Thai Women Resident In Uk Travelling To Europe

[jordycarter]

Hi, My wife is a thai national with a thai passport and has been in uk 2 and a half years, Recently she aquired her ILR (indefinate leave to remain visa) which has made her a resident of the UK but not a citizen. My query is does anyone know if she can travel to europe on this passport as we're desperate to go on holiday to somewhere other then Thailand. I have phoned thai and british embassy, foriegn office for travel and tourism and travel agents who all gave me different answers and nothing concrete. I would be eternally grateful if somebody knows the official and correct procedure on how we can travel to europe. I'm hoping its not going to be a complicated procedure and cost the earth like everything seems to do when Thai women are concerned. Thankyou all in advance

[bigchang]

its easy she just needs to get a schengen visa,as long as she travels with you,this shouldn't be a problem at all,just aply at the embassy of the country,which you wanna enter first

we do that by post and it takes about three days till the passport with visa is back

cost i couldn't tell you,as i'm a german living in guernsey,so my wife gets the visa for free

[Lite Beer]

Moved to Visas.

[7by7]

Non EEA nationals who have permanent residence in an EEA state do not need a visa to enter the Schengen area. However, there is some confusion over whether an ILR stamp is accepted as a permanent residence stamp by immigration when entering the Schengen area; so I'd advise getting a Schengen visa just to be sure. As she is a family member of an EEA national it will be free and most of the requirements and questions on the application form wont apply.

[Trebilcock]

Funny this should come up again, as only today I got a reply to my email to the Italian Consulate-

(Trebilcock) My wife, son, and I wish to visit Italy for a short holiday (about one week) and are uncertain about the Visa requirements. My wife has a Thai Passport and a UK Residence Permit (Indefinite Leave to Remain) dated June 2007. We can also provide a marriage certificate in Thai and a certified English translation. Could you tell us, please, whether this is sufficient to enter Italy for tourism purposes, or whether my wife will need to apply for a Schengen Visa?

(Consulate) If your wife’s residence permit has the wording mentioned below, she may enter Italy without a visa, if not she will have to apply for one.

Type of Document – Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA National

Just checked my wife's passport and the exact wording is simply "Residence Permit" so I guess we would need a visa if we still wanted to go to Italy. Hopefully, as your wife has only recently got her ILR, it will be the later type with the necessary wording. Hope this may be of some help.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Trebilcock

[mermot]

My wife has also had her ILR granted recently (two weeks ago) but unfortunately as it still has the wording of 'Residence Permit' rather than 'Family member of an EEA National' we are having to resort to applying at the Italian embassy for a Schengen visa. It most likely looks like jordycarter's wife will need to do the same.

Mermot

[ThaiVisaExpress]

Apply for a Schengen visa .