Schengen question

[Trevstar]

Hello!

The gf is over here on her Second visit visa with no Schenghan visa as we had no trips planned to Europe.

However, we may now be heading to France. Given she has a multi entry UK visa and onward ticket booked to return to thailand - can she apply for her visa at the French embassy in London or is the option totally off the cards?

Any help greatly appreciated as always

[Donutz]

If she was your spouse the French or any other other Schengen embassy (or any other EU/EEA embassy for that matter, such as Bulgaria) would be obligated to accept an application which would be free, handled ASAP and with minimal documentation.

But since she is just your girlfriend, she is a regular tourist and like any other tourist should have applied in advance from a country where she has long term legal residency (country of origin, any country where she has a residence permit for). But in exceptional cases the Schengenmembers should accept an application if it would be unreasonable to tell the applicant to apply from a country where one has (long term) residency. For instance a funeral due to someone dear to the applicant taking place in the memberstate, an unplanned urgent business meeting or any other unplanned important event. You could ofcourse always ask the French but the likely aswer is to be "nope, apply from BKK or come back if you have residency here in the UK or happen to be the spouse of a UK citizen".

Edit, the Handbook for Embassies has this to say:

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2.8. Can a consulate accept an application from an applicant not residing in the
jurisdiction of the consulate?

Legal basis: Visa Code, Article 6

As a general rule, only applications from persons who reside legally in the jurisdiction of the
competent consulate (as described in points 2.1-2.5) should be accepted.
However, an application may be accepted from a person legally present – but not residing - in
the jurisdiction of the consulate where the application is submitted, if he can justify why the
application could not be lodged at a consulate in his place of residence. It is for the consulate
to appreciate whether the justification presented by the applicant is acceptable.
"Non-residing applicant" means an applicant who resides elsewhere but is legally present
within the jurisdiction of the consulate where he submits the application.
"Legally present" means that the applicant is entitled to stay temporarily in the jurisdiction on
the basis of the legislation of the third country where he is present either for a short stay or
when he is allowed to stay for a longer period of time while maintaining his permanent
residence in another third country.

Example: A Peruvian artist is scheduled to perform in Portugal on 25.5., and from 20.2. to
15.5 she is performing in Canada and the United States.
Under such circumstances a Portuguese consulate in Canada or the United States should allow
the applicant to submit the application,because it would be impossible for her to apply while
still in her country of residence given the rule of not applying for a visa earlier than three
months before the date of the intended entry into the territory of the Member States.

Example: A Chinese professor has travelled to London to teach at a university summer
school. During her stay, her father, who lives in France, falls seriously ill and in order to
travel to France the Chinese woman applies for a visa at the French consulate in London.

The French consulate in London should deal with the application because it would be
excessive to require the person concerned to return to her country of residence to apply for the
visa.

Example: A Moroccan national who spends his holidays in Montreal (Canada) wishes to
apply for a visa to travel to Germany at the German consulate in Montreal. He claims that the
waiting time for obtaining an appointment for submitting the application at the German
consulate in Rabat (Morocco) is too long.
The German consulate in Montreal should not accept to deal with the application, because the
justification is unfounded.

Example: An accredited commercial intermediary lodges the applications of a group of
Russian tourists at the Spanish Consulate General in Moscow. All of them will travel together
to Spain for two weeks. The majority of them reside in the jurisdiction of the Spanish
Consulate in Moscow while some others reside in the jurisdiction of the Spanish Consulate in
Saint Petersburg.
The Spanish consulate in Moscow should deal with the applications.

Example: A Russian businessman from Novorossiysk (Russia) has travelled to Moscow
(Russia) for a trade fair. There he meets a Greek business person who invites him to come to
Athens (Greece) straight away in order to establish a contract for a future business
relationship. The Russian businessman wishes to apply for a visa at the Greek consulate in
Moscow because the approximate travel/road distance between Moscow and Novorossiysk is
around 1500 km.
The Greek consulate in Moscow should deal with the application because it would be
excessive to require the person concerned to return to his city of residence to apply for the
visa.

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Source: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/visa-policy/docs/20140709_visa_code_handbook_consolidated_en.pdf

Edited July 13, 2015 by Donutz