengen visa in her passport, can she fly from Thailand direct with me to France?

2. On arrival in France, will I be in trouble with French immigration for trying to bring her to France instead of Sweden?

3. If my Thai wife has to fly to Sweden first, can she take a flight the same day to Paris to meet me there?

4. If my Thai wife flies to Paris and I am meeting her at the airport, will I be able to assist her if she has trouble with the French immigration?

5. Do I need a lawyer in Thailand to assist?

1. Your wife may enter the Schengen area in any Schengen country.

2. She might be asked about her travel plans and when she intends to go to Sweden.

3. Yes

4. Maybe

5. No

In any case with a swedish visa she must not spend more time in any other Schengen country than Sweden. Feigning an intent to visit Sweden to get a visa and then actually staying in France for the majority of her stay is illegal.

Relevant to the thread is probably Reg 11(4)(. So the UK has already complied in that they adapted the relevant laws, if you still get refused at the border it is probably due to some immigration officers not knowing the law.

Sure, one could get an EEA family permit to avoid complications at the border, but in order to apply for one, one has to answer so many (15 page form) very intrusive questions. This is a nuissance and one may not feel comfortable with answering.

While airlines would probably refuse to transport the family member without visa or EEA family permit, as mentioned by beano2274, one could allways go by train or ferry and just allow for some more time at the border, while the officers are busy reading up on regulations. Imo much better than filling out that monstrous EEA family permit application.

Well, the wife is correct in that nickynalack could marry someone else in the UK (or anywhere else) as the bureaurcracy there does not know about him being married.

Of course he will be asked, if there are any impediments to marriage (like already being married), but if he chooses not to mention his marriage in Thailand, he could marry again and become a bigamist.

That would make him a criminal though and the second marriage would be null and void once the truth comes out, only his "second" wife, had she been unaware of the situation, may have certain claims towards nickynalacks pension.

10k is actually quite optimistic an estimate for acquiring a german affirmation of freedom to marry from the registrar when you are abroad. Just hope the registrar will be content with what you send and does not demand any aditional docs or legalisations.

gl!

No, she does not need a visa for entering Germany if you two travel together.

An EEA family permit is only for the non-EU familymember of an EU-citizen, who is not a citizen of the UK, who wants to enter the UK. Since you are probably a UK citizen plus your wife already has a residence permit (ILR), an EEA permit would be completely wrong.

Once in Germany, if you want to stay longer (i.e. not just holiday), your wife can apply for a Residence Card of a family member of a Union citizen (Aufenthaltskarte), which is valid for at least five years and would allow her to travel to any EEA country (except for the UK) without a visa and without you accompanying her. The card is purely declaratory, i.e. she has the right independently of applying for the card, the card merely makes it more easy to prove that she does have that right.

edit: wikipedia says you can apply for a residence card in the UK too, but it takes Her Majesty's gornment nearly six months to deliver.

It would be interesting to know what citizenship you have, are you irish or a citizen of any other EU country?

Also if you are the baby's legal father? If you are not the father, does the mother have sole custody over the child?

Bit difficult, given that any number of countries require official immigrants to demonstrate their grasp of the language.

Wonder how long it will be before someone takes the UK to the court of human rights because they were denied settlement of a partner who could not speak English?

I think that's a good point, Brunel, but I don't understand why it hasn't been tested in the courts. Surely Human Rights legislation gives the right to family life. So, how is it okay to give that right to people who can speak English but not to those who don't ? I haven't any idea of the answer, and only put this forward for the sake of discussion.

Our Federal Administrative Court has decided earlier this year, that language requirements are completely fine and in accordance with COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2003/86/EC of 22 September 2003 on the right to family reunification and hence EU law neither is it unconstitutional (well, considering our constitution, the UK doesn't have a real constitution).

If you are concerned that spouses of foreigners, who are EU nationals are treated more favourably, I suggest you read the paper Reverse Discrimination and Family Reunification by Anne Walter.

in practice, the third country national ( here we are talking about the Thai wife of a Brit, travelling to France ), will have difficulty actually boarding the carrier ( airline or ferry company ). Certainly, many carriers are unaware of the Directive, many are reluctant to face a fine for carrying an inproperly documented passenger, and many will just say no because the passenger doesn't hold a visa. If the carrier says no, you can argue until you are blue in the face, but you won't get on the flight or whatever.

If you have the time to waste, and don't mind missing your flight, then go for it. It is easier, and free, to get the visa.

Ignorance among airline companies is a problem, while you can sue them, when they don't transport you and you cannot use the boopked hotel, which charges you money anyway, the vacation is pretty much ruined.

However, if you travel by car/ferry/train, then, afaik, nobody from the company will look at your passport, when buying the ticket or travelling. Plus I think, when going from the UK to France, no officer will check your passport anymore, at least I was not checked the last time I went, only when there are soccer games and they want to keep out the hooligans they still do checks.

this is interesting since my thai wife and I would like to travel in Europe. My wife has a UK visa already. Can she apply for an EU visa while in the UK? Is it free like you say? I thought you had to pay?

A visa for a wife of a EU citizen is free (at least for countries the EU spouse is not a citizen of) but a visa may only be obtained from an embassy in the country of residence, so if she is already in the UK on a tourist visa, she cannot get a visa from the embassy of a Schengen country in London, she would have to go back to Thailand first to apply for a Schengenvisa. However, she can travel without a visa to EU countries, if accompanied by her husband with EU citizenship, only not to the country her husband is a citizen of.

If you are a citizen of a EU country and you travel together, your wife does not need a visa to enter France. Just take your marriage certificate to prove your conjugal ties and passports to prove your identity.

Without a visa you should plan for spending a little more time at the border though in case you come across an incompetent officer, who first has to consult his superiors or look up the relevant legislation.

cf http://eumovement.wordpress.com/

Which Schengen country is the visa from? What exactly did the sponsor promise/sign and whom did he promise it to?

A sponsor is usually not required during the apllication of a Schengen visa. An invitation however with a statement that the applicant will be staying with and be cared for by the inviting party, submitted with the application helps to prove that the stated intention of the visit is true and not just a pretension.

If during the visit the sponsor withdraws his support the invited foreigner may have a claim against the sponsor, if the foreigner relied on the promise of support and incurs costs because the promise is broken. However most (all?) Schengen countries have system of civil law and not common law like the anglo saxon countries and it will be nigh impossible for an average foreigner ignorant of the local laws to pursue such a claim and by the time the case comes before a judge the foreigner will be long gone home anyway plus the sponsor will inject that the invited foreigner violated some implicit term of their agreement, betrayed him and hence was at fault too. So much for a promise of a sponsor to the foreigner.

In my (Schengen) country if a foreigner, who seeks a Schengen visa and who is not well off himself, will require a solvent guarantor to make a written commitment to the state that he will cover all cost the state will possibly incurr from the foreigner. In that case the guarantor promisses the foreigner nothing and hence the foreigner has no claim against the guarantor at all. If the foreigner is in distress however (homeless, no money for food or a ticket) he may seek assistance from the state at any time and will receive welfare and the state will later reclaim the money from the guarantor, who, except for bankruptcy, has no way of getting out of the commitment.

Of course the sponsor can ask the foreigner to leave the Schengen area, but the foreigner has no need to comply at all, whether he can support himself or not. The foreigner may even threaten the guarantor, that he will overstay and resist repatriation, in which case there are huge costs comming the guarantors way, as the foreigner will eventually be arrested and repatriated, accompanied by officers on the plane, then the bill for the guarantor can easily exceed € 10,000. So a rational guarantor would not only just ask the foreigner to return home but also try to maintain an amicable relationship and give him with some pocket money to return.

Please don't try to transfer what you believe to know about common law systems in the UK or USA to civil law systems of Schengen countries.

ad 1: Best you drop by an amphur and ask them.

ad 2: Your wife may be elligible to apply for TRAVEL DOCUMENT FOR ALIENS. Ask the MFA in Bangkok.

In other words, a British citizen who marries a Thai national – his wife is denied entry to Britain until she can pass an English fluency test.

But the wife could still enter on a visit visa, she just would be denied a settlement visa until she has passed the test.

The language requirement serves afaik the purpose of protecting the foreign spouse from abusive partners, as somebody without any english skills would feel completely helpless and at the mercy of their british spouse, who may exploit that position. Having learnt some english the foreign spouse will be more capable of helping her- or himself, be more selfconfident and less reluctant to leave her or his partner and report abuse to the police. Literacy in english will help them to more quickly understand basic things, which may be completely different from the way things are in the country the foreign spouse comes from, like that you do no have to pay the police in order for them to help you or that you are entitled to alimony payments, if you leave your spouse.

So this law is intended to help the foreign wifes and husbands, not discriminate them.

On another note, what I find disturbing is that Britain only allows the spouses of rich citizens to join their british spouses, that is unfair.

makes perfect sense, the broken phone is bought in europe and then sent to thailand, where a friend of the buyer lives, who had told him, that wages are low and people are skilled at repairs. so the plan is to have the phone repaired in thailand for small money, while a repair in europe would be inefficient because of the high labour costs, then the repaired phone goes back to the buyer in europe.<div><br></div><div>fear of retribution from a customs guy is rediculous, even if the complainers name is flagged, just let future packages for you be sent to your neighbour and you will have no trouble.</div><div>i concurr you should lodge a formal complaint, maybe not with the PM, but with DHL, the customs departement and/or the ministry responsible.</div>

The requirement for migrants to be able to communicate in English is not meant to be a disadvantage to the migrants, on the contrary, it is meant to benefit and protect them.

By being able to speak English the foreign spouse will be much less dependent on the british partner and it will be much easier for the foreign spouse to leave their (abusive) partner. The foreign spouse will be able to gather and understand information e.g. about womens shelter, how to sue the ex for maintenance and can ask for help and talk to the police, which weakens the british partner's position a lot.

By learning the language the foreign spouse may also gain more self confidence and learn facts about Britain, that would not have been self evident from previous experiences in the foreigners' country, e.g. that you do not have to pay the police if you want them to help you or that husbands are not allowed to beat their wifes.

Germany has been requiring proficiency in German as a condition for spousal visas for most non-EU foreigners for three years. It works, people adapt.

I have experience in bringing my son and gf, who has no thai citizenship, to Germany.

First your wife must have some kind of ID, maybe not the blue one the citizens get, but a white, pink or green one.

I wonder how you could get married if your wife has no ID, even if the amphur would agree to marry her, you as a foreigner would need to supply some freedom to marry certificate, which you cannot get, if your wife has no ID.

If your wife is a legal alien resident, she should be able to get this http://www.mfa.go.th/web/2482.php?id=2496 from the mfa in bkk, which she could use to travel to Europe eventually.

If your wife is not legal, your daughters will not have thai citizenship, what does the birth certificate say?

Also it would have been useful if you had been able to register your daughters births at the amphur. Who did it?

Are you the legal father of your first daughter? If not you should sue in family court.

book the flight direct, non-stop, if possible. get a baby ticket and seat with the bassinet for infants up to two years. infant gets one piece of luggage free and equipment like baby stroller are also transported for free, just let the airline know in advance.

baby supplies i.e. lotion, milk, tea... may be taken along, at least in thailand airport security does not bother.

when exiting thailand the immigration officer may want to see the birth certificate.

odds are the baby will cry, but that will be more a problem for the other passengers.

your son is already a thai citizen, he became one automatically by being born to a thai mother, no need to apply for it. the only thing you need to apply for is a thai passport for him.

Depends on the country he is in, in Germany, any foreigner, who is not a citizen of a eu member state, who is without a valid passport is breaking the law, specifically § 3 section 1 AufenthG, I think in France it is the same and I am pretty sure it is the same in Thailand for foreigners.

good place of birth would seem to be the usa, then the child could have tripple (us, uk and thai) passports, maximum options to choose from, when it is bigger, plus it could sponsor the parents immigration to the usa when it has reached age of majority.

sure you can book without a visa or even passport, but you seem to be stuck in the previous millenium: when we booked our flights a year ago there was no agent, all was done online over the internet, payment via credit card and you would only get your travel itinerary as pdf to print out and a code, no more physical tickets.

was good we had booked in advance, the embassy actually demanded to see the ticket/itinerary before they issued the (settlement)visa.