Spanish Visa Update

[owenjones]

Hi,

 

Some of you will remember previous posts.

Anyway, on Thurs 6th Nov, we went to the Spanish Emb in BKK with our paperwork thinking our probs were over and we would be in Spain on the 24th.

How naive!

They suddenly wanted a Special Branch criminality check and a WHO health report on my wife, which need to be verified by the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and they said that the MFA validity stamp on our marriage cert was not sufficient, because it only stated that the papers had been seen. They have to guarantee the registrar's signature.

So, off the police headquarters. It says on the wall: do this, do that and seven days later you have your certificate. From the 6th, that still gave us plenty of time, but when the crunch came, they said that it would take at least until Dec 16th.

That meant the flights and my Thai visa would expire. So, off to Laos, eh?

No, because I only have one page left in my passport and you need two.

So, I phoned the British Emb for an Emergency Travel Doc.

"Cannot, sir, not until you have explored all other avenues".

"But how will you know that I have?"

"We will believe you".

"Well, why not just do it now?"

"Cannot, sir. Try applying for a new one in London".

"But my visa expires in about three weeks..."

"Sorry, sir".

We obtained the health report and then left for Pattaya to sort the marriage cert out.

The registrar from 10 yrs ago had moved on, so they performed some magic with a photocopier and promised that we had what we needed.

Jomtien to talk to Immigration.

The officer was helpful and sympathetic, suggesting we enter Laos, stay one night and return with a 15-day visa, and then return to her for another 30 days (please remember this point, I have a question).

After that my passport will be full and it will take me to 8-9 Jan.

OK, I asked the Spanish Emb how long they need to process our papers over Christmas etc, if we hand them in on Dec 20th.

About 21 days, which takes us to the 10th, which overshoots my visa by a day or two, unless Jomtien can give me another 60 day visa because I am married.

Do you think this is possible?

That will also allow me to pick a day for the return flight with a comfortable padding of 10 days, because I don't trust that the police report will arrive on time.

Sorry for the long post, but the details are necessary.

 

Regards,

Owen

PS: If you are wondering why I came here with only two pages, that is another story which happened in Spain.

[Donutz]

Your previous topic for those who want to check your original topic:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/948125-validating-a-thai-marriage-certificate/?page=1

 

The Spanish really are taking you and your wife for a ride! 

 

For a Schengen visa for your wife officially you would only need proof of marriage, and if they cannot verify that the marriagepapers are legit they can also ask for legalisation stamps (by the Thai MFA). And if no staff can read Thai they can also ask for an official translation of the papers.

 

Getting police papers and auch us a load of *#{%^! And the visa request must be handled ASAP, and no longer then 15 calendar days. Only in exceptional cases could they go over those limits.

 

Now perhaps you are an ex con and your or your spouse trigger red flags in Interpol's database... 555 that could be the only understandable reaaon that the Spanish are treating you as garbage not deserving proper execution of Freedom of Movement.

 

Any luck with Solvit? And how about EU Home Affairs? Or the Spanish MFA in Madrid? Madrid knows that they implemented the EU rules incorrectly in Spanish law.

 

Other users shared there headaches about the Spanish wrongfully insisting on seeing some sort of confirmation from the Eu/EEA nationals country that they acknowledge the marriage but that and asking for travel reservation and or hotel booking (also something they should not) seemed to be the worst of it.

 

So what did you do for the Spanish c***s to hate you so much? 555

 

hope you get it sorted out. In theory if Spain played by the book your wife already should have the visa and with much less hassle. And there still should be plenty of time if the visa waa still being processed since the Spaniards need to work as fas as possible. But... Good luck and I can only hope they drop their act and help you out in time. Keep us updated!

 

 

 

[thetruth revealer]

@Donutz   The question is how quick would Solvit help out if there are already bookings made....

Edited December 1, 2016 by theoldgit
Long follow on quote removed, as per Forum Rules.

[theoldgit]

1 hour ago, thetruth revealer said:

@Donutz   The question is how quick would Solvit help out if there are already bookings made....

 

In my dealings with Solvit I found them to be fairly quick in acting, probably not as quick as you're hoping for though. I imagine it would depend on the complexity of the issue, the response time from the Competent Authority and how busy they are themselves.

[thetruth revealer]

9 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

 

In my dealings with Solvit I found them to be fairly quick in acting, probably not as quick as you're hoping for though. I imagine it would depend on the complexity of the issue, the response time from the Competent Authority and how busy they are themselves.

Luckely we have plenty time to plan everything for our trip to spain, next summer...

Nonetheless its essential to get prepared for the process and know what to expect and how to act if things getting complicated. I just sent a general inquiry directly to the Spain Embassy in BKK  to start some communication and will keep on going until the Goal is reached. I have learned to prepare myself for Immigration Issues, especially in our case my Wife is Filipina and we went trough Immigration Manila easy , but without beeing prepared with Return Ticket and Pictures proofing our relationship she would have likely been refused boarding, even travelling within ASEAN because the Filipino Immigration are potentially very difficult to handle and also famous for this.

I will up date in our case how things worked in near future as well.

 

NEVER GIVE UP ....