Irish Court Confirms Right Of Eu Spouse To Visa At The Airport On Arrival

[goatfarmer]

Last year there was a discussion in this forum on the question of whether or not the beneficiary of EU Directive 2004/38 is entitled to arrive at the airport of a Member State without a visa and be given a visa on the spot. I wrote:

"I don't think it is correct to say that the family member of an EU citizen is entitled to travel to the EU without a visa. Article 5(2) of the Directive says that family members shall only be required to have a visa and that such visa shall be issued free of charge as soon as possible and on the basis of an accelerated procedure. It sounds to me that the Directive requires them to have a visa and that the exception should only be in exceptional cases."

http://www.thaivisa....al/page__st__50

An Irish court has ruled on this issue and it appears that my "exceptional cases" interpretation is wrong. The court found the Irish State in breach of the Directive by not having available a facility to grant a visa at the airport to the spouse of an EU citizen who arrived without a visa but who had proof that she was a beneficiary of the Directive.

"There was thus a clear breach of the Directive in that Ms. Raducan was not offered the possibility of securing a visa on her arrival at Dublin Airport."

http://courts.ie/Jud...02578b8005ae84f

The case is probably only of practical value for EU spouses who also have a residence card in a member state other than that which they are attempting to enter as it would be difficult to persuade airlines to carry an EU spouse who merely had a marriage certificate. Nonetheless, the case does indicate that beneficiaries of the Directive who arrive at the border of a member state without a visa are entitled to be granted a visa at the border if they can prove that they are beneficiaries of the Directive; (ie, by presenting a marriage certificate and travelling with an EU spouse from another member state). There is no requirement, as I wrote in the post quoted above, that a visa should only be granted at the airport/border in exceptional circumstances.

I should emphasize that this argument is purely of academic interest as no one from a country who needs a visa would persuade an airline to carry them if they don't have a visa and no one in his right mind would tempt the ignorance of border control if the alternative is getting a visa for free before departure.

Edited January 27, 2013 by goatfarmer

[Tawai]

Thanks for your informative posting.

Lets see how long the lawmakers in the EU will bring this ruling into force and will stop to hassle us with completly unnecessary procedures to follow.

In our families case we have to apply for my spouses tourist visa at the embassy in Bkk in person! They already have seen the required documents over and over as we travel every year to EU with our kids. Nonetheless we have to travel from the north down to the big mango.

Would love to see a change to this bureaucratic hassle soonest. Trouble is how can WE make our governments to serve us better.

[goatfarmer]

Tawai, push the embassy of the country to which you travel in the EU most frequently, not being your own country, to give your spouse a multiple entry visa for the duration of her passport.

[7by7]

Lets see how long the lawmakers in the EU will bring this ruling into force and will stop to hassle us with completely unnecessary procedures to follow.

It is already EU law, and has been for many years.

As the OP says, an Irish court has found that the Irish state was not applying EU law correctly.

As the OP says, production of a marriage certificate or other proof that the non EU citizen is a qualifying family member of an EU citizen and evidence that they are traveling with or to join that EU citizen family member is, legally, all that is required to be granted entry.

The problem comes, mainly, with persuading the airline to let you board without a visa in the first place!

There is also the potential delay on arrival whilst proving to immigration that you do meet the requirements.

Better, in my opinion, to obtain the relevant visa(s) in advance of travel. For qualifying members of EU citizens who are traveling with or to join that EU citizen the visa(s) should be easy and quick to obtain, and free.

[tebee]

You have to love the judge in that case

" Short of the fanciful suggestion that Ms. Raducan had some covert desire to experience at first hand conditions in the Dóchas Centre, one cannot posit any rational explanation as to why she would not attempt to produce documents which we know were in her possession at the time and of whose importance she was clearly aware."

Think he was having fun