Schengen visa for non eu spouse - dutch embassy, india

[evil_grrrl666]

Hi,
Today I rang up the dutch embassy in delhi, india, to find out about the documents required for a schengen visa applications for my husband. he is indian, i am german, so he comes in the category "family member of eu/eea national" (we're planning to travel together).
however, the (dutch) lady i spoke to on the phone seemed to be completely oblivious about this type of application being any different from any normal application for the same visa.

she did not even seem to be aware that their own form says certain questions are not applicable for this type of application. for instance, occupation of the applicant, employer details, where the applicant will stay, how he will pay for his stay, etc. when I told her I had read it on the form, she said "fine, so you fill it however you think is correct - but we still need to know who will be paying for your husbands trip and where he will stay"
furthermore she said everything including the cost of the visa will be the same for my husband no matter if he's the family member of an eu citizen.

Here on the forum I have seen various posts regarding schengen visas which mention it should be free of cost and pretty hassle free.. is that only the case if the visa is applied for from within the eu? are they right to apply the same rules to my husbands application as they would for any other person who wants to visit holland as a tourist?

Thanks

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

It must be issued free of charge to the family member of an EU citizen when both will be travelling together.

Do not pay them the fee. Ask to speek to her supervisor. Take a look at some of the links on my blog for a lot more details about your rights. You should also immediately submit a query to http://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/ to get their position. You can then share that with the Dutch embassy.

[evil_grrrl666]

We got our visa after arguing a bit about the visa fee...

the application was submitted at the VFS office and the next day we had an "interview" which was nothing more than a lady checking our documents and asking for a few clarifications; took at the most 5 minutes..
(offtopic: its funny how they made a 1 day process into 3 days simply by outsourcing certain things to the VFS people)

we submitted all of the documents they ask for in normal cases for tourist visas because we did not want to risk a refusal.. but we also attached a dutch copy and an english copy of the relevant page in the directive which states the visa should be free etc.
so we had a sponsorship letter, financial proof of the sponsor, employment proof of the applicant, etc.

interestingly I had asked the eu signpost service which documents would be required and what would be the charge of the visa and they said the visa will be charged and all normal documents for other cases should be submitted because it is an application made outside of the EU. inside there should be a different type of visa alltogether. this confused us even further but we still argued over the visa fee with the person who took our application. after checking with the dutch embassy and the directive we had attached, they agreed that the visa should be free.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Glad you got your visa! Enjoy the trip.

Can you please post the exact words that Signpost used for saying that the visa must be paid for since it was not applied for within the EU.

[pennylessinindia]

It must be issued free of charge to the family member of an EU citizen when both will be travelling together.

Your blog is great but can you give me the link to something official that says free of charge for spouce of Brit Cit. Is there a different form from teh regular visa? I am applying in India too

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

It must be issued free of charge to the family member of an EU citizen when both will be travelling together.

Your blog is great but can you give me the link to something official that says free of charge for spouce of Brit Cit. Is there a different form from teh regular visa? I am applying in India too

This comes from Directive 2004/38/EC. See Article 5

Member States shall grant such persons every facility to obtain
the necessary visas. Such visas shall be issued free of charge as
soon as possible and on the basis of an accelerated procedure.

You need to clearly state in writing in your application that your are the spouse of an EU citizen and as such the visa “shall be issued free of charge as soon as possible and on the basis of an accelerated procedure.â€

[flyboy]

Hi Pennylessinindia -the following link is a brochure regarding short stay visas from the Dutch department of immigration and naturalisation ; scroll down to page 16 and see the " Costs" section and who's exempted . You can print it off for them or give them the link, if they are not aware of the Directive 2004/38 , make them aware of what's written in their own national law which they should know:

http://www.ind.nl/en/Images/bro_VVKV_0708_tcm6-598.pdf

[pennylessinindia]

This comes from Directive 2004/38/EC. Member States shall grant such persons every facility to obtain the necessary visas. Such visas shall be issued free of charge as soon as possible and on the basis of an accelerated procedure.

It would be good to provide the link on the web do I take it you are using this one
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/sit ... 350048.pdf

[pennylessinindia]

http://www.ind.nl/en/Images/bro_VVKV_0708_tcm6-598.pdf

Hi thanks I was wanting to travel to Belgium and we need to use a visa facilitation service but I think the link I found earlier should suffice if I can get past the first hurdle!!!!

Most visas now seem to be issued by facilitation services do the service charges they make need to be paid for a FREE visa

[evil_grrrl666]

Glad you got your visa! Enjoy the trip.

Can you please post the exact words that Signpost used for saying that the visa must be paid for since it was not applied for within the EU.

Sorry for the delay in replying, we have been quite busy travelling in the meanwhile... below you find the question and answer from the signpost service (in dutch)..


Vraag
45866: Geachte heer/mevrouw,

Op dit moment wonen mijn man (Indiase nationaliteit) en ik (Duitse nationaliteit) in India. Wij willen graag 2 maanden lang op huwelijksreis en familiebezoek gaan bij o.a. mijn moeder (Duitse nationaliteit), die in Nederland woont. Wij hebben kontakt opgenomen met de Nederlandse ambassade in New Delhi, India, om te vragen wat de voorwaarden zijn voor een Schengenvisum voor mijn man, als familielid van een EU burger.

De (Nederlandse) mevrouw die ik aan de lijn kreeg van de ambassade scheen niet te weten dat een aanvraag voor een schengenvisum voor een familielid van een burger van de EU verschilt van een gewone aanvraag voor hetzelfde visum. Zij wist niet eens dat op het officiele formulier voor de visumaanvraag staat, dat bepaalde vragen niet beantwoord hoeven worden door familieleden van EU burgers (bij voorbeeld waar men gaat verblijven, hoe men voor de reis gaat betalen en waar men werkt) en hield vast dat de ambassade de antwoorden op deze vragen wel degelijk wil weten. Ook beweerde zij dat de kosten van het visum hetzelfde zijn voor iedereen, terwijl de Europese richtlijnen duidelijk zeggen dat het visum gratis hoort te zijn.

Kunt u mij als bevestiging vertellen hoe een aanvraag voor een schengenvisum voor een familielid van een EU burger in zijn werk hoort te gaan? (Welk soort documenten mag de ambassade naar vragen, hoe snel hoort de aanvraag te worden behandelt en hoeveel moet men voor het visum betalen?)

Alvast bedankt voor uw antwoord,
Hoogachtend,
Laura Kortum

Antwoord
Er bestaat een zogenaamd gratis “inreisvisumâ€

[brownbonno]

I totally disagree with the NL-SOLVIT.
The interpretation that the gratis visa is only applicable if you/wife are permanently based within the EU is fake and misleading.
''The right of a third country national married to an EU citizen to accompany or join the EU citizen in the host member state derives under community law from the family ties alone.
According to Article 5(2) of the Directive,exercise of that right maybe conditional on possession of an entry visa.The requirement to submit the visa application documents attesting to facts that go beyond identity or family ties would appear to be contrary to the Directive''.
I suggest you send an email and enclose the SOLVIT response to the EU office in Brussel.
Michal.MEDUNA@ec.europa.eu
JLS-CITIZENSHIP@ ec.europa.eu

They will advise on your best options.

[pennylessinindia]

I had this reply when I emailed signpost about question as above failed to address the issue of paying for facilitation fees


would recommend that you apply for a so-called Schengen-visa. This would enable you to enter a Schengen country and to travel on freely to other Schengen countries. Belgium, France and Germany are all Schengen countries, so this should not be a problem. As you are married and traveling together, the visa should be issued free of charge.

You can find further information about the visas and applications at the following link:

http://www.eurovisa.info/SchengenVisa.htm

The following link also provides information about visa applications, as well as stating that visas should be granted free of charge and without undue formalities where the non-EU family member travels with the relevant EU national family member. If necessary, you should show this to the embassy authorities dealing with your application.
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/fr ... try_en.htm