UK and France Visa

[puffy]

Hi,

I a going to the UK with my wife and family in July. Have been to the UK before with family so not

to worried about that visa. We would also like to go to Paris for a week. I have read many different things

on this so if anybody has any experience, your advice would be appreciated.

I saw if you are married to an EU citizen and are travelling from and going back to the UK you can get a visa on arrival.

I also saw you can get a visa from the French embassy in London, and I have also seen you should get it from your home

country.

So can someone suggest which is the best way to go about this, obviously a visa on arrival sounds great if true.

Thanks in advance for all on topic helpful responses.

[beano2274]

there is no visa on arrival in Schengen countries, your wife should get a visa in Bangkok before travelling to Europe.

[Richard W]

there is no visa on arrival in Schengen countries, your wife should get a visa in Bangkok before travelling to Europe.

Well, there is the 'visa' that EU family members are supposed to get when they arrive with their foreign EU national. As Thais can get to the French border from the UK without a visa, the family should be able to get 'visas on arrival' for France provided they have birth and marriage certificates and acceptable translations/legalisation.

[Donutz]

Technically if a Briton is with a Thai spouse in France (or any other EU/EEA member except Britain), there would not even be a need for a visa as legal status for any stay would be derived from the Freedom of Movement directive. But good luck finding an official who will acknowledge that. So a visa, issued for free and with minimal requirements would be the way to go.

You can get the visa from any relevant (in your case French) embassy. The one in London, BKK or if you happen to be in Tokyo they should help you out there aswell.

A visa could also be granted at the border if you can show that you are legally married. But good luck trying to get an airliner letting you board. You'd need to be able to reach the French border yourself which pretty much means to go by the tunnel or ferry. But they probably would prefer a visa obtained via the embassy. I'd recommend that your wife gets the free visa from the London/BKK embassy and if that is no option, going to the border yourself with your wife.

More info in the Schengen sticky:

If the applicant is travelling to another Schengen member state then the one that your EU family member is a national of, and you are travelling together or the non EU/EEA national family member is travelling to join the EU/EEA national family member, then you are entitled to a FREE visa which should be granted swiftly (accelerated procedure) and with minimum hassle. Your application falls under directive 2004/38/EC regarding the Freedom of Movement. A minimum of documentation and requirements apply.

It's important to know who qualifies as a family member of an EU/EEA citizen though.

Who qualifies?:

The non-EU spouse, (grand)children or (grand)parents. And only If they will be travelling together with you, or joining you in another EU country then the country you are a citizen of. Your registered partner and extended family - siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and so on - can ask the authorities in an EU country to officially recognise them as family members of an EU national. EU countries do not have to recognise them as your family members but they do at least have to consider the request.

Example: a German and his Thai spouse have to apply for a regular C type visa if they are applying for a stay in Germany. If they would go on holiday to Spain for instance, they would be able to apply for the EU/EEA family member visa.

Requirements:

A minimum of documentation and requirements apply: travel insurance is not required, hotel bookings are not required, transport bookings (flight) is not required etc. For a spouse the marriage certificate + possibly legalisation by the local ministry of foreign affairs to confirm it's a genuine document + official translation to a language that the embassy can read should be sufficient. Sadly not all embassies apply the Visa Code properly. There should be no need for hotel reservations, insurance or other such things. They may for instance ask that your marriage is registrated in the EU. That most certainly is not a requirement (the EU directive simply requires you to be genuinly married). It could be more efficient to cooperate with such silly demands but if you are unable or unwilling to do so due to cost or time constraints, you would be in your right to point out that the embassy is asking too much.

What is required:

- Show that the applicant (non EU) is first line family of an EU national: provide the marriage certificat (translated if need be, there should be no need to register a Thai marriage in the EU spouse his/her country).

- Provide passports of the both of you so they can ID you.

- Confirmation that the two of you will be traveling together or joining eachother in the member state: declaration by the EU spouse, optionally as extra evidence a reservation for transport to the EU.

It is always best for non-EU family members to be well informed in advance and have all the necessary documents before starting their journey. However, if they arrive at the border without an entry visa, the border authorities should give them the opportunity to prove by other means that they are your family members. If they manage to prove it, they should be issued with an entry visa on the spot.

[Donutz]

there is no visa on arrival in Schengen countries, your wife should get a visa in Bangkok before travelling to Europe.

Well, there is the 'visa' that EU family members are supposed to get when they arrive with their foreign EU national. As Thais can get to the French border from the UK without a visa, the family should be able to get 'visas on arrival' for France provided they have birth and marriage certificates and acceptable translations/legalisation.

technically evidence of a legal marriage (plus travel together and ID-ing the both of you via passports) is sufficient. In order to verify this they could ask for a translation if they cannot read the original marriage document and they may require legalisation if they need so to verify the document is the real deal. In practise this means many embassies atleast want legalisation and may need a translation if they cannot reas the document (European staff may often not know Thai).

[puffy]

Thank you for your responses, Donutz and Richard W which have been very helpful.

We will be going to France from Dover to Calais by ferry.

[Donutz]

Let us know how everything worked out, would be useful for others to hear about your experience.

I would suggest getting the visa in BKK, but if that is too costly/inpractical then you could go for option of approaching the French border. Make sure that you can reach the border and have the paperwork in order. After little or a bit of discussion the French should issue the visas. Would ofcourse depend on which officer you meet, a less experienced or more grumphy one may need more convincing then an experienced, friendly border officer. In any case their supperiors ought to know. It's the same the other way around with mainland EUropeans heading for the UK, you read reporta about certain officers issueing the visa (A1 stamp) swiftly while others will get into a discussion and seem very much not amused. No saying in if they will work everything out in a few minutes or take a whole hour to do so. Leave plenty of time just incase you do find yourself arguing with border (or ferry?) staff.

You may also which to read the second post in the sticky if you haven't done so. Posted by TheOldGit, put together by me, it gives a good understanding on how officials should deal with visa applications for EU family members:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/724180-schengen-visa-faq-when-applying-from-thailand/#entry9406967