schengen visa granted for france however i now have no job

[Kader]

dear all

i have a couple of previous posts on the forum about my plans to use the surinder singh route to help my wife back to the uk after me, UK national, working in france.

fortunately my wife was granted a 3 months schengen visa which will now expire at the end of january/

unfortunately, although she is with me in france, i no longer have a job as i worked for a cuple weeks but apparently my french was not good enough.

i am a registered job seeker now and actively, seeking work as well as taking french classes for several weeks.

can i apply for a family permit for france (looks like i will be here for a while now) together with my wife? can i do so as a job seeker? does that count as economically active?

regards

kader

[dalebutt]

How many weeks of employment did you do altogether?

[el patron]

You could try looking for work in another EU country, given general absence of border controls within the schengen area you should have little difficulty entering another schengen state, at which point you and your wife gain an automatic right of entry and residence for three months without having to exercise treaty rights, nor does it matter that the schengen visa expires as the right of entry is from the EC treaty and not the schengen agreement. She is only obliged to register in the next member state after she has been there for over 3 months.

Job seeking in France will not satisfy the Home Office nor will her not being present in France when you were working satisfy them.

Good luck

[Jambo]

He can be a job seeker and that would accepted by the French authorities as exercising treaty rights (and allow his family to reside with him). This time (as a job seeker) however will not be recognised by the UK authorities for the purpose of Surinder Singh.

[Kader]

THANK YOU

[Kader]

Thank you for the replies.

I went to the French immigration office today to ask about getting a residence permit there for my wife. They said only if I provide them with three months bank statements to proof I was working.

I explained that I was looking for work and they said this wasn't good enough.

Is there a different type of residence permit for eu nationals. I know in England it's the eea family permit, but the French authorities didnt recognise what I was saying.

Furthermore the officer refused to speak to me in my more or less broken french anad told me to come back with an interpreter although i know he can speak good english!

I have two questions

1. Does anyone know the name of the French family permit for eea nationals?

2. If an application is made and refused and subsequently wife overstays her three month schengen, can we reapply in France if she is an overstayer?

Regards

Kader

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

EEA Family Permit is a UK specific name for an initial entry visa.

You want what is generally called a Residence Card.

[Kader]

Thank you directive for your reply.

I have done some reading and I think my rights are under article 7.

Of course I was employed for several years in the uk before going to France.

Can I use article 7 in my case to say that I had worked in the uk for atleast a year before I was sacked or made redundant?

If yes, would this article no longer apply if I had left my job to peruse a job offer in France? Even if I had only worked for a week or so?

The reason I ask is because I had not, after my trial period of work in France, received any documents related to my work there. Basically it was a small fast food business that had just set up but wanted a faster speaking french worker rather than me. If I have no documents from the finch business which hired me for the week, will this be a problem?

Regards

Kader

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

You need to work for longer than a week in France and have proof that you have worked. Paid taxes, or letters from employer, or pay slips.