visiting Ireland (from sweden)

[koded]

Is it possible for Non Eu spouse to apply for Irish visa while he has not gotten resident card in sweden? I reside in Sweden but still not have gotten a resident card but I have registered with the tax office and have personal number. So I and my wife wish to visit Ireland. will they demand for residence card from sweden? and what is the possibility of getting the visa if I can apply? thanx.

[ca.funke]

Is it possible for Non Eu spouse to apply for Irish visa while he has not gotten resident card in sweden? I reside in Sweden but still not have gotten a resident card but I have registered with the tax office and have personal number. So I and my wife wish to visit Ireland. will they demand for residence card from sweden? and what is the possibility of getting the visa if I can apply? thanx.

By law you don't need a visa. (If one of you is EU while the other isn't, I'm assuming that from what you wrote)

Read >>here<< and >>here<<.

The first thread explains exactly what you need to know (in the form of my complaint to the European Commission), the second thread refers to people in Ireland wanting to travel to Europe - but it's applicable the other way around too...

If you do want a visa (will surely make the ride less bumpy), there are some links in the first thread...

If you agree to what I'm writing in the first thread, feel free to send an email to the European Commission(sg-plaintes@ec.europa.eu), telling them that you read complaint "SG/CDC/2008/A/5303", and wish to be informed about the proceedings as well.

good luck

[Obie]

The Irish on-line visa application form from their embassy in Sweden and the requirements for the visitors visa.

Please note that if your wife is an EU/EEA national, the visa requirements are different.

All the best

[ca.funke]

Thanks for the links, Obie!

Some stuff there makes me sick:

Please note that a Schengen or UK visa or residence permission is NOT valid for travel to Ireland. If you are a national of a visa-required country you will need to apply for an Irish visa in advance of travel to Ireland.

This is simply not correct, one could say they are deliberately ignoring the law:

Directive 2004/38/EC, article 5, section 2, states:

Family members who are not nationals of a Member State
shall only be required to have an entry visa
(...)
For the purposes of this Directive, possession of
the valid residence card referred to in Article 10 shall exempt
such family members from the visa requirement.
(...)

The comissions' website clarifies this part as follows:

YOU MIGHT BE REQUIRED TO HAVE AN ENTRY VISA

Family members holding nationality of certain countries[3], which are subject to visa obligation, may be required to have an entry visa.

(...)

Possession of the valid residence card, referred to in the relevant fact sheet, issued by any Member State, exempts you from the visa obligation not only in the Member State which issued the residence card, but in all Member States.

As a summary, a married EU / non-EU couple, which is in posession

• of a residence-card
• that is issued according to this law
• by any EU-state other than Ireland

is allowed to enter Ireland without an additional visa.

[Obie]

Christian,

Please forgive me for the oversight, i didn't realise that the OP's wife is an EU national.

If she is, i think these are the REQUIREMENTS.

Please note i have personal experience of the Irish embassy ignoring all the exemptions for family members of EEA nationals and requesting the exact document they demand from ordinary visitors.

So i wouldn't be surprised if they did the same again.

Regards
Obie

[koded]

The Irish on-line visa application form from their embassy in Sweden and the requirements for the visitors visa.

Please note that if your wife is an EU/EEA national, the visa requirements are different.

All the best

Thanks all
I will apply but my fear is that I do not know if they will demand for residence card in sweden. As I dont have it yet. Yeah, my wife is a member of EU and both of us live in sweden.

[Obie]

Would your current status allow you to re-enter Sweden should you decide to go on vacation?

If not, you will have to hold a copy of the Metock ruling and bring it to the attention of the Entry Clearance officer, if he refuses to accept your application.

Once again, i wish you the very best.

[ca.funke]

i wish to write an email to the embassy, but smart as they are there is no email given.

googling gave irish.embassy@swipnet.se, but the result of that is very professional:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <MAILER-DAEMON@swip.net>
Date: Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 13:07
Subject: Undeliverable mail: Visa necessary?
To: ca.funke


Failed to deliver to '<irish.embassy@swipnet.se>'
LOCAL module(account mh58557@tele2.se) reports:
account is full (quota exceeded)


Original-Recipient: rfc822;<irish.embassy@swipnet.se>
Final-Recipient: LOCAL;<mh58557@tele2.se>
Action: failed
Status: 4.0.0

I can´t send it to the ministry of foreign affairs myself, as we´re still registered as residents of Ireland. Maybe someone else wants to send the following, maybe as a "real" letter from Sweden, to the Irish embassy in Sweden:

Dear Madam or Sir,

I am a [your EU-country here] citizen, resident with my wife from [whereever] in Sweden. My wife is in possession of a residence-card according to Article 10 of Directive 2004/38/EC.

We wish to visit Ireland for a weekend. On your website I find the following statement:

Please note that a Schengen or UK visa or residence permission is NOT valid for travel to Ireland. If you are a national of a visa-required country you will need to apply for an Irish visa in advance of travel to Ireland.

However, I found the following in a Directive of the European Union:

Directive 2004/38/EC, article 5, section 2, states:

Family members who are not nationals of a Member State
shall only be required to have an entry visa
(...)
For the purposes of this Directive, possession of
the valid residence card referred to in Article 10 shall exempt
such family members from the visa requirement.
(...)

The comissions' website clarifies this part as follows:

YOU MIGHT BE REQUIRED TO HAVE AN ENTRY VISA

Family members holding nationality of certain countries[3], which are subject to visa obligation, may be required to have an entry visa.

(...)

Possession of the valid residence card, referred to in the relevant fact sheet, issued by any Member State, exempts you from the visa obligation not only in the Member State which issued the residence card, but in all Member States.

As a summary, I presume that my wife and me can travel to Ireland with

• our Swedish residence-card (which is issued according to 2004/38/EC) AND
• both our passports?

Could you let me know if this is correct, or if we will need a visa?


Regards from (your town in Sweden),
(your name)

[koded]

@ ca.funke ,
thanks I have already written to the embassy and they gave their website link to apply for visa. and their requirements http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Fa ... EU_Citizen.
Best wishes

[Rozen]

Would your current status allow you to re-enter Sweden should you decide to go on vacation?

If not, you will have to hold a copy of the Metock ruling and bring it to the attention of the Entry Clearance officer, if he refuses to accept your application.

Thanks all
I will apply but my fear is that I do not know if they will demand for residence card in sweden. As I dont have it yet. Yeah, my wife is a member of EU and both of us live in sweden.

Unless it's really URGENT that you have to go to Ireland right now, and you are prepared to go through all the grief, stress, blood pressure, and endless arguing back and forth until you're blue in the face!
Yes, because that's what goes with the territory when you don't actually having a Residence Card confirming your status, and you want to travel cross borders. Granted, you have every right to enter, especially when you're with your EU partner, but they refuse to see it that way!
I would just wait for the RC if I was you! I really don't think a holiday is worth going on, if I know that I'm going to have to keep psyching myself up for a possible face-off with the border officials.
But that's just me. I'm a sucker for a quiet life. But hey, good luck with it all!