mym wrote:My understanding of the Directive is that - for those countries that recognise CPs - you should be able to just turn up at their border with the two passports and a copy of the Civil Partnership Registration and be let in. Good test cases need to be made IMO...
I wish that had been true. I spend a good time with the border police at Tenerife (south) arguing about this same thing. But according to them, it would have been possible from 31.04.2006 till the 16.02.2007 since when the Royal Decree 240/2007 came into effect and "overrode" the Directive 2004/38/EC. And the wording of (4) of Article 4 the Royal Decree states, and I quote-
4. If a citizen of a European Union Member State or of another state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or a family member of that citizen does not have the travel documents or visa (if applicable) required to enter Spanish territory, the Spanish border control authorities must, before returning these persons, give them maximum facilities enabling them to obtain or receive the necessary documents within a reasonable time limit or to confirm or prove by other means that they come under the scope of application of this Royal Decree, provided that the lack of the travel document is the only reason preventing them from entering Spanish territory.
The scope of the Royal Decree in this case being paragraph 2 of the same article which reads-
2.... Family members of an EU citizen who produce a valid residence permit issued by one of the States implementing in full the Schengen agreement of 14 June 1985 concerning the gradual abolition of controls at common borders and its implementing rules shall be exempt from the requirement to obtain the entry visa and shall not be required to have their passports stamped when entering or leaving the country
So, according to them, only "Schengen nationals" and their family members need to be given admission into Spain even if they arrive without a visa, while the non-Schengen ones, like UK, Lithuania, Switzerland etc. do not enjoy the same previledge!
Don't shoot the messenger! Someone has to take this up with Madrid or the EC.
(They also mentioned quite mischeiviously that when the "new EU" countries will also become (possibly) Schengen by the end of the year, our family members (Irish included) along with the Romanians and Bulgarians will be the only EU ones whose visa they will need to check. Guess they forgot Cyprus!)
