Hi all

Can anyone help with this. My wife has been in the UK for nearly 9 years and has ILR we want to take a short weekend break to Amsterdam and I wondered what if any visa is needed for this. Does the freedom to roam apply here or would that only be if I had Dutch family.

I guess its a shengen visa I need and how easy/much hassle is it to get one?

Sorry if this is a repeat topic or in the wrong place and excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes as I'm typing this on my phone.

Thanks

J

I assume that you are British.

Strictly speaking, your wife does not need any visa; as long as she can prove on arrival to Dutch immigration's satisfaction that she is your wife and is travelling with or to join you. See Arriving at the border without an entry visa on this page.

However, not only may this cause delay at Dutch immigration, it could also cause problems with your carrier who may refuse to carry her without a visa.

So as a Schengen visa for the spouse of an EEA national is free and quick and easy to obtain; I'd get one.

See Applying for a Visa from the Dutch embassy. Note that as she is the spouse of an EEA national, most of the questions on the form and other requirements wont apply to her.

Edit: May I ask why she has not yet applied for naturalisation as British?

If she had done so she could use her British passport the same as you.

Both the UK and Thailand allow dual nationality.

Great thanks for that it's exactly the info I was after. I am British so everything applies.

In answer to your question we have not yet got her a British passport due to (how I understand it) she would have to pass another English test despite having passed the life in the uk test etc etc her English is near enough fluent so it's not because she wouldn't pass but it's just another thing we have not yet got round to. Plus it will cost about £1000 in total. It really would save us a lot of hassle though so it's next on my list of things to do. Life, kids, house, family and other holidays have just got in the way of doing it so far

Dutch immigration seem to be a pretty laid back lot but the airline will probably not be so accommodating. They asked our daughter to stand back a bit (which worried her) but it was only so some of their colleagues above could wave at her!! I would have been a bit concerned if they had not been only slightly older than she was!

This was Schiphol and it was a very nice change from the miserable lot we faced at UK immigration. They were barely polite!

In addition to 7by7's excellent post (use those as a primairy source), you may find the sticky post on Schengen useful. It explains the basis of standard and EU-spouse (family member) applications for a Schengen visa in a less formal way:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/724180-schengen-visa-faq-when-applying-from-thailand/

The second post by ToG quotes the Handbook for Embassy staff on how to deal with EU family member visa applications.

From what I can tell from these forums and elsewhere, the Dutch are generally laid back so if if you read the instructions there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

Thanks for all the info guys we are going to go them for the shengen visa and then make getting a uk passport our next priority.