Travelling with a UK Settlement Visa

[akhan48]

Wondered if anyone knows a definitive answer to this.

If you're the spouse of British Citizen and you have a settlement visa in your Pakistani passport, are you allowed to travel freely in the EU just like any other British Citizen, or do you need to apply for a Schengen visa?

[Wanderer]

Wondered if anyone knows a definitive answer to this.

If you're the spouse of British Citizen and you have a settlement visa in your Pakistani passport, are you allowed to travel freely in the EU just like any other British Citizen, or do you need to apply for a Schengen visa?

No, need visa.

[secret.simon]

If the ILR spouse of a British citizen is traveling on their own to the EEA, they will need an appropriate visa. ILR is a status purely domestic to the UK and irrelevant to the EEA.

However, if the ILR spouse is traveling with the British citizen or traveling to meet the British citizen within the EEA, they do not require a visa per se. They just need to convince the immigration officer at the EEA border of their relationship (by providing marriage certificate, joint bills, bank statements, wedding photos, etc). This does not flow from the spouse's ILR (which, from an EEA point of view, is irrelevant), but from the freedom of movement of EU citizens and their immediate family (Directive 2004/38/EC of EU law).

Having said that, it would be faster and easier for the spouse at the border to have a Schengen visa before leaving which, under the terms of the Directive, could be free.

Google the directive for more information.