visa-free travel to the country of sponsor?

[obormot]

A non-EU citizen lives in UK as family member of French citizen, and holds PR card (which says "RC of family member of EU citizen"!).
If they are a visa national in general, can they still travel to France with their French family member without visa?
Many references I look for say something like this:
*********
You do not need a visa if:
you have a residence card as an EU national family member issued under EU rules by any EU country (except the country your EU partner is a national of). You must either be travelling together with your EU partner or are joining them in another EU country
*********

I.e. it seems you cannot travel to the country of which your sponsor is national of ??
(Note though that it seems that one can enter Shengen not in France, but say in Netherlands, with French family member and without visa, and then go to France; so it seems very bizarre statement)

On top of it, if I check "do you need french visa" link from French embassy, it shows that they need visa even travelling with their EU citizen family member (even not French), since "UK is not in Shengen" ??

[Desi Boy]

You can travel to France mate with your wife just buy the ticket and have a safe journey

[iwolga]

When I check the same on Dutch immigration service website, it specifies, that I can only use the card if my sponsor is not at the moment living in the NL. I think it makes perfect sense as otherwise I will not have a valid EEA card.

So my conclusion was: yes, you can travel to the home country of your sponsor with valid EEA card

[Zerubbabel]

You don't need a visa.

I am EEA national and my wife has the same card as yours. We went all over Europe without any visa on her passport.

However, you need to know that some airline staff and sometimes even border officials, are not aware about EU Regulations or even that EU exists. You have to stand your ground and tell them you don't need a visa. Ask to talk to a manager if the person keep insisting.

Take your marriage certificate if you are married to the EEA national.

[kamoe]

Many references I look for say something like this:
*********
You do not need a visa if:
you have a residence card as an EU national family member issued under EU rules by any EU country (except the country your EU partner is a national of). You must either be travelling together with your EU partner or are joining them in another EU country
*********

I know you are saying the text above is only your recollection, but I invite you to refrain from stating things like these that look like you are quoting it from somewhere else, especially when you are not sure of the accuracy of what you are saying.

Having said that, the above is incorrect. See the McCarthy Rodriguez case, that I comment on this other recent, and similar post re. visiting the UK with Article 10 card when the sponsor is British.

The judgment states:

(...) where a family member of an EU citizen who has exercised his right of freedom of movement is in a situation such as that of Ms McCarthy Rodriguez, that family member is not subject to the requirement to obtain a visa or an equivalent requirement in order to be able to enter the territory of that EU citizen’s Member State of origin.

[obormot]

Dear Kamoe:
It is not recollection it actually IS A CITATION. From this cite:
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/t ... schengen-1
I attach a print-screen

[obormot]

Guys, may I also ask a couple more questions:

1. Do they stamp the passport for non EU family member when entering/exiting Schengen zone, if they are travelling on EU residence card with their EU sponsor?

2. What if we enter together, but then my family member needs to leave and go back to UK before me? Contrary to UK there is passport control when one exists Schengen, so they will observe that there is no visa in the passport (and probably even no stamp, if they do not stamp at the entrance)?

Thank you!

[kamoe]

It is not recollection it actually IS A CITATION. From this cite:
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/t ... schengen-1

Thanks for this, ihis is helpful and the way you should present any information you want to scrutinize.

When you bring about a citation, then I invite you to say it is a citation from the start, and include the relevant link, instead of saying "Many references I look for say something like this", which is effectively saying that it is only your recollection.

Now, the above is really important, since context is everything here. What your citation is saying is that the residence card needs to be issued by a country other than the EU country of origin of your sponsor (otherwise it's not an Article 10 card), NOT that you cannot visit the EU country of origin of your sponsor with an Article 10 card issued by another EU country.

Taken out of context, the sentence "except the country your EU partner is a national of" can be interpreted to mean that country is excepted from the set of countries allowed to visit without a visa, or that country is excepted from the set of countries who can issue the EU residence card. Taken in the wider context you have now presented, with the full citation and screenshot, it is clear it only means the latter.

[obormot]

OK. Theoretical question:

Under this interpretation of that phrase, the Surinder Singh EU residence cards (issued by UK and your sponsor is UK citizen) do not allow family member to travel to other EU countries visa free.

So there is some problem with this phrase, context or not, no?
(Non Article 10, i,e. residence under national law, should not be even referred to as "issued under EU rules", right?)

[obormot]

I should add that when one goes to the french website
https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en_US/web/ ... -d-un-visa

If I choose "short stay, less then 90 days" then it says that in the case I discuss one needs visa unless they are
"in possession of a long-stay visa or hold a valid residence permit issued by a Schengen (!) member state"

However if I choose "long stay, more then 90 days" then it says one does not need visa if one is
"A foreign national who holds a long-term resident permit-EU from a state of the European Union"

French bureaucracy ways can never be understood by us ordinary people..