Visa machine broken

[CiaranO]

Emailed the Portuguese embassy today to make an appointment for my wife for her schengen visa. Got an email back asking me to call them. When I called a very pleasant man told me the visa machine was broken and could I call back Friday to check again before he made an appointment as he is waiting on the technician from Portugal to tell him about fixing it.

Problem is we are going to Ireland in May and then Visiting my parents in Portugal or at least that was the plan.

[bigyin]

Is the visa not free as the wife of an EU citizen?

[7by7]

If travelling with or to join their EEA national spouse (or other qualifying family member) then the visa is free.

Unless entering the country of which the EEA national is a citizen. In which case the freedom of movement directive does not apply and they have to apply for the appropriate entry clearance under that country's immigration rules. (Unless Surinder Singh applies, but let's keep it simple!)

CiaranO, as you wont be travelling until May and as visas applied for under the directive are not only free but also have to be issued with the minimum of delay, then to be honest I don't see that you'll have a problem waiting until next week to apply for her Portuguese visa.

(If memory serves you are Irish, and presumably have already obtained her Irish visa. If not, then I'd recommend getting that first and then applying for the Portuguese one.)

[CiaranO]

Thanks 7 by 7. Already got the Irish visa. Picked it up today. Just waiting to here if the Portuguese embassy got there visa machine fixed yet.

[CiaranO]

Just to update we lucked up her schengen the other day. Inside a lovely surprise of a six month multiple entry visa. Must say the guy in the visa section was the politest guy I have ever met and very helpful.

[Donutz]

Good to hear it finally got resolved, but 1,5 months of waiting is much too long. If you did not had such time the Portugese might very likely gave been required to arrange the visa within 2 weeks of accepting the application, such as getting an other embassy in BKK to print the sticker or an other Portugese embassy in the region to print the sticker.

[CiaranO]

Actually it was our fault - we couldnt get back to BKK until then to collect it. It was actually ready within a week.