Holiday in Spain

[naruk86]

Hi my wife is currently on flr (M) in the UK. We are looking at going on holiday in Spain. I am UK citizen. Looking online we're being sent to visahq.co.uk they're looking at nearly £150 once application is completed.

Is this right? Thought I looked previously and it was like a £20 admin fee.

Anyone able to offer us some advice on what to do or direct us to another post where this is covered? I can't find anything

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[naruk86]

found the official site with a fee of £12.80 :-)
uk.blsspainvisa.com

[naruk86]

since discovered application center is no longer in Manchester. so need to travel to Edinburgh.
Advice to everyone don't travel to Spain until she has a British passport

[meatboy]

it cost the wife over 85 quid that was 23yrs.ago before she had a british passport.

[Donutz]

If you check the Schengen sticky you will see that:

- for the non EEA spouse and other direct family of an EEA/EU national a Schengen (and UK, or Irish, or Bulgarian, ...) visa would be without any visa fee. This does not apply to those foreigners who travel/join to the country of the EU national.

- there may be a service fee if you chose the 100% optional service provider  (often VFS Global or TLS Contact, Spain recently signed a contract with an other company which name now escapes me) there will be a service fee. But since there is the right of direct access you can entirely bypasd these service providers for a Schengen visa

- some embassies are more laid back and friendly than others. Consider traveling to those EU countries as your main travel goal insteas. See the ton of topics throughout this forum for examples.

[naruk86]

That other company is BLS they sent me an email saying if she has a biometric residence permit and travelling with me. She does not require a visa.

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[naruk86]

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[rasg]

They are wrong.

 

It applies to all EU passport holders that are in the Schengen area. The UK are not.

 

Spain is one of the more difficult Embassies to get a Schengen visa as they give you more hoops to jump through that they shouldn't but they shouldn't charge you for it if you bypass their outsourcing company which you are allowed to do.

 

Other Embassies that are more enlightened make things a lot easier. We are off to Iceland in a few weeks and we drove to London a few weeks ago and came back with the visa in my wife's passport. The usually take up to 15 days.

 

 

[Donutz]

What a confusing email from BLS. 

You are British and didn't do the Surinder Singh route either so your wife will not have a residency card stating 'family member of an EU national'.

 

Therefor she will need a visa. This visa will be issued without a visa fee, asap and with minimum documentation. See sticky topic for details.

 

If you chose to use the entirely optional services of BLS they will charge a service fee. If you deal directly with tje Spaniards insteas (easiest would be to ask an appointment via email, sent the request via the post if you wish like they ask but that only wastes their time as they need to give you an appointment within 2 weeks of you having sent the request) then BLS is not in the loop and there wont be a service fee.

[naruk86]

She does have a brp after gaining flr (m)

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[naruk86]

Directive 2004/38/EC

(5)
The right of all Union citizens to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States should, if it is to be exercised under objective conditions of freedom and dignity, be also granted to their family members, irrespective of nationality. For the purposes of this Directive, the definition of "family member" should also include the registered partner if the legislation of the host Member State treats registered partnership as equivalent to marriage.

This is on the EU government's website. Therefore, the email from BLS is correct?
Has anyone known of someone being turned away by entering without a Schengen visa?



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[rasg]

As I explained in an earlier post, as  UK citizen, you are not in the Schengen area and you will need a visa.

 

You can try turning up in Spain with your marriage certificate. Good luck with that. If you are flying they probably won’t let your wife board the plane.

[naruk86]

This is eu law not Schengen law. Reading back only 1 case has been reported of refusal of entry without said Schengen visa. This couple was refused in Madrid and they tried to sue. This made immigration officers more aware of the European law and nobody has been refused since.

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[naruk86]

As I explained in an earlier post, as  UK citizen, you are not in the Schengen area and you will need a visa.
 
You can try turning up in Spain with your marriage certificate. Good luck with that. If you are flying they probably won’t let your wife board the plane.

I have since read hours of text on this. Your advice seems to be the general consensus. All good and well a visa should be issued at the border. However, airlines will not be happy to fly someone without the said visa.
So it is getting to the border. I would have been happy to be held up in a Spanish border for a couple of hours rather than travelling up to Scotland and lose a days pay for each of us. It seems like I will need to take the high Road though. A couple of emails have been sent to the Spanish Embassy and Ryanair regarding the matter. I sent those before reading many saying try getting on the plane in the first place.

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[rasg]

They could still turn you away at the border but at least you can argue about it.

 

I am fortunate as far as work is concerned because I am self employed so going to an embassy in the week is not a problem.

 

Better with a visa I think.

Edited February 6, 2017 by rasg

[naruk86]

Thanks for the advice. Any advice on a Thai marriage certificate? They state that they want it translated into English (we have a 'certified' translation). It must also be legalised according to the Hague 1961 apostille convention. How can this be done? The Thai embassy can legalise the translation for £10 I believe. Thailand is not part of the said convention though.
The UK fco will only legalise UK official documents.

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[rasg]

I've never had to get one as we were married in the UK. Sorry I can't help.

[Donutz]

5 hours ago, naruk86 said:

I have since read hours of text on this. Your advice seems to be the general consensus. All good and well a visa should be issued at the border. However, airlines will not be happy to fly someone without the said visa.
So it is getting to the border. I would have been happy to be held up in a Spanish border for a couple of hours rather than travelling up to Scotland and lose a days pay for each of us. It seems like I will need to take the high Road though. A couple of emails have been sent to the Spanish Embassy and Ryanair regarding the matter. I sent those before reading many saying try getting on the plane in the first place.

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Yes correct, technically your wife would be legal if she was by your side and you could show officials who you are (passports) and family relation (marriage papers). For the sake of making things easier your wife would get or need to get a visa if you indeed could show the before mentioned. Such a visa could be issued at the border but one would need to try and reach the border first. Sonething an airliner would not allow since theyd refuse to let her board without visa. 

 

I do assume that you have now read both the EU webpage on traveling with non EU family and the Handbook for embassy staff (of which section 3 is about freedom of movement) from EU home affairs.

 

As far as those fancy stamps go: you either legalize them or get an apostille. Cant get both. So since Thailand is not part of the convention the Thai document would need* to be legalized by the Thai MFA and a European embassy (either Spain or UK should be perfectly fine, they just verify that the Thai legalisation is legit). 

 

*technically there is no hard demand for legalisation or translation but authorities may request this in order to verify that the documents presented are genuine. But I'm sure you are aware of this after having read the EU documentation and webpages on this.

[naruk86]

Yes correct, technically your wife would be legal if she was by your side and you could show officials who you are (passports) and family relation (marriage papers). For the sake of making things easier your wife would get or need to get a visa if you indeed could show the before mentioned. Such a visa could be issued at the border but one would need to try and reach the border first. Sonething an airliner would not allow since theyd refuse to let her board without visa. 
 
I do assume that you have now read both the EU webpage on traveling with non EU family and the Handbook for embassy staff (of which section 3 is about freedom of movement) from EU home affairs.
 
As far as those fancy stamps go: you either legalize them or get an apostille. Cant get both. So since Thailand is not part of the convention the Thai document would need* to be legalized by the Thai MFA and a European embassy (either Spain or UK should be perfectly fine, they just verify that the Thai legalisation is legit). 
 
*technically there is no hard demand for legalisation or translation but authorities may request this in order to verify that the documents presented are genuine. But I'm sure you are aware of this after having read the EU documentation and webpages on this.

Yes after reading said EU webpages I am aware they must make matters quick and easy. However, on the same webpages it does not say what to do with a Thai marriage certificate.

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