Recommendations for a Euro Holiday please

stmellon · Post by **stmellon** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:40 pm

My parents have offered, as a Christmas present, to send my wife and me away for a short break in January/February. They were thinking of just finding a good deal and sending us off wherever, but I had to remind them that we had to consider visa requirements.

I am a UK Citizen and my wife is Chinese with UK ILR (vignette doesn't state "spouse of EEA citizen").

Does anyone have any recommendations for a southern Europe destination (we'd like a little sun/warmth as far as possible for mid-winter!) that would either allow visa-free travel (2004/38/EC) or has a simple and efficient embassy to deal with?

Thanks in advance!

86ti · Post by **86ti** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:45 pm

Since your wife "only" holds ILR you can't benefit from visa free travel based on 2004/38/EC. But you should get it for free.

stmellon · Post by **stmellon** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:14 pm

She has the Spouse settlment Residence Permit - is this the same or different to ILR? It's been so long I've lost track...

meats · Post by **meats** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:14 pm

You shouldn't base your holiday destination on ease of getting a visa.

And i'd recommend Barcelona, best city in Europe in my opinion. Not guaranteeing sun but it'll be warmer than the UK. If you want winter sun then the Canaries are the best place to go.

86ti · Post by **86ti** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:36 pm

stmellon wrote:She has the Spouse settlment Residence Permit - is this the same or different to ILR? It's been so long I've lost track...

Different. Hence why it is called residence permit and not residence card. See Wikipedia for a photo of what she would need.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 3:02 pm

Your wife can travel with you, without a visa, but the airlines probably wouldn't let her board.

Better to get a visa. It's free.

stmellon · Post by **stmellon** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:29 pm

meats wrote:You shouldn't base your holiday destination on ease of getting a visa.

Surely it's only the same as basing your holiday destination on late notice availability?

My wife would most like to go to Paris, but that is not a viable option if we want to travel in January given that the earliest we could get a visa from the French would be February! So what's your point here?

Benifa - agree on all points, and intend to get the visa - just haven't yet decided where.

meats · Post by **meats** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:39 pm

stmellon wrote:
meats wrote:You shouldn't base your holiday destination on ease of getting a visa.

Surely it's only the same as basing your holiday destination on late notice availability?

My wife would most like to go to Paris, but that is not a viable option if we want to travel in January given that the earliest we could get a visa from the French would be February! So what's your point here?

My point is, as i said in my first post, that you shouldn't base where you go on holiday dependent on whether you need a visa or not. If you can't get a visa for France until February then what's stopping you going in February, especially seeing as you said January/February in your original post?

Perhaps you should work out where you don't need a visa (seeing as that seems to be the main criteria here) and then pick out of those countries remaining.

Prawo · Post by **Prawo** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 10:32 am

benifa wrote:Your wife can travel with you, without a visa, but the airlines probably wouldn't let her board.

Better to get a visa. It's free.

You wife does need a Schengenvisa. And it is indeed free.
Do apply for one from the Dutch, they should not have a long waiting list and know how to deal with the application.

Ask if they want to issue her a multiple entry visa for one or more (till five) years, so she can travel easy at any time.

The only thing she needs when applying is the marriage certificate, a copy of your passport and a short note from you stating you are travelling regularly to The Netherlands and you would like your wife to join you. As well as her valid passport with the ILR.

Showing up with you at the border theoretically allows her to enter without a visa, but often you will have to call a lawyer to enforce this right. And this is not the situation you want to be in when you just started your trip.

.

djb123 · Post by **djb123** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 11:45 am

Prawo wrote:
benifa wrote:Your wife can travel with you, without a visa, but the airlines probably wouldn't let her board.

Better to get a visa. It's free.
You wife does need a Schengenvisa. And it is indeed free.
Do apply for one from the Dutch, they should not have a long waiting list and know how to deal with the application.

Surely you should only apply for one from the Dutch Embassy if the Netherlands is going to be your first or main destination?

Prawo · Post by **Prawo** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 12:49 pm

Officially yes.

But once the visa is issued in case of you travelling together to another country, nobody will care.
When necessary, just show the marriage certificate and tell The Netherlands will be your next destination, where you will stay the longest.

Try to apply for a visa for one or more years.

The above does not mean of course you should exclude Amsterdam from your list of cities to be visited at least once in your life

.

djb123 · Post by **djb123** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 12:58 pm

Prawo wrote:Officially yes.

But once the visa is issued in case of you travelling together to another country, nobody will care.
When necessary, just show the marriage certificate and tell The Netherlands will be your next destination, where you will stay the longest.

Try to apply for a visa for one or more years.

The above does not mean of course you should exclude Amsterdam from your list of cities to be visited at least once in your life

So nobody would ever care?

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=18855

Prawo · Post by **Prawo** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 2:01 pm

Two things.

1. This topic is about family members of EU citizens visiting a member state other than their own, together with their EU citizen.
Different rules apply, not the Schengen ones.
Namely: the visa is only for entry, the right of stay is derived from the relationship with the EU citizen and is not dependant of any other condition at least during the first three months.

2. The person in the link you mention was a third country national, with no link to the freedom of movement.
Probably he was to honest telling he never went to Belgium.
In stead he could have (told he) landed in France and travelled to Belgium afterwards.

dublin3 · Post by **dublin3** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 2:57 pm

Prawo How can I contact you I sent you PM but you didn't reply and I sent you an E mail as well on that link you provided but you never respond..
Is it possible that you reply to PM or respond the E mails?

djb123 · Post by **djb123** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:38 am

Prawo wrote:Two things.

1. This topic is about family members of EU citizens visiting a member state other than their own, together with their EU citizen.
Different rules apply, not the Schengen ones.
Namely: the visa is only for entry, the right of stay is derived from the relationship with the EU citizen and is not dependant of any other condition at least during the first three months.

2. The person in the link you mention was a third country national, with no link to the freedom of movement.
Probably he was to honest telling he never went to Belgium.
In stead he could have (told he) landed in France and travelled to Belgium afterwards.

1. ILR is not the same as a EEA Family Permit so I am not convinced you are totally correct with that one as I believe the visa is needed for the stay as well as entry.

2. In that case I agree they could have probably argued that they did go to Belgium. But if for example you applied for a visa at the Dutch Embassy and then your only visit to the Schengen area was a trip to one of the Spanish islands (Menorca, etc) for a few days then you are going to have great difficulty arguing that you did actually go to the Netherlands.

Prawo · Post by **Prawo** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:23 am

djb123 wrote:1. ILR is not the same as a EEA Family Permit so I am not convinced you are totally correct with that one as I believe the visa is needed for the stay as well as entry.

Anyway, the answer I gave corresponds with the answer the European Commission gives in such a situation and is the direct result of properly applying Directive 2004/38/EC.

2. In that case I agree they could have probably argued that they did go to Belgium. But if for example you applied for a visa at the Dutch Embassy and then your only visit to the Schengen area was a trip to one of the Spanish islands (Menorca, etc) for a few days then you are going to have great difficulty arguing that you did actually go to the Netherlands.

I agree on this with you, but as I said this matter is off topic because it concerns third country nationals without any connection to the freedom of movement of EU citizens and their family members.

djb123 · Post by **djb123** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:49 am

Prawo wrote:
djb123 wrote: 2. In that case I agree they could have probably argued that they did go to Belgium. But if for example you applied for a visa at the Dutch Embassy and then your only visit to the Schengen area was a trip to one of the Spanish islands (Menorca, etc) for a few days then you are going to have great difficulty arguing that you did actually go to the Netherlands.
I agree on this with you, but as I said this matter is off topic because it concerns third country nationals without any connection to the freedom of movement of EU citizens and their family members.

It's not totally off topic. In my experience the Embassies in the UK are not the most friendly when it comes to dealing with spouses of British citizens and if you go back to the same Embassy having not visited their country they could be even less friendly - ie issuing a single entry visa only valid for a very short period (which they would be allowed to do).

Prawo · Post by **Prawo** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:58 am

What you write is on topic.

However from the topic that was referred to (this) I did onle conclude he was a law abiding citizen, but not he has a British partner.

I might have overlooked something though.

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Recommendations for a Euro Holiday please

Recommendations for a Euro Holiday please