uk citizen , african wife visa refused please help

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:15 am

can anyone help me i am a uk born citizen and my wife is liberian , she has just been refused her visa and now we are looking at an 6 - 8 month wait for appeal. is there any way we can be together in uk or europe until the appeal is heard. i been reading a lot about the eea family permit but cant understand its relavence to us. i can go to holland and live and work for 6 months , would this help us

Post by **John** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:18 am

Indeed, if you are in the Netherlands exercising your EU Treaty Rights then you can make application to the Dutch embassy in her country for your family member, your wife, to join you. If such an application was being made to the UK it would be for what the UK calls an EEA Family Permit, but not sure what the Dutch would call it.

sakura · Post by **sakura** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:31 am

Did she apply for a spouse visa? Why was it rejected? What documents did you supply and what is your current situation?

You can always look at re-applying, rather than moving abroad...

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:52 am

thank you i appreciate your time trying to help, the history of our situation. my wife first applied for a fiance visa and came to the uk for 6 months i was posted abroad and we couldnt get married so she went home within her time. the same thing happened when she came the second time on fiance visa. her third fiance visa was refused so i went to africa and we got married now they have refused her wife visa because my bank statements where copies and the balance was low 3000gbp. i can now top this up to 9000gbp. iv been told by a solicitor that it would be pointless to re apply because they can ban her for a year from applying if they refuse her this time. if i go and work in holland and they allow her to come stay with me will the uk then have to let her come home with me when i return from holland? if so how long would we have to stay in holland?

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:11 pm

See http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2007/04 ... ional-law/

You will have to live and work in the another EU member state if you want EU law to apply on your return to the UK. There is not a hard and fast rule of how long you have to live there and work. But in general you can work part time, and I do not think it has to be for too long.

See also http://eumovement.wordpress.com/info-united-kingdom/ for the UK rules.

The Netherlands would be a great place to live for a while!

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 3:44 pm

thanks for your replies. im almost there , iv just found out that her country has no dutch embassy , only a french embassy can she apply for a shengen visa from french embassy with details of my work in holland ? is this easier or harder to get ? does the shengen visa cost to apply. last question does the family permit rule also apply if i go to southern ireland to work instead of holland?

Post by **John** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:06 pm

last question does the family permit rule also apply if i go to southern ireland to work instead of holland?

Well in theory yes, but this Board has an Ireland section. A quick perusal of that section will show you that the Government of Ireland is taking, well, a stance that most consider unusual and unhelpful. Short answer, forget Ireland.

Schengen visa? Not sure that is the correct one. That is for those intending to visit as a tourist, and for a limited period. Do make sure you apply for the correct visa. And question, can you apply to the French embassy for a visa to permit your wife to live in the Netherlands? Is France covering for Netherlands, in the same way as it is often the case that the British Embassy somewhere covers for a number of the smaller Commonwealth countries?

The fee should be .... nil! Because of EU legislation .... but you will need to prove your British Citizenship.

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:38 pm

ok so ireland is out and holland is back in , iv trawled the dutch government websites looking for eea family permits but to no avail, anyone have any idea what the dutch call them,and would anyone know how to apply for the eea family permit for netherlands if there is no dutch embassy anywhere near my wife in africa

Post by **archigabe** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:55 pm

apply at the dutch embassy in the country nearest to Liberia.
Accra, Ghana
http://www.ambaccra.nl/
http://www.ambaccra.nl/consular_affairs/visa

Dakar, Senegal
http://www.nlambassadedakar.org/

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:57 am

Your family members cannot be automatically turned back at the
borders if they do not have a valid passport or, if required, an entry
visa, when they are able to prove by any other means that they are
covered by the right of free movement and residence by establishing
their identity and family ties with you.

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/ ... 8_ec_en.pd

I FOUND THIS IN THE DIRECTIVE , DOES THIS MEAN THAT IF MY WIFE JUST JUMPS ON A PLANE TO HOLLAND FROM AFRICA TO MEET ME WITHOUT FIRST GETTING THE ENTRY VISA THAT THEY MUST ALLOW HER INTO HOLLAND AND GIVE HER TIME TO APPLY IN HOLLAND ?

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:57 am

The "EEA family permit" is the UK name for a visa for family members of EU citizens. No other country uses this same name.

Ireland is a also a fine option (though the Netherlands is nicer in my opinion). Your wife has already been resident in the UK, so I do not see any reason you will have troubles there.

For the netherlands, see http://eumovement.wordpress.com/info-netherlands/

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:46 am

hello again.

the directive states that your non eea family member living with u in an eea state other than your own can apply for an eea family permit to travel to your own state with you providing they can prove they are living in the member state legally .....

does this mean she needs a residence permit from the state i am working in ?
if so the fact that it can take up to 6 months for her to get her residence permit...does this mean she will definately have to be in holland for 6 months before she can come to the uk??

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:22 pm

I do not think it is clearly specified how long you will have to be exercising treaty rights outside of the UK before you can use Singh to return to the UK. Read the court decision for any specifics. I would say that six months is likely a good rule of thumb, but I say that without any knowledge of cases that have been refused or granted.

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:14 pm

[what is the shortest period you need to be excercising treaty rights? I suspect there is no minimum period as long as it is a legitimate paying job ( a few weeks at macdonalds in Paris )]

http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2007/04 ... ional-law/

i found this , any comments on its legitamacy

Christophe · Post by **Christophe** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 2:12 pm

gnajaf1 wrote:I FOUND THIS IN THE DIRECTIVE , DOES THIS MEAN THAT IF MY WIFE JUST JUMPS ON A PLANE TO HOLLAND FROM AFRICA TO MEET ME WITHOUT FIRST GETTING THE ENTRY VISA THAT THEY MUST ALLOW HER INTO HOLLAND AND GIVE HER TIME TO APPLY IN HOLLAND ?

Possibly, but an earlier problem would be for her to be allowed on to the plane by the airline staff. Chances are that the wouldn't let her board without an appropriate visa.

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:04 pm

does anyone know if the rule excersising your treaty rights applies to working in another country or having your non eea spouse live with you in another country.

if i am working in holland for 6 months but my non eea wife only joins me after 5 months , could we then theoretically come back to britain as soon as she joins me

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:08 pm

gnajaf1 wrote:does anyone know if the rule excersising your treaty rights applies to working in another country or having your non eea spouse live with you in another country.

What?

gnajaf1 wrote:if i am working in holland for 6 months but my non eea wife only joins me after 5 months , could we then theoretically come back to britain as soon as she joins me

Is the point not for you to be together? Why not enjoy the Netherlands (or whereever) together?

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:27 pm

yes of course the point is for us to be together but preferably we could be together in the uk where iv just bought a house for us , i know it seems like im looking for a way to circumvent the usual uk immigration rules but you must understand the uk immigration rules have not left us much choice. we have done everything to abide by the rules but typically in the uk , u only get anywhere if you dont follow the rules

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:36 am

My question was why do you not spend all the time together in the netherlands, rather than you working for 5 months and she joining you for the last month?

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:16 pm

CAN ANYONE HELP WITH THIS. MY WIFE AND I DECIDED THAT FRANCE WAS THE BEST OPTION FOR US SO I GOT MY EMPLOYER TO TRANSFER ME TO FRANCE. WHEN SHE WENT TO THE FRENCH EMBASSY IN GUINEA THEY REFUSED TO TAKE HER APPLICATION WITHOUT FLIGHT RESERVATIONS , MEDICAL INSURANCE AND TRAVEL INSURANCE. I TRIED CALLING THE EMBASSY BUT THEY WOULD NOT SPEAK TO ME IN ENGLISH. SO I EMAILED THE SOLVIT ORGANISATION AND THIS IS THE RESPONSE I GOT

Although there was a European Court ruling which sought to extend the right, some Member States consider that Directive 2004/38/EC only provides for free movement between Member States, that the non EU family member entering into the EU for the first time falls outside of the Directive and will be considered under national legislation; once legally resident in a Member State the family member can then exercise free movement rights under the Directive. I think that this might be the position with France.

CAN THIS BE RIGHT SURELY NOT

evil_grrrl666 · Post by **evil_grrrl666** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:38 pm

the response you got from solvit seems to be the approach lots of countries are taking in circumstances such as yours. my husband and i applied from outside of the eu for an eea family permit in the uk and they also applied extra regulations. can you not get a refundable ticket reservation, and insurance just to shut them up?

sakura · Post by **sakura** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:54 pm

What visa did you apply for?

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:02 am

we applied for a 3 month shengen visa for spouse of an eu national working in france. they refused this visa with no written or verbal explanation, just threw her passport at her and said non.
this was after they made her go and pay for medical insurance and flight tickets

Post by **Directive/2004/38/EC** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 5:12 am

gnajaf1 wrote:we applied for a 3 month shengen visa for spouse of an eu national working in france. they refused this visa with no written or verbal explanation, just threw her passport at her and said non.
this was after they made her go and pay for medical insurance and flight tickets

Have you considered filing a formal complaint to both the European Commission and as a petition to the European Parliament?

gnajaf1 · Post by **gnajaf1** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:29 pm

I CONSIDERED COMPLAINING TO ANYONE WHO WOULD LISTEN, BUT THE RESPONSE I GOT FROM SOLVIT SEEMED TO SAY THAT THE FRENCH ARE WELL KNOWN FOR THIS AND IN EFFECT CANT BE TOUCHED. WE ARE NOW STUCK WITH THE ONLY OPTION OF RE APPLYING TO THE DREADED BRITISH EMBASSY FOR A THIRD TIME IN AS MANY MONTHS (600 ) POUNDS A TIME. ITS SUPPOSED TO BE 500 ISNT IT BUT THE EMBASSY IN SIERRA LEONE IS CHARGING 600

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uk citizen , african wife visa refused please help

uk citizen , african wife visa refused please help