EU Family member visa denied

[dalebutt]

Aimar could you kindly update about how your case with the Czech appeal went i am just keen to know as they gave the exact reason to a friend of mine in Abuja embassy

[Aimar]

Dalebutt, the letter requesting a review of the decision was submitted in early April we pointed out very politely that a young mother was unlikely to threaten the security of the state of the Czech Rep, we also requested full justification of the reasons for refusal. This should have been dealt with within 60 days. 90 days later no response. We contacted Solvit who made inquiries with the Czech foreign ministry. The ministry advises that the embassy in Nigeria claims no appeal letter was submitted and since the statutory time for submission of an appeal had elapsed...then that was it. Luckily we had evidence of the submission at the embassy (since they won't provide acknowledgement of receipt) and informed the ministry we would be happy to forward it to them. A few hours later the consul is on the phone to my wife, profuse apologies....stating that sometimes documents get lost (yeah right)...e.t.c, e.t.c....and would she put in a fresh application. To cut to the chase, a new application has just been submitted and i will advise the outcome.

[dalebutt]

@ Aimar, thanks for taking time to reply, I wish you and your family goodluck. Kindly advise us the outcome.

[Aimar]

It appears i'd stand a better chance of making it across a minefield blindfold than getting a EU family member visa for my wife. The Czech's are simply a boil on the landscape of Europe and have no business in the EU, they could not implement a EU directive if it fell on their collective heads. Having denied my wife initially on the basis of being a threat to the mighty state, declined to forward our letter of appeal to the foreign ministry, we were asked to re-apply. In what must be the second recorded case of immaculate conception (we have two kids and been married for seven years) the Czech's declared our marriage ...a sham. 18 months of pfaffing around with EU embassies in Africa, just about had it with the lot of them.

[dalebutt]

It appears i'd stand a better chance of making it across a minefield blindfold than getting a EU family member visa for my wife.} You've sum it up there Aimar, there couldn't have been a better way to describe the shambolic act of those people. but i think we should all make a collective complaint to the EC we aint got nothing loose by doing just that. I can categorically say the Czech embassy has so far in Nigeria not issued any Visa in accordance with the Directives, they clearly dont want to issue any visa that has anything to do with treaty rights.

[andal]

We had a horrible experience with the Spanish Consulate last year. When you go the consulate you are greeted by a huge poster saying '' don't patronise touts'' however getting an appointment is a nightmare, having waited months and months for a response to my emails for an appointment i finally bit the bullet and paid the touts hanging outside the consulate, lo and behold...three days later my wife's appointment date is confirmed...to the tout...who hands over the email ! In any event it turned out to be a waste of money, the application was refused, the Spanish in blatant disregard of the directive do not recognise marriages between EU nationals and third country nationals unless it is accompanied by a statement of recognition from the EU national's member state, so i've trundled along to the UK high commission and asked very nicely if they would write me something saying my marriage was valid in the UK, the High Commission declined, saying any marriage by a UK citizen validly conducted and recognised in the place it took place is valid in the UK ...end of. So i've written off to Solvit to complain about the boorish Spanish, i get a response from Solvit quoting the directive e.t.c e.t.c and Spain was in contravention blah de blah ...and nothing else, then fully 5 months later i get a cheery email from some chap at solvit saying he has contacted the spanish consulate in Nigeria and been told they have no record of my wife ever having made an application and would i make another appointment to submit an application.....Yeah right !

I like to add my on experience with spanish ... only my case it is not about just visiting... i am german and live in spain and my husband is jamaican:

In relation to the questions that you raised on your e-mail from August 30th, please, allow me to explain to you several aspects of your visa application:

1. This Embassy fully applies the European Union legislation together with the official instructions we get from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to that, the special regime from which spouses from European citizens may benefit is dependent on the fact that their marriage is registered on an European Union Registrar General Department (Registro Civil for Spain). During the interview, you told me that you were going to ask for registration at the German Embassy but, at the moment you submitted your visa application and went through the interview, the only certification that you were presenting was your jamaican marriage certificate, which is not enough to benefit from this special regime. The exemption on visa fees and the other benefits depend also on this requirement.

2. You submitted your visa application on July 14th. You were contacted on July 22nd for an interview on August 3rd. We are sorry we could not schedule your interview before but our workload and my own work agenda did not allow us to do it before.

3. Your visa application was refused on August 12th and we notified it you in writting on August 22nd, the day you came to pick up your passport.

I may understand that you do not agree on the way we processed you visa application. As I said before, everything was done according to the European Union legislation and official instruction from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As we informed to you when your visa was refused, you may pursue and administrative appeal before this Embassy or open the dispute process before the Supreme Court of Justice of Madrid.

Please, be aware that, as we explained in several occasions to your wife, this Embassy do not deal with other than the visa applicants themselves in relation to their visa applications.

Best regards,

[Aimar]

@Andal, sorry to read about your troubles with the Spanish Embassy, as has been pointed out to me by Sovit there is no legal basis under the EU directive for the spanish requirement of registering one's marriage with the member state of the EU citizen, it is simply a mis-transposition by the spanish authorities designed to make life difficult for applicants, and since it is in their national laws it is simply pointless appealing the issue. The only effective way around this i believe is for the European Commission to take legal action against Spain in order to remove the offensive requirement.