Thai Wife With Uk Ilr Travelling To Spain Without Shengen ?

[jasonr3255]

This is the email I sent...

Dear Sir Madam,

I am planning to travel to Spain with my wife on the 17th September. for 1 week.

She currently holds a UK Resident Permit. I spoke to somebody from your Embassy who kindly asked us to email the attached documents to confirm if my wife can travel with me to Spain on her UK Resident Permit. Can you please confirm that this is possible, and that as the wife of a British National holding a Resident Permit she may "not" require a Visa to travel so as to avoid confusion at the point of entry in Spain.

Please find attached

Passport Data Page: Mr J

Passport Data Page: Miss I

Resident Permit Page: Miss I

Marriage Certificate with certified Translation.

Kind Regards

And This is the reply.....

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thanks for the email.

Your marriage certificate needs to be apostilled by the Thai embassy in London to enable your wife to apply as an EU spouse. If not, she has to apply as a normal tourist.

Kind regards,

Joint Visa Officer

Still they have not answered my question.....!

Anybody know the answer..?

Thanks

[VisasPlus]

EU visa regulations are fairly complex, and often seem not to make much sense. I'll try to give one view on it, but different advice may well be given by others. If you want to take your UK resident wife to an EU country on a visit then the following guidance from the German immigration authorities is probably correct in that it applies to all EU nationals :-

" Please note that not all EU members fully apply the Schengen Ageement, but that some non-EU countries do apply it fully.

Non-EU citizens living in one of the countries that do apply the agreement fully (so-called Schengen States) with a valid residence permit do not need a visa for visits to Germany of up to 90 days per six months without taking up work.

Schengen states:

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. For non-EU citizens living in another European country regular visa regulations apply. "

The final sentence seems to apply in your situation, and indicates that a visa is required. However, I think the Spanish Embassy is saying that your wife could apply for a visa as Family Member of an EEA-EU citizen, which she can. Such a visa is issued free of charge. I think, and I stand to be corrected, that your wife can still apply for a Schengen visitor visa if you/she wants.

The bottom line appears to be that a visa of some kind is required.

[jasonr3255]

EU visa regulations are fairly complex, and often seem not to make much sense. I'll try to give one view on it, but different advice may well be given by others. If you want to take your UK resident wife to an EU country on a visit then the following guidance from the German immigration authorities is probably correct in that it applies to all EU nationals :-

" Please note that not all EU members fully apply the Schengen Ageement, but that some non-EU countries do apply it fully.

Non-EU citizens living in one of the countries that do apply the agreement fully (so-called Schengen States) with a valid residence permit do not need a visa for visits to Germany of up to 90 days per six months without taking up work.

Schengen states:

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. For non-EU citizens living in another European country regular visa regulations apply. "

The final sentence seems to apply in your situation, and indicates that a visa is required. However, I think the Spanish Embassy is saying that your wife could apply for a visa as Family Member of an EEA-EU citizen, which she can. Such a visa is issued free of charge. I think, and I stand to be corrected, that your wife can still apply for a Schengen visitor visa if you/she wants.

The bottom line appears to be that a visa of some kind is required.

Thanks for your reply..! Very Helpful

They have replied since and confirmed she does need a Visa !

[personchester]

Yes, you have to apply, I made a Europe travel with my Thai wife whilst living together in the UK and she had the full permission to stay permanently in the UK, but since the UK declined to sign the Schengen agreement, my wife had to apply for a Schengen visa which we got (little financial and insurance conditions apply.

Any Shengen state Embassy can issue a Schengen visa that allows people to enter any of the Schengen states (we went to (4) of them.

It is a petty that the Uk did not enter the Schengen agreement in order to make travel into Shengen states easier for Thai wife's (or others) in the UK. the reason being that politicians at the time still regarded Britain as an Empire and put their nose up on the Shengen agreement.

Edited September 11, 2010 by personchester

[msg362]

We went to France from Thailand recently. The Consul in CM said that if our marriage was recognised in the UK ( and it is) then the visa is issued free, if not it costs 60 euros I think. I think that is what the Spanish embassy was saying, but not really sure. The French Schengen visa took about three weeks. It was multi entry and was valid for 6 weeks I think, it can be extended in the country somehow If France is the first point of entry, get it from them, I think that is also a rule.

[theoldgit]

It is a petty that the Uk did not enter the Schengen agreement in order to make travel into Shengen states easier for Thai wife's (or others) in the UK. the reason being that politicians at the time still regarded Britain as an Empire and put their nose up on the Shengen agreement.

Yes it would make it easier for anybody who wished to travel within the Schengen area but that would mean that anybody who made to mainland Europe would have unfettered access to the UK as there would effectively be no border controls between mainland Europe and the UK.

You have to remember that at the time the Schengen agreement was being negotiated there was a large camp of people at Sangatte attempting to enter the UK by fair means or foul, and if the UK was signed up they would have just jumped on a train to the promised land. Whilst the camp was shut down there are still large numbers attempting to enter the UK by this route.

[personchester]

We went to France from Thailand recently. The Consul in CM said that if our marriage was recognised in the UK ( and it is) then the visa is issued free, if not it costs 60 euros I think. I think that is what the Spanish embassy was saying, but not really sure. The French Schengen visa took about three weeks. It was multi entry and was valid for 6 weeks I think, it can be extended in the country somehow If France is the first point of entry, get it from them, I think that is also a rule.

No, that is not the rule, I went in London to the nearest embassy (German) and after a one hour queue got the Shengen visa for my wife via post (registered letter) the following day.

We travelled by car via the Channel Tunnel into France, Belgium, Holland, and then Germany, thus Germany was the last country we entered, the fact that Germany as the last visited country provided the Shengen visa was perfectly in order, no problem at all.

[theoldgit]

No, that is not the rule, I went in London to the nearest embassy (German) and after a one hour queue got the Shengen visa for my wife via post (registered letter) the following day.

We travelled by car via the Channel Tunnel into France, Belgium, Holland, and then Germany, thus Germany was the last country we entered, the fact that Germany as the last visited country provided the Shengen visa was perfectly in order, no problem at all.

No, the rule is that you should apply at the country in the Schengen Area that is your main destination, and given that you have to supply proof of your planned journey with the application is can easily be checked.

I don't know if the visa officers or the Immigration Officers at the port of entry into Schengen enforce this rule or not.

You however cannot submit your visa application to a consular authority in any Schengen country. The competent consular authority is determined by your main destination, which is the country in which you plan to stay the longest:

• If France is your main destination, you must submit your application to the French consular authority;
• If another Schengen country is your main destination, you must submit your application to the consular authority of that country.If the stays in the different Schengen countries are of the same length, the country where you first enter the Schengen area is the one with the power to issue your visa.

Edited September 12, 2010 by theoldgit

[personchester]

No, that is not the rule, I went in London to the nearest embassy (German) and after a one hour queue got the Shengen visa for my wife via post (registered letter) the following day.

We travelled by car via the Channel Tunnel into France, Belgium, Holland, and then Germany, thus Germany was the last country we entered, the fact that Germany as the last visited country provided the Shengen visa was perfectly in order, no problem at all.

No, the rule is that you should apply at the country in the Schengen Area that is your main destination, and given that you have to supply proof of your planned journey with the application is can easily be checked.

I don't know if the visa officers or the Immigration Officers at the port of entry into Schengen enforce this rule or not.

You however cannot submit your visa application to a consular authority in any Schengen country. The competent consular authority is determined by your main destination, which is the country in which you plan to stay the longest:

• If France is your main destination, you must submit your application to the French consular authority;
• If another Schengen country is your main destination, you must submit your application to the consular authority of that country.If the stays in the different Schengen countries are of the same length, the country where you first enter the Schengen area is the one with the power to issue your visa.

I had not planed to visit a particular country at all, the reason I went to the German embassy in London was because it was the nearest to my house, the received Shengen visa from the German embassy was only checked once, and that was after leaving the Channel Tunnel and entering France, after that there was free entry into Belgium, Holland, and Germany, that is to say no" visa check" was done when passing those frontiers, had I not entered Germany no one would have known, that is how it was.