visa required while national recident permit is due?

[dar_man]

Hello,

I am Greek married to an non-EEA national. We use to live in Ireland where I am still employed. My wife has applied for a 4EUFam card, but the application is pending, with her stamp-4 expiring on the 5th of September. In any way we don't need the 4EUFam any more since we are not going to return to Ireland. I have been transfered for the last one months of my employment to Finland and my wife has followed me.

We now know that we are going to live for long term in Greece (I have been offered a permanent job to begin later this year), so during our summer vacation in Greece we applied for a national (i.e. not according to the directive 2004/38/EC) permanent resident card for her. Application is pending there too. As a proof of application they gave us a nice blueish piece of paper mentioning her name, picture, status etc ALL written in Greek. They told us that with this document we can travel freely throughout Schengen until the end of September. I did double check this with two immigration officers in Athens airport and they told me that traveling with it is ok.

My wife also has a Schengen visa that expires these days. The question is, is that Greek document indeed good enough to allow my wife stay with me after her Schengen visa expiration?

I thought about going to the Finnish immigration (local police station) and ask about it, but I think in this way I am looking for trouble (can Schengen visas be extended, and if not what's going to happen???)

Hopefully my wife's visa will not be checked anyway.

Any suggestion welcome,
Thanks

[86ti]

Just wondering, is there any advantage of the national route over the EEA route in Greece?

I somewhat doubt that the mere confirmation of the application entitles to visa free travel. After all, the applications hasn't been confirmed yet.

Schengen visa cannot be extended normally.

[Obie]

As an EU national living with your spouse in Finland, you are both allowed to stay anyway, with or without the Greek Acknowledgment document.

Even if your go to the Finnish authority, no harm will be done.

Remember, her right to stay there exist from you. So long as you are there with her and meet all the conditions stipulated on the directive you will be fine dar man.

I hope you are not missing Ireland too much.

I wish you all the best mate.

[Ben]

The question is, is that Greek document indeed good enough to allow my wife stay with me after her Schengen visa expiration?

I thought about going to the Finnish immigration (local police station) and ask about it, but I think in this way I am looking for trouble (can Schengen visas be extended, and if not what's going to happen???)

No. Her marriage to you is good enough to allow her to stay with you. The marriage certificate (together with your passports), is all that's needed.

Additionally, your wife should apply for a Residence Card in Finland if she intends to stay longer than 3 months.

[dar_man]

Just wondering, is there any advantage of the national route over the EEA route in Greece?

Thanks for the replies guys. 86ti I am not sure I understand your question. In case you are asking why we went for the "national" resident card instead of the one described by the directive, it's because I am Greek and the directive doesn't apply for nationals of the country of residence. In my case, since I have already used the directive (to work and live in Ireland), if not mistaken I can also use it to go back to my own country, but I think that's a bit special case and in any way the Greek authorities had no clue about this exception.

Now, if your question was on how the procedure to obtain a national permit compares with the one to obtain a permit according to the directive, the main difference is that it's much faster. It takes few weeks only. My wife's should be ready by now, we just aren't there to get it. As for the documents, we first had to declare our wedding to the Greek registry of marriages, then my wife had to go through some medical check-up, get an insurance (that wouldn't be needed if I had a job in Greece) and that was all. We applied for it at the local Mayor house, and wait until it is ready.

By the way, does anybody have a clue about this: once we get it, will my wife be able to travel without a visa within Schengen (at least in theory)? I am fully aware of the situation with the 4EUFam (thanks to this forum), but are national resident cards equivalent to 4EUFam or?

Thanks a lot

[Obie]

Dar man there was an ECJ ruling called Surinder Singh ruling that is currently being implemented in EU law, which essentially makes provision for community worker or self-employed person to return with their family member to their home country using EU rule after having exercised EU treaty rights in another member state.

Basically, you have a right to have your wife's residency processed under directive 2004/38 EC in Greece, if you want to. Although in some cases , member state makes more generous provision for their nations non-EEA spouses than under EU rule, you wife might have permanent residency or Greek citizenship at an earlier time than if she had used the EU law.

I am unfamiliar about Greek nationality rules, so i will be unable to comment.

[86ti]

By the way, does anybody have a clue about this: once we get it, will my wife be able to travel without a visa within Schengen (at least in theory)?

Yes, by virtue of the Schengen rules. She can also travel alone. There should be no problems as this has been in force for quite a while now.

[charles4u]

By the way, does anybody have a clue about this: once we get it, will my wife be able to travel without a visa within Schengen (at least in theory)? I am fully aware of the situation with the 4EUFam (thanks to this forum), but are national resident cards equivalent to 4EUFam or?

Thanks a lot

Any type of Schengen residence is valid within Schengen member states for upto 3 months without a visa, Yes she can travel visa-free alone without you within the Schengen states.

[dar_man]

Thanks a lot guys. Great help...