Can spouse travel to france without visa?

[Premo]

Hi there,

A good friend of mine who’s Dutch and living and working in London together with his wife, are planning a romantic weekend to Paris.

She has a valid pp and her eea2 RC. Am I right in saying that she can travel to Paris together with him on her pp & rc without a visa?

I did some research and I believe that a Dutch citizen exercising treaty rights in the UK can travel with his spouse visa free within Europe outside his own country of birth.

[Premo]

to come back to my above questions;

Or could it be that every eu national excercising treaty rights in another eu country besides his country of birth can travel with his spouse visa free within europe even to his own country of birth?

[86ti]

Yes, she can as you have assumed in your last post. But it is not a question of the country of birth but rather one of nationality.

[Premo]

hi 86ti,

Thanks for clearing that up.

However, i wonder why the french embassy london mention on their website that as a EU (dutch) citizen you can travel with your spouse to france with EEA2, except if you are a french national, then your spouse would need a visa...

[86ti]

Because that's how the French believe they can (or want to) interpret EU law.

[Premo]

from the frensh embassy website:

The foreign spouse of a EU national (except French national) may enter France without visa if they are holding:

a valid travel document;
a valid UK residence permit with the endorsement "family member of EEA national" (this endorsement is compulsory to be visa exempted) ;
and if they are joining or travelling with the EU national.

If you do not satisfy the above conditions, you will need to apply for a visa to travel to France (for instance if your residency is not explicit or if you are travelling to France for business).