schengen visa for spouse of British citizen

[charmi]

hi all... i am a spouse of british citizen... me and my husband are planning to visit europe....i am going to apply for schengen visa as i am not the permanent resident of uk... can anyone pls tell me that which country gives the longest and multiple entry visa to visit schengen area ??

Thank you

[toofan]

you need to apply for visa the country you going to visit and you can travel to rest of schengen countries.
longest and multiple visa depends on your application .. and reason for travel etc.

[FaeLLe]

Apply for a EEA family permit (this is free of charge) for the country you are visiting.
This will allow you exercise EEA treaty rights and not have to bother with a schengen visa.

[CR001]

Apply for a EEA family permit (this is free of charge) for the country you are visiting.
This will allow you exercise EEA treaty rights and not have to bother with a schengen visa.

Again, not for a holiday. Schengen visa is required and should be issued free to spouse of British Citizens.

[FaeLLe]

Could you help share a source that says EEA family permit cannot be use for tourism / holiday purpose?

[CR001]

A person would not be 'exercising treaty rights' if they are on holiday in Europe would they. As an aside, you cannot use a mix UK Immigration law and EEA FP rules.

As an example off the Belguim site :

As a general rule, family members of British citizens do not qualify for an EEA family permit. Article 3 of the Directive essentially says that an EEA national cannot be considered as exercising freedom of movement in their own State -

[Amber]

For the first 3 months of entering the EEA state a EEA national is considered to enjoy a right to reside insofar as they do not become an unreasonable burden on the social security system of the state.

[Donutz]

Apply for a EEA family permit (this is free of charge) for the country you are visiting.
This will allow you exercise EEA treaty rights and not have to bother with a schengen visa.

Again, not for a holiday. Schengen visa is required and should be issued free to spouse of British Citizens.

It should, though those who chose to go to an external party (VFS, TLS) will still have to pay a service fee. For an absolutely free application you can ofcourse apply directly - you are entitled to do so and the representation should communicate this- at the embassy or consulate of the Schengen state that is your main destination. If they require an application in advance they should issue an appointment within 2 weeks of the request being made. The application itself should be completed within 15 days for EU/EAA family members.

[chaoclive]

It should, though those who chose to go to an external party (VFS, TLS) will still have to pay a service fee.

This is not always true. My civil partner was issued with an EEA FP completely free of charge that he applied for at the VFS Processing Centre in Beijing.

[chaoclive]

Could you help share a source that says EEA family permit cannot be use for tourism / holiday purpose?

Pls be clear on the terms:
-The EEA family permit is issued by a UK Embassy for entry to the UK only. It's unrelated to a 'Schengen visa'.

I have heard of people applying for EEA family permits from the UK Embassy for entry to the UK for a holiday. My civil partner has used this route for holidays to both Spain and the Netherlands. All these visas were issued completely free.