EU treaty rights section

st pauli · Post by **st pauli** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 1:43 pm

How long do they typically take to respond to email enquiries in everyone's experience?

I mean general prior-to-application enquiries, not related to an open application.

Cheers.

jeupsy · Post by **jeupsy** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 2:04 pm

They are fairly quick for an imigration service.

In my experience they usually take around 2 working days, whether you have a current application or not. If you don't have any answer after a week it means they forgot to reply your email and you need to send them a follow-up one if you want them to get back to you.

st pauli · Post by **st pauli** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 4:56 pm

They responded, to their credit, after just six hours - but only to tell me they couldn't answer my questions about the validity length of EUTR visas because these were visa questions, not questions about EU Treaty Rights

jeupsy · Post by **jeupsy** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:01 pm

Yes the question is more for the Irish embassy of the country where you will apply for the visa, but not sure they would give much information.

You are talking about a visa to move to Ireland in order to join an EU citizen right?

In that case from my experience they give a 6 months multi-entry visitor visa (so once in Ireland and while you are waiting for your residence card application to be processed, you can still use that visa and don't need to apply for a re-entry visa of you want to travel to other countries)

frei · Post by **frei** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:10 pm

The EUTR visa are normally issued for a period of not more than 3 months and I have heard in some cases on arrival in Ireland immigration officers even reduce the length of validity.

Jeupsy have you applied for this type of visa? I have applied and received one to which I didn't travel on. It was 3 months validity

jeupsy · Post by **jeupsy** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:16 pm

Yes, my girlfriend applied for a visa to join me in Ireland based on EUTR and was granted a 6 months visitor visa (type B if I remember correctly).

I don't know anyone else who applied though ... So not sure if it is what they usually do.

st pauli · Post by **st pauli** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:26 pm

jeupsy wrote:Yes, my girlfriend applied for a visa to join me in Ireland based on EUTR and was granted a 6 months visitor visa (type B if I remember correctly).

I don't know anyone else who applied though ... So not sure if it is what they usually do.

So when the non-EU citizen is approved for 'join spouse' visa, it's actually a visitor visa or something that they issue, right then?

I thought the way it works is that the spouse gets an initial 'EUTR visa' to take to the border, and then the 'stamp' they receive there is a visitor visa or similar, and that determines how long they can stay?

frei · Post by **frei** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:47 pm

It was actually a type C visa, with 3 months validity, applied at the Berlin embassy. I will look for a post of someone on this forum, who's gone through the process till then end of it.

frei · Post by **frei** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:50 pm

OP read through this thread it probably answer all of your questions

jeupsy · Post by **jeupsy** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:51 pm

st pauli wrote:
So when the non-EU citizen is approved for 'join spouse' visa, it's actually a visitor visa or something that they issue, right then?

Yes at least in our case it is what they did.

I just double checked the visa, I got the type wrong but the rest was correct.

It is a type D multi-entry 6 months visa and there is a clear mention "EUTR Applicant". Type D seems to mean long stay visa.

The border control person stamped her passport with a requirement to register with the GNIB within a month and a mention that she was not allowed to work. We emailed the EUTR section and they told us she didn't need to register before submitting her EUTR residence card application as long as she could do it within a month ... so we did that and she just went to the GNIB office after getting the residence card application acknowledgement (a bit over a month later); and they issued her a six months Stamp 4 GNIB card. The visa was still useful though as she was able to travel and come back to Ireland while on the temporary Stamp 4 (which as opposed to the Stamp 4 EUFAM doesn't make people visa-exempt).

Again it is just one experience ... not sure they always do that.

frei · Post by **frei** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:16 pm

Jeupsy, How long did it take the embassy to process a type D visa? it was actually the wrong type of visa. The commission guideline on issuing EU spouse visa was clear that it should be a type C visa which is normally valid for 3 months except for the UK type c visa which is for 6 months.

The reason is type D visa is like an immigration visa, and takes quite long to process so, to avoid delay for family members, it was stipulated that they should apply for a type C visa.

Am not surprised though as some embassies sometimes act differently

jeupsy · Post by **jeupsy** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:23 pm

Yes based on the discussions I had with the embassy and the extra documents they required, I think they didn't really know what they were doing (they sent the visa application to Dublin for a decision whereas I think they were supposed to issue it on the spot). It took about 2 months to process it - which didn't sound right and seems to correspond to what you are saying.

In the end it was not too bad I guess since it saved my girlfriend from having to apply for a re-entry visa once in Ireland.

For reference it was the Paris embassy.

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EU treaty rights section

EU treaty rights section