Registered partners and schengen visa fee

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:41 pm

hi,

just wanted to enquire if the same sex registered partners of EU/EEA/Swiss nationals have to pay the schengen visa fee or are they exempted from paying the fee.

appreciate any feedback

thanks

Dawie · Post by **Dawie** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:27 pm

I'm not sure about other Schengen countries, but certainly the French embassy does not recognise UK civil partnerships and therefore you cannot benefit from being the "spouse" of a UK or EU citizen as you would from being in a marriage.

I'm guessing this is probably the same for other Schengen embassies as the UK civil partnership is not widely recognised. You might have some luck from the Spanish embassy as Spain is one of the few countries in the world that has legalised genuine same-sex marriages, but I wouldn't count on it.

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:04 pm

I am pretty sure the visas are free from schengen countries. They are also free from the UK. Ireland is a bit unclear.

Dawie · Post by **Dawie** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:35 pm

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:I am pretty sure the visas are free from schengen countries. They are also free from the UK. Ireland is a bit unclear.

I'm afraid not, please have a look at this FAQ from the French embassy's website, third question from the bottom.

http://www.consulfrance-londres.org/art ... rticle=324

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:26 am

got the following information from the website of the swedish embassy in london:

Cost of visa
The equivalent of 60 Euro
(at present £40)

The fee is payable on submission of the visa application and non-refundable. Payment to be made in cash or postal order. No visa fee for children under 6 years of age, school pupils, students and accompanying teachers on study or educational trips, researchers; for EU-spouses and their children (under 21), registered partners and co-habitees of European Union nationals (does not apply for co-habitees of Swiss citizens). The original marriage certificate or original full birth certificate with parents' names must be submitted together with spouse's/parent's original passport. The previous fee of 35 Euro (£23) will remain in force for citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia (incl. Kosovo) and Moldova.

From the above it seems that even unmarried partners don't have to pay the visa fee.

Christophe · Post by **Christophe** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:08 am

flyboy wrote:From the above it seems that even unmarried partners don't have to pay the visa fee.

Except that such people won't be able to produce an original marriage certificate.

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:51 am

am sure an unmarried partner visa along with some proof of cohabitation will suffice ,no?

Christophe · Post by **Christophe** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:42 am

flyboy wrote:am sure an unmarried partner visa along with some proof of cohabitation will suffice ,no?

Well, I guess that it must.

Dawie · Post by **Dawie** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:50 am

Christophe wrote:
flyboy wrote:am sure an unmarried partner visa along with some proof of cohabitation will suffice ,no?
Well, I guess that it must.

I'm afraid it won't. Again, I refer you to this FAQ page, third paragraph from the bottom:

http://www.consulfrance-londres.org/art ... rticle=324

I am in a relationship akin to marriage. My partner is British. May I apply as the spouse of an EU national?
The subject of the Civil Partnership - that came into effect in December 2005 in the UK - and the subsequent changes in regards to visa applications are still being discussed by the Schengen partners. The French Consulate has yet to receive new directives and can therefore not allow the gratuity of the visa administrative fees nor an alleged procedure.

They don't recognise civil partnerships, and they certainly won't recognise unmarried partner visas. As it stands, if you want to be treated as the spouse of an EU citizen for Schengen visa purposes you have to be in a traditional heterosexual marriage. Well...as far as France is concerned, at least.

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:09 pm

just received a reply from the dutch embassy in london, as my partner and I are planning a trip to the netherlands and this was the response we got:

With reference to your e-mail from 19 January 2007, I can inform you that that a Registered Partnership (registered according to the English law) will allow people to apply for a visa as family member of an EU-citizen. We can only speak for the Netherlands authorities and not for the other Schengen countries. This only applies to people who have the registered partnership.
Upon application the following documents have to be submitted:
- applicants passport;
- partners passport;
- document of the registered partnership;
- an application form;
and a passportsized photograph, there will be no handling fee.

Yours sincerely

Visa Section
Royal Netherlands Embassy

Seems the swedes and the dutch at least recognise registered partners.

Dawie · Post by **Dawie** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:49 pm

Interesting...I wonder if the visa they issue you with would be a full proper Schengen visa or whether it will only give you entry to the Netherlands or Sweden. Quite often when individual Schengen countries issue visas outside of the normal Schengen rules the visa will only be valid for the country who issued it and will not be valid for entry into other Schengen countries.

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:10 pm

did some further enquiries this afternoon regarding this matter by contacting some other schengen embassies and basically as follow:

Finland treats registered partners and umarried partners (2 year co-habitation) as family members (same as Sweden)

Netherlands,Belgium,Denmark, Iceland and Norway - only registered partners treated as spouses of EU/EEA nationals.

7 out of the 15 schengen countries are definite, am still waiting for a response from the Spanish, German and Luxembourg embassies as all 3 have some sort of same sex marriage/ partnership under their national law.

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:16 pm

here's the response regarding finland:

with reference to your enquiry on registrated EU/EEA nationals of same sex the Passport and Visa Unit would like to inform you that according to the Aliens Act paragraf 154 EU citizens' family members:

1) An Eu citizen's family members are his or her:

1) spouse
2) children under 21 years of age of dependent on him or her
3) parents dependent on him and her
4) spouse's children who are under 21 years of age or dependent on the spouse
5) spouse's parents who are dependent on the spouse

2) If an EU citizen residint in Finland is a minor, his or her parent or guardian is a family member

3) When this Act is applied, persons of the same sex in a registered partnership are comparable to a married couple. Futhermore, persons living continuously in a marriage-like relationship within the same household regardless of their sex are comparable to a married couple.

with best regards
Passport and Visa Unit+

This is response from Denmark (issues visas on behalf of Iceland too):

Thank you for your e-mail.

In the Danish Embassy you are treated as a registret partner of an EU national, meaning you are exempted from the visa fee providing you have the ORIGINAL registre certificate and your partners ORIGINAL passport, plus the other required documents.

Please read our guideline http://www.amblondon.um.dk/en/menu/Cons ... TermVisas/ for further information

Kind regards

Marianne Elmelund
Visa Section

Dawie · Post by **Dawie** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:18 pm

Just shows you how unfair the rules are when people in the UK on unmarried partner visas are given preferential treatment over people who are on indefinite leave to remain visas in the UK.

For example, I have ILR and I have been living with my EU partner in the UK for over 2 years, and yet, it seems from the info you've supplied above, that if I wanted to be treated as the spouse of an EU citizen I would have to switch from having ILR to being on an unmarried partner visa. Obviously noone in their right mind would do this.

Thank god I'm due for naturalisation soon so I can get past this Schengen madness.

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:24 pm

this is the response i just got from the german embassy:

Dear Sir.

Same sex-partners may apply for EU-spouses visa as stated on our website.
www.london.diplo.de

Same documents are requested..

Kind regards
visa section

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:39 pm

another response from the finnish embassy - am quite surprise how quick they get back to one:

Spouse of the EEA citizen does not have to pay the visa fee as long as
the passport of the spouse and the marriage/civil registration
certificate are presented. Finland does accept the same sex partnerships
and there is no difference with the treatment compared to the
traditional marriages.

Regards,

Anna-Leena Raittinen
Visa and Passport Officer

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:29 pm

It is worth checking with France directly. Some of the embassy web sites are just wrong or not up to date.

You will find all European countries are required to implement Directive/2004/38/EC, most of the older member states by April 2006. This directive is the new Freedom of Movement definition in the EU. Article 3(2)(b) says

2. Without prejudice to any right to free movement and residence the persons concerned may have in their own right, the host Member State shall, in accordance with its national legislation, facilitate entry and residence for the following persons:
(a) ...
(b) the partner with whom the Union citizen has a durable relationship, duly attested.

Even Ireland says...
http://www.justice.ie/80256E01003A02CF/ ... Q6PEFCN-en

However, Ireland is obliged to facilitate the entry and residence of the partner with whom the Union citizen has a durable relationship, duly attested. In doing so an extensive examination of the personal circumstances of such relations must be undertaken.

They are not allowed to turn you down because they do not like the gender of your partner!

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:38 am

Luxembourg does not regards same sex couples as family members. Here the response i got:

Luxembourg does not treat same sex registered partners of EU/EEA or those of Swiss nationals as spouse/family members of EU/EEA nationals. Consequently, there is no exemption from the visa fee.

Regards

Visa Section
Luxembourg Embassy
London

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:55 pm

They Luxies are just begging to get sued. Or maybe they are thinking of pulling out of the EU...

Kind of cute.

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 1:47 pm

Spain treats same sex registered couples as spouses/family members as well. Here's their response:

Same sex couples that are registered at the Civil Registry are given the visa free of charge.

Angelines Garcia

So far a total of 9 out of the 15 schengen states includes same sex registered couples. Waiting on replies from France,Portugal, Italy, Austria and Greece.

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:33 pm

The Irish embassy in Germany will issue an visa for no charge to the gay partner who has a Eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft (the German civil union) with the EU citizen. I am not sure if they advertise this, but they will do it.

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 2:36 pm

by the way Dawie, just to mention, the schengen visa i got from the Dutch embassy is valid for all schengen states ,multiple entry, valid for 3 years, and in the remark section of the visa, it's written family member of EU citizen

tensailee · Post by **tensailee** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:52 pm

thanks for the information.

tensailee · Post by **tensailee** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:59 pm

have you tried the greek embassy? will be funny to see how they respond...

flyboy · Post by **flyboy** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 10:05 pm

Will check with the greek embassy.

However got the following from the Portuguese ministry of foreign affairs website, here's the link and click on visa and take particular note to the section on the rights of EU citizens and their family members - seems they have implemented Directive 2004/38 into their national law:

http://secomunidades.pt/Londres/

It reads as follows:

Law no. 37/2006, 9 th August)

Right of free movement and residence of citizens of the European Union and their family members

Citizens of the European Union, of the European Economic Area countries and of Switzerland:

. Can enter Portuguese territory through the presentation of a valid identity card or passport, being allowed to reside in it for a period of up to three months without any other conditions and formalities.

. For stays longer than three months must formalize their right of residence by registering themselves in the municipal authorities (câmara municipal) of their area of residence within thirty days after the three months from the date of arrival in Portuguese territory have expired.

Family members of citizens of the European Union, of the European Economic Area countries and of Switzerland, who are third country nationals:

. For the present purposes, «Family members» means: the spouse; the partner with whom the Union citizen lives in civil union, constituted according to the law, or with whom the Union citizen maintains a duly certified permanent relationship; the direct descendants and those of the spouse or partner who are under the age of 21 or are dependants; the direct relatives and those of the spouse or partner in the ascending line who are dependants.

. Can enter Portuguese territory through the presentation of a valid passport and must obtain a short stay visa if their nationality so requires (see List of countries whose nationals need a visa to enter Portugal).

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Registered partners and schengen visa fee

Registered partners and schengen visa fee