Dear All,

 

Today my wife got her UK visa for our Christmas holiday. I would like to take her and my son (British citizen) to Paris on a one day trip. I understand that she needs a Schengen visa for this. My main concern is that there is a section where she has to enter where she's staying, but she isn't staying anywhere. Please advise, do I leave that blank? To negate that I am thinking about booking flights/eurostar and attaching the confirmation to her Schengen application.

Secondly, section 34-37, is that me as the EU national?

Is it true that my wife will also have to purchase travel insurance and add that to her Schnegen application?

Any other documents you advise to add to this application?

 

Thank you as always

You are required to submit details of where the applicant is staying, but as you're planning a day trip there should be no requirement, make sure you make your plans obvious in the covering letter and cross reference in the application.
In theory tickets in and out of Schengen are not required for the spouses of EU Nationals, and yes that's you, but proof that you're travelling together would be required so you might want to submit them.
Likewise insurance isn't actually required for the spouse of an EU national, but I'm assuming she will have cover for her trip to the UK, so you might as well include it.
As your spouse there is no need to provide details of finances.
Also as your spouse the application should be free, make sure you provide evidence that she is indeed your spouse and a copy of your passports bio page.

ToG's post is spot on, details can be found in the Schengen sticky topic. :)

4 hours ago, theoldgit said:

You are required to submit details of where the applicant is staying, but as you're planning a day trip there should be no requirement, make sure you make your plans obvious in the covering letter and cross reference in the application.
In theory tickets in and out of Schengen are not required for the spouses of EU Nationals, and yes that's you, but proof that you're travelling together would be required so you might want to submit them.
Likewise insurance isn't actually required for the spouse of an EU national, but I'm assuming she will have cover for her trip to the UK, so you might as well include it.
As your spouse there is no need to provide details of finances.
Also as your spouse the application should be free, make sure you provide evidence that she is indeed your spouse and a copy of your passports bio page.

 

When applying for a Shengen visa for my wife at the Italian Embassy in Bangkok they were very specific that insurance IS required.

 

When applying for a Shengen visa for my wife at the Italian Embassy in Bangkok they were very specific that insurance IS required.

Do you mean at the Embassy or their Visa Application Centre? A couple of years ago my wife applied via their Application Centre, they refused to forward the application unless we supplied evidence of insurance, we did have cover but had forgotten to take it with us. They wouldn't budge so we purchased a cheapo policy nearby, and the visa was granted a few days later.

I wrote to the Consulate who confirmed that insurance wasn't required for the spouse of an EU national, though of course recommended. I also complained to VFS, they apologised and confirmed that I was correct and told me that they would advised their staff of the correct requirements, seems they need to do so again.

1 minute ago, theoldgit said:

Do you mean at the Embassy or their Visa Application Centre? A couple of years ago my wife applied via their Application Centre, they refused to toward the application unless we supplied evidence of insurance, we did have but had forgotten to take it with us. They wouldn't budge so we purchased a cheapo policy nearby, and the visa was granted a few days later.
I wrote to the Consulate who confirmed that insurance wasn't required for the spouse of an EU national, though of course recommended. I also complained to VFS, they apologised and confirmed that I was correct and told me that they would advised their staff of the correct requirements, seems they need to do so again.

 

Direct at the Embassy a couple of years ago.

Insurance is definatly not requires for the spouse of an EU/EEA national traveling to an other member state together ( EU Freedom of movement directive 2004/38). Questions marked with * on the application form can be skipped. They cannot ask for Insurance, hotelbookings, travel reservations, financial details/solvability etc. 

 

Let's hope that the embassy staff has been more properly instructed on the free, minimum paperwork, no hassle for those covered by Freedom of Movement. 

 

Having said that, some embassies don't accept a simple letter from the EU spouse explaining that the couple will travel together so including free travel reservation papers can do no harm. But situations like TOG and you experienced are clear cases of the embassy getting it wrong.

7 hours ago, theoldgit said:

You are required to submit details of where the applicant is staying, but as you're planning a day trip there should be no requirement, make sure you make your plans obvious in the covering letter and cross reference in the application.
In theory tickets in and out of Schengen are not required for the spouses of EU Nationals, and yes that's you, but proof that you're travelling together would be required so you might want to submit them.
Likewise insurance isn't actually required for the spouse of an EU national, but I'm assuming she will have cover for her trip to the UK, so you might as well include it.
As your spouse there is no need to provide details of finances.
Also as your spouse the application should be free, make sure you provide evidence that she is indeed your spouse and a copy of your passports bio page.

 

Thanks for the very informative reply.

When trying to complete the online form on the TSL website I can only select multiple entries when all she needs is a single. I have filled out all the information for my wife in the questionnaire and the next stage is that she is provided with a customised list of documents required. The problem is that there are no documents on this list only information about fingerprints and a link to the general documents required. On the general list is insurance policy that covers up to 1.5 million baht. 

The section of her form relating to where she is staying only says that she intends to arrive on 20/12 and leave on 20/12, for things like name of hotel and address of hotel I simply entered N/A. I will explain this in my covering letter that this is a one day trip and attach the eurostar booking confirmation. 

There is no mention of it being free, although I have cross referenced with the French government website who state that the visa application of a EU national should be "rapid and free of charge."