Spanish schengen visa - have to apply for a UK visa first!

[Infanta]

Hi everybody!
I am a ukrainian national, married to an Irish national. My husband is a Gibraltar resident, I am currently awaiting for a Gib residence card (typically the machine that makes them is broken so cant get it).At the moment i only have a gib visa waiver that is nearly expired and they wont give me another one because the residence is approved. Sounds mad.
I have an irish multivisa so at least can go to Ireland with my husband when he goes there.
The big problem is that being in Gib, we often go to Spain, before i was holding a spanish student card so i had no problem with that but now i have to apply for a spanish schengen. There is no spanish diplomatic mission in Gib and there is nowhere to apply for this visa. I will have to send application to the embassy in London which wouldnt be a problem if they could do it fast and wouldnt ask for an original of my husbands passport. Due to his work he travells a lot and can not give away his passport for more than a few days. When you apply for a visa (esp not in person) you never know when you gonna have your docs back.
So i wrote an email to the spanish embassy in Dublin, asking if they could process my application (as my husband is Irish) and explained to them that i can not go to the UK to apply for it. They answered that they couldnt because only irish residents can apply there.
So we wrote a complaint to SOLVIT and here how SOLVIT "helped" us:

"We have made enquiries regarding your case.

The Irish SOLVIT Centre understands that if your wife wishes to apply for a visa from the Spanish embassy in Dublin, she will have to show residency here.
Please find link below to the Spanish embassy's website.
http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Embajadas/Du ... ngHSW.aspx

Otherwise, she could write to the Spanish Foreign Ministry for guidance as to where she can apply for the visa to enter Spain given that she lives in Gibraltar.

We could also suggest that she may wish to apply for a visa from Gibraltar to the UK, and then try to obtain a visa from the Spanish embassy there.
She could also apply for a visa from the French embassy in Dublin. This may enable her to travel to Spain.

With reference to your enquiry, as there doesnt appear to be a breach of EU internal market law in this case, I regret to inform you that SOLVIT cannot be of assistance to you in this regard.

Regards"

What do you think guys?
Is there anything we can do about it?
It is funny that SOLVIT says that we can apply for a french visa, I have NO intention to go to France and we are so sick and tired of all this burocracy.
I will appreciate any help or opinions

[ciaramc]

Infanta,

I understand completely....I think the whole SOLVIT thing is a waste of time!!! THey never helped me and they have no idea of the directive!!! You should contact the European Commission directly! They have a complaint form online...I will look it up and send it to you! I sent them a complaint and recieved a responce after a month....which I know will not help you!! But they completely disagreed with SOLVIT on my case and are now investigating!!

We should all stand up and report all of these people - not interpreting the Directive correctly!! If nobody complains nothing will change!!

You have every right to a visa and it should be issued straight away (actually you don't even need a visa your passports and marriage certificate suffice).

[Infanta]

We definitely won't leave it like this so please, send me the link and we will file a complaint to the European commison.
The main question is: the residency in a certain country - is it a neccessary condition for a visa application there (if I am a spouse of a EU citizen)? Doenst it contradict the Directive that every Member State has to assist us in obtaining the visa?

[ciaramc]

http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/your_ ... rms_en.htm

This is one link I'm sure I used another one as well!! I will have another look!

I think it might be necessary to apply for a visa in the country you normally have residence! So you could apply from your home country? Fly home apply it should be an excelarated process for the spouse of an EU citizen!! You should not have to do this of course but it is the only thing I can think of!

[gulmisha]

Hi Infanta,
Hope you got your Gib card and Schengen visa sorted by now
Since you are in the situation similar to mine, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions if you don't mind. I, like you, am a non EU national (US) married to a EU national (Spain). We currently live in the south of Spain and want to move to Gibraltar so that I can get a job there (I am a qualified accountant who used to work in financial industry in London and cannot find anything in Andalucia). Since my husband can work from home, we thought to move to Gibraltar, get a residency there and my work permit as a spouse of a EU national residing in Gib.
Since you have dealt with the Gib authorities, how long from your experience did they take on issuing you and your husband a resident card (which I guess would also be a work permit?)
I am asking to get an idea about timelines before we pack and move to Gib for me to start jobsearching there with a work permit on my hands.
Many thanks,
Gulmisha