ca.funke wrote:
EEA family member Residence Card holder (Part 1): This only applies to you if
- you are a family-member of an EEA-citizen AND
- legally living inside the EU but outside Schengen (=UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus) AND
- You have been given a "Residence card of a family member of a Union citizen"
- If any of the above is not the case, check Part 2!
In this case you are legally entitled to travel to
all of the EEA (not Switzerland
), as long as your partner travels with you, or you "join the partner".
- >>This<< thread contains all details (it was originally written covering Ireland, however it´s the same throughout the UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus).
- The German Embassy in London issued this >>letter<< to someone from this forum, which confirms the same. (I cannot find the original post anymore, but would like to give credit... Can someone fill me in here?)
- Success stories (I will update this as they keep trickling in):
Please continue reading, but skip the next section!
EEA family member without Residence Card (Part 2): This only applies to you if
- you are a family-member of an EEA-citizen AND
- Not (yet) in possession of the residence-card as per Part 1 OR
- legally living outside the EU altogether
In this case you are still legally entitled to travel to
all of the EEA (not Switzerland
), as long as your partner travels with you, or you "join the partner".
>>Article 5, Section 4 of 2004/38/EC<< reads as follows:
Where a Union citizen, or a family member who is not a national of a Member State, does not have the necessary travel documents or, if required, the necessary visas, the Member State concerned shall, before turning them back, give such persons every reasonable opportunity to obtain the necessary documents or have them brought to them within a reasonable period of time or to corroborate or prove by other means that they are covered by the right of free movement and residence.
Hi, everyone. Thanks a lot for such a valuable forum..
Here is my story: I am Russian, just married to Italian and we are living in Cyprus.
I did not receive the residence card yet, so I am in Part 2. But in any case, Italian embassy said I would need a visa to travel to Italy with my husband.. just it will be free of charge (as stated Directive 2004/38/EC).
So, where is the truth?
Directive states (article 2, 10) I do not need visa ( to travel to any EU country), but a the same time it refers to the Regulation (EC) No 539/2001, where Russians do require the entry visa, but Directive also makes an exemption for Residence cards holders:
‘Family members who are not nationals of a Member State shall only be required to have an entry visa in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 or, where appropriate, with national law. For the purposes of this Directive, possession of the valid residence card referred to in Article 10 shall exempt such family members from the visa requirement.’
I think the confusion is because Cyprus is in EU, but not in Schengen zone, so, that’s why I would require entry visa to any EU country.
But ‘The Guide to your rights as an EU citizen’, Page 12 says:
‘If your third country family members move between a Schengen EU country and a non-Schengen EU country, they can also be exempted from the visa requirement if they have a valid residence card issued to them as family members by an EU country other than that of your nationality.’
So, I see strong case for me in travelling without entry visas to EU countries. Am I right? To any EU country with my spouse? And without spouse?
But how can I travel without visa and Cyprus residence card, I don’t understand it yet.
Please advise if you know, preferably with detailed references. Thank you so much.