Residence card holder given tough time at Katowice Airport

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

hi guys,
Here is my experience

I went to France last week with French girlfriend on my RC.

At easy jet check-in the clerk ask her manager if i can go to France on just my RC without schengen visa and her manager told her, as long as i'm travelling with my family member of eea its fine to travel to any European country.

Arrive in France the immigration ask me where is schengen visa because i need 1 to enter, so my GF spoke to him in French explaining the eea rules, he then call is superiors, they then say this system is new so not all officers know about it but my RC is good enough to enter so they take a record of my RC and my Passport and GF passport, then stamp my passport for entry and when leaving, stamp it for exiting.

Arrive back in the UK and enter European line, the immigration officer ask us if we both living in the UK, we answered yes then she stamp my passport. not sure if i should get a stamp because i didn't give landing card

my RC is on A4 and i have a non EU passport.

Hi, gf doesn't entitle to to spousal benefits of EU travel. It is not considered as a family member.

Marcus, In this case the GF is an EEA citizen. The BF has a Residence Card because this is a long term recognized relationship. And so is a family member (in this legal sense)!

[harmeetsingh]

Hi all,Just call to Polish embassy in london for some information about traveling to poland without visa if you hold UK residence card.They said that I can travel without visa but they recommend me to apply for visa because immigration control in Poland dont know the EU law.Polish immigration officer can ask me for polish visa and i can have problems.I dont understand this situation.Poland is in EU since 2004 and Polish immigration authorities still dont know the EU laws.So to be in safe side I decide to apply for visa.Its just ridiculous.I am working at Luton airport.we have a special book about visa requirments for EU countries.Its written there clearly that person who hold UK resident card do not need Visa to travel to Poland for 90 Days.Any body have any experience traveling to poland without visa

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

harmeetsingh,

Are you traveling together with your EU citizen spouse?

Also, it is worth reading through http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/08 ... to-travel/ in case you ever are asked for a visa and do not have what they think is required. You need to be traveling with your spouse and have your marriage certificate.

I doubt you will actually have problems from the Polish border guards. They have very clear manuals, as pointed out in the link above, that talk about entry with a Residence Card and entry without a visa.

[markowna]

Hi there.
Thx for the link. Now intresting thing is that polish consulate in manchester has its own website n it states there that spouses of polish nationals need visa to visit poland ( i checked it last month when applied for polish visa)
Bt the way if i was asked that many questions despite having visa.....cant imagine how many they would ask me without visa...
Lets see what happens when landing back in the u.k. regarding stamp etc
thx.

You would not need to apply for the visa if you would be a POLISH residence card holder.
Being UK residence card holder but non-EU nationals does not release you from the requirement of having visa. Same thing (i guess) is with any other Schengen Country (know it from own experience).
And all this is because UK is not a Schengen Member country.....

[86ti]

Being UK residence card holder but non-EU nationals does not release you from the requirement of having visa.

This is clearly wrong as per Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/38/EC and the Polish embassy advises correctly, see their web page.