family member of an Eu national

[RDC]

Hello fellows,

I am glad to have found this forum as I need urgent advice from Guru. The situation is as follows:

- I’m an EU national (Sweden). I was intending to exercise my treaty (short holiday) in the Netherlands with my son who is a third country national (Congo), and he just turned 19 years last month.

- Last month, he applied for a Schengen visa at the Belgian embassy (as Belgium act on their behalf for issuing of short term visa in Congo) under the directive 2004/38 as a family member of an EU national, and we have submitted all necessary documents.

- Before applying, I look it on the website of the ministry of foreign affairs of the Netherlands regarding the legalization of a foreign birth certificate, and it stated that a birth certificate out Congo is no longer subject to legalization by the Dutch embassy as long as it is legalized by the Congolese Ministry of foreign Affairs (we did all that).

- Surprisingly, last week he got a refusal . The reason is that the directive couldn't be applied as his birth certificate was not legalized by the Belgian embassy, so a normal visa code was applied. Other motives for the refusal under the visa code were that he didn't provide travel insurance, proof that he will leave the Netherlands before his visa expires, and lack of financial proofs.

My question to you is can the embassy just change the procedure without the applicant consent from the directive to a normal visa code? Because we applied under the directive, and obviously under the directive you don’t to provide all these documents they are mentioning ( at least they could invite him to justify why the birth certificate was not legalized). Furthermore, he didn't have to pay for the visa fee. Another question, do you guys think that appeal against the decision will be worth it? Your comment will be highly appreciated !!

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Effectively, there is no real distinction between a normal Schengen visa and one issued under the directive - it's just a visa. Of course, those there are special provisions for family members of EU citizens. The non-EU citizen must demonstrate that they are a family member of an EU national and that they will be accompanying or joining the EU national. Once that proof is made, then the application can proceed - no requirement for insurance, etc, etc.

It is unfortunate that Belgium issues the visas. I suspect you would need to follow their guidance rather than that of the Netherlands with regards to documentation. Would this be a complicated procedure to follow?

You can appeal. You can try and complain, but sometimes it would be easier to address the documentation problem.

[oniopapa]

i think you should re apply again and put it in writing wot you are appling for family member route not shengen visiting visa