Some visa advice please

[Kieranmc]

My wife and myself will be travelling back to my home county, the Republic of Ireland, in July for 1 month. We have travelled a few times before but  want to make sure I have everything covered.

 

We have secured her Irish Visit Visa. On July 1st we will travel to Ireland.

 

On July 9th we plan to travel to London for 4 nights - what visa should we apply for ? regular tourist visa or EEA family permit?

 

On July 13th we will fly to Rome, Italy for 4 nights and then on July 17th we will fly to Portugal for 6 nights departing on the 23rd. Where do we apply for the Schengen visa? Italian Embassy or Portuguese?

 

I would appreciate your advice.

 

 

[Kieranmc]

Anyone ? 

[CharlieH]

The Shengen visa should be applied for from the Country that is point of entry into the Shengen area as far as I know.

[LongTimeLurker]

Applying at Italian Embassy Bangkok IME is very easy but you are supposed to apply in the country you will spend the most time in. I didn't.

[theoldgit]

LongTimeLurker is spot on, the Schengen rules state that a visa should be applied for via the Consulate with jurisdiction for your main destination, the main destination is defined as the Member State where the applicant intends spending the longest period of time, if the applicant intends spending an equal amount of time in a number of Member States then they should apply via the Consulate with jurisdiction for the country where they enter the Schengen Area.

 

Some Schengen States are very robust with their interpretation of this rule, others seemingly not so, the French for example have been know to count the hours. So according to the rules your wife should apply via the Portuguese consulate, though in our experience the Italian Consulate is pretty easy to deal with.

 

As the wife of an EU National her visa should be issued free of charge and without much of the supporting evidence being required.

 

I'm not totally up to speed with EU Family Permits, but it seems your wife qualifies and it should be issued free of charge and with minimal evidence  family-permit/overview where as a standard visit visa will have to be paid for and documentation supplied.

[Kieranmc]

Thanks for the replies. 

 

So Portuguese acehmgen visa and eea family permit I guess. 

[Donutz]

Indeed, a Schengen visa at the Portugese embassy (issued for free, with minimum hassle and paperwork since a Thai and EU/EEA national -any EU/EEA/Swiss nationality other than such a citizen applying at the embassy of their own country) and a UK EEA permit (also issued for free, ASAP, minimum hassle etc.)

 

The sticky topics may be useful to you (I had to chuckle when I saw CharlieH's post <3 555) as it gives answer to the most commonly asked questions and misunderstandings.  Note that from recent topics I recall that the Portugese may be a bit like the Spaniards and (wrongfully!) ask for your marriage to be registrated in your home country and provide evidence of this. This is not correct, any legal and genuine marriage should be accepted so if the paperwork shows a Thai marriage and all the papers are understood and deemed genuine etc.  the embassy should accept this as evidence that you are indeed legally married and thus meet the requirement of "EU national married to non EU partner" (which is one of the type of people who are covered by directive 2004/38 if they also meet the other requirements: proof of identity of both and making evident that the foreigner joins the EU/EEA national. No other requirements such as financial requirements, insurance, hotel bookings etc. can be made. Some embassies wrongfully do insist though).

[kannot]

3 hours ago, Donutz said:

Indeed, a Schengen visa at the Portugese embassy (issued for free, with minimum hassle and paperwork since a Thai and EU/EEA national -any EU/EEA/Swiss nationality other than such a citizen applying at the embassy of their own country) and a UK EEA permit (also issued for free, ASAP, minimum hassle etc.)

 

The sticky topics may be useful to you (I had to chuckle when I saw CharlieH's post <3 555) as it gives answer to the most commonly asked questions and misunderstandings.  Note that from recent topics I recall that the Portugese may be a bit like the Spaniards and (wrongfully!) ask for your marriage to be registrated in your home country and provide evidence of this. This is not correct, any legal and genuine marriage should be accepted so if the paperwork shows a Thai marriage and all the papers are understood and deemed genuine etc.  the embassy should accept this as evidence that you are indeed legally married and thus meet the requirement of "EU national married to non EU partner" (which is one of the type of people who are covered by directive 2004/38 if they also meet the other requirements: proof of identity of both and making evident that the foreigner joins the EU/EEA national. No other requirements such as financial requirements, insurance, hotel bookings etc. can be made. Some embassies wrongfully do insist though).

Just  noticed  this thread  Donutz as we are once again applying for visas, back to the UK and also an American visa........however re Schengen, this  morning I ha d a  final e mail from the ec  mob saying this attached, just to clarify my Wife and myself  are   not   Portuguese citizens ( obviously) so a   FREE  visa should have  been issued  for her which they tried NOT to do.

So for anyone who is NOT a  Portuguese citizen  but another member state of the EU and wants a  Schengen they are FREE for their Thai Wife

[Kieranmc]

9 hours ago, Donutz said:

Indeed, a Schengen visa at the Portugese embassy (issued for free, with minimum hassle and paperwork since a Thai and EU/EEA national -any EU/EEA/Swiss nationality other than such a citizen applying at the embassy of their own country) and a UK EEA permit (also issued for free, ASAP, minimum hassle etc.)

 

The sticky topics may be useful to you (I had to chuckle when I saw CharlieH's post <3 555) as it gives answer to the most commonly asked questions and misunderstandings.  Note that from recent topics I recall that the Portugese may be a bit like the Spaniards and (wrongfully!) ask for your marriage to be registrated in your home country and provide evidence of this. This is not correct, any legal and genuine marriage should be accepted so if the paperwork shows a Thai marriage and all the papers are understood and deemed genuine etc.  the embassy should accept this as evidence that you are indeed legally married and thus meet the requirement of "EU national married to non EU partner" (which is one of the type of people who are covered by directive 2004/38 if they also meet the other requirements: proof of identity of both and making evident that the foreigner joins the EU/EEA national. No other requirements such as financial requirements, insurance, hotel bookings etc. can be made. Some embassies wrongfully do insist though).

Thanks Donutz - I have dealt with the Portuguese embassy before and I found them very easy to deal with. Was never asked for any document stating our marriage was registered in Ireland. Fuss free and fairly quick - no fee charged. I will go back again. The Spanish did ask me for this a few years back. Luckily I was able to acquire this letter from my embassy but on application they never asked for it. Typical.

 

Its a shame all EU Embassies couldn't just follow the rules.

 

 

[Kieranmc]

Just an update on our Portuguese visa application.

 

Went for the appointment a few weeks ago. They do like to ask for more paperwork than is required. I'm not really fussed about that to be honest.

 

Visa was approved in less than 10 days and a 6 month multi entry was granted. This is my wife's 4th Schengen visa.

 

All in all a hassle free experience.

 

 

[Donutz]

6 months is on the conservative side if it's her 4th visa but atleast she got the visa without much hassle.