What type of visa does a Thai - long time resident in UK - need to visit France? Is it easy to get ?

Is s/he married to a national of an EEA country? If so, the visa will be free and issued upon establishing that the parties are married and that the spouse is an EEA national. However, if not married, the usual visit visa process will have to be gone through at the French embassy.

Scouse.

so just turn at the french border with the documents (and eventually with the spouse) and get a visa?

A visa can only be obtained from an embassy, but, now you mention it, there is a provision in Directive 2004/38 which allows the spouse of an EEA national to just turn up. On the understanding that they can establish that they are lawfully married to an EEA national, who is either travelling with them or already in the EEA country, they should be admitted without a visa.

Scouse.

A visa can only be obtained from an embassy, but, now you mention it, there is a provision in Directive 2004/38 which allows the spouse of an EEA national to just turn up. On the understanding that they can establish that they are lawfully married to an EEA national, who is either travelling with them or already in the EEA country, they should be admitted without a visa.

Scouse.

please let me know if you find out more on this

Directive 2004/38, Article 5(4) states:-

Where a Union citizen, or a family member who is not a national of a Member State, does not have the necessary travel documents or, if required, the necessary visas, the Member State concerned shall, before turning them back, give such persons every reasonable opportunity to obtain the necessary documents or have them brought to them within a reasonable period of time or to corroborate or prove by other means that they are covered by the right of free movement and residence.

This is transposed in to U.K. legislation as Regulation 11(4) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006:-

(4) Before an immigration officer refuses admission to the United Kingdom to a person under this regulation because the person does not produce on arrival a document mentioned in paragraph (1) or (2), the immigration officer must give the person every reasonable opportunity to obtain the document or have it brought to him within a reasonable period of time or to prove by other means that he is—

(a) an EEA national;

( a family member of an EEA national with a right to accompany that national or join him

in the United Kingdom; or

© a family member who has retained the right of residence or a person with a permanent

right of residence under regulation 15.

(5) But this regulation is subject to regulations 19(1) and (2).

Scouse.

well it's actually my ex Thai husband who has lived and worked in UK for 15 years - we want to take our son for a weeks holiday to France at Christmas...

If he's your "ex", then he is no longer your family member. If he (being a non-EEA national) is not a family member of an EEA national, then he would definitely need to apply for a Schengen visa and answer all the questions on the form.

If he has a Thai Diplomatic or Service passport then he may be able to fly to some European countries without a visa. Unfortunately, France is not included in the list.