Dutch embassy refused visa

[Kuchiness]

Hello all,

I'm not sure if the is the right place to put this but I need your feedback and advice.

I'm british and my husband had FLR, 30 months residency(part 1) here in the UK. Last week we applied for a Shengen visa for Holland- 6 days visit, we would be staying with Dutch friends and we booked return flights - and embassy refused to give visa to my husband stating' Your travel document for Palestinian refugees is not recognised by the Dutch authorities'.

My husband has a Palestinian travel document( in the shape of a blue passport) issued from Syria.

When I called the Dutch embassy a month ago for info, I explained about his travel document and my status and I was told he would need Shengen visa. I wasn't told him applying for a visa is totally pointless because they won't even look at the application.

Now I want to know if I can appeal to this decision and how. Our flight is on 16 July, in less than 2 weeks' time and we will lose them if we don't get a visa in time.

Anyone had a similar situation? Ant input will be great

Thanks

[Casa]

You need to be patient and wait for a reply. It doesn't help to open multiple posts.

[Kuchiness]

I did it by mistake FYI and I don't know how to delete it. You need to be more polite about it.

[Casa]

I don't see that anything I wrote could be considered impolite. I was attempting to help you. Multiple threads just become confusing with replies spread across the forum. Hopefully someone with experience of your situation will respond.

[Kuchiness]

Casa, I know that posting the same thing multiple times doesn't help. Can you please tell me how to correct a mistake? It's locked and I can't delete or edit it.

Thanks

[Casa]

I've locked your first thread to keep everything together in this one.

[Amber]

Casa was not impolite, just we get a lot of people creating multiple threads to get a quicker response. Don't take it personally.

[Amber]

Did you apply for the visa?

[Kuchiness]

Hi Amber,

Yes my husband applied for the visa, because he was told by the Dutch embassy he needed one, and 2 days after his application he was denied stating' his travel document not recognised'. We were NOT told this on the phone prior to application when we requested information.

So yesterday morning I called the Dutch embassy again, as if for the for the first time, again, explained clearly my husband has a blue coloured travel document for Palestinians issued from Syria, I'm british and we would be travelling together and I asked if he needed a visa or not. Again, the officer told me that he needed to applied for a Shengen visa. Same misinformation we were given before we booked our flights and applied for a visa. After he confirmed my husband needed a visa, I told him what had happened. He then excused himself for a minute, came back and said' oh yes, no need to apply, we won't recognise his documents'!!!!! He also said That I tricked him!?! I recorded the whole conversation so I have proof of this.

So it's not one time misunderstanding, every time it's the same wrong information provided by the Dutch embassy. I know they won't issue him a visa- which is incomprehensible, we travel together and stay with our Dutch friends- but I want them to apologise and compensate our travel expenses cause by their mistake.

Thank you

[Kuchiness]

Does anyone know how to make a formal complaint against a EU embassy?


Thanks all

[Casa]

SOLVIT may be able to help.
http://ec.europa.eu/solvit/what-is-solvit/index_en.htm

[Kuchiness]

Thanks Casa,

I've checked their website already and they will only deal with it if my husband is a EU citizen. Since it's him who was treated unfairly I'm not sure if they will considerate this case. There must be an authority that deals with this kind of thing, sure they can't make mistakes like this and get away with it so easily by saying ' ooops' !

[Casa]

Are you sure they won't deal with it as you are an EU citizen?

[Kuchiness]

I'll still try. I don't need a visa for Holland as you know and it's my husband's case in fact but I'll try and complain as if it's mine. It's me who made the calls and given inaccurate information.

Honestly it's hard to believe how incompetent they are, they put someone on the phone as a visa officer who hasn't got a clue who can apply and who cannot.

[bob-russell]

Under EU freedom of movement rules a spouse does not actually need a visa if travelling with or to an EU citizen. The problems arise when he or she tries to board a plane, ferry or train.

Have you tried contacting airlines etc to see if they will accept the travel document? You will have to be prepared to prove you are married etc when you arrive.

If The Netherlands will not accept the document will France? Once a Schengen visa is in a travel document it is pretty unlikely that the authorities will argue. It is easy to get into Holland once on mainland Europe! You are not doing anything wrong that I can see and you do have the right to move freely within the EU and to be accompanied by your spouse.

All a long-shot, I am afraid but the best I can come up with!

[Kuchiness]

Hello and thank you for your input.

First of all, yesterday I got a reply from Solvit, they are not interested to help as they can't interfere with embassy staff.

I see what you are saying and we also read this in many sources that as my spouse, he does not need a visa if we are travelling together but when we called the embassy to make sure, the moron told me that he needed a Shengen visa and he could apply. Does he not suppose to know who needs a visa or who doesn't.

By the way, it's said that if a family member has a UK residency and if his card has ' family member' written on it, he doesn't need a visa. My husband's residency card has ' spouse/ partner' written on it. A spouse is clearly a family member but we were told he needed a visa. !!

[bob-russell]

I would still check with another EU country, France would be logical as it is very easy to travel to the Netherlands from there.

If another country accepts the travel document enter that country and move on to where you want to be. The rules state either apply in the country of entry or the one where you intend to spend most of the time so The Netherlands is technically the correct country to apply to even if you were to travel to France first but as a partner of an EU citizen you are not required to provide an itinerary!

Another option would be to complain to your MEP +/- your MP and see if you can get help that way. I have found our MEP of less use than a chocolate teapot but you may be luckier!

[Kuchiness]

Hello again,

I've checked with the Swedish embassy and they do recognise his travel document and my husband could apply for a visa to go to Sweden. Now the problem is, we used our budget on tickets to Holland and we are unable to make a new application( also costs) and book flights for another country such as Sweden. Now my priority has become to sue the Dutch embassy and get my money back for my expenses, rather than try to travel in Europe. Today I made a complaint to The Dutch Ombudsman, attaching the recording of the phone conversation with the Dutch embassy( proof of how inaccurately they advise people ).

I just have to sit and wait now while our flights depart in 5 days.....

Wish me luck

Thanks

[MPH80]

Did you notify the person on the other end you recorded them? If not - your activity of sending it to the ombudsman may be illegal under UK law.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ ... rvfaq3.htm

It's the reason so many organisations have 'your call may be recorded for ...' messages.

[Kuchiness]

No I haven't let them know of course. He wouldn't talk to me if I did or not let me recorded. I needed a proof and I have it now. Thanks for the warning though. Let's see if they put me in prison for this

[bob-russell]

The link suggests that it might be necessary to get the permission of the person at the end of the phone before releasing the recording. As I read it you don't need to let anyone know they are being recorded. My suggestion is that you send a transcript of the conversation (word for word) but make it clear that you have the original recording. I suspect this will do the trick!
Make it clear at all stages that you consider this is preventing your free movement within the EU!

[Kuchiness]

It's been a year but I have an update on this topic and I will put it down.

The Dutch Embassy called me about 6 months after what had happened with apologies for the initial misinformation, for being so late to get back to me and for dealing with it unprofessionally. I was told that I would get all our expenses refunded asap and they are training their staff to deal with people looking for information in a better way. In the end they refunded our application fees flight tickets etc. After countless emails and complaints to various authorities. They ruined our holiday plans in the first place but at least we got our money back. Oh well...

[gpm468]

This may not be helpful, but as I understand it, you don't need a visa to travel to any EU country, so long as they recognise the travel document / passport. Regardless of what it might say on the embassy website etc.

I posted just now about going to France with no visa. Took about 1 minute to get through French immigration at London St Pancras (Eurostar) although I realise it may be more tricky with airlines, but then I guess you could claim a refund from the airline should they deny boarding?