Help with Schengen form for EU Family Member please

[dazzle]

Hi,

I need a little advice on how my wife should complete the schengen visa form please.

I will be exercising my EU Treaty Rights by moving and taking an employment offer in a few weeks time. I understand that my wife can also join me by obtaining a short term schengen visa and then registering as a resident once we arrive.

My question is how to answer these questions:
21) Main purpose of journey - I assume she ticks 'Other' and then writes 'joining EU spouse'?
24) Number of entries requested - Is multuple entry appropriate for this situation?
25) Duration of the intended stay or transit - While the visa itself will be a short term visa, the intention is for her to reside with me in the EU. So what should be written here?
30) Intended date of departure from Schengen area - Same reason as above

Thanks so much for any advice. The consulate where she is applying is not very helpful at all. In fact the staff we are allowed to speak to are not even aware of this type of situation, where the visa is free. And we are prohibited from speaking to anyone who does know i.e. in the visa section itself. So advice is much needed and appreciated!

[86ti]

You could have told us at least what member state you are talking about...

It may be possible that you should actually apply for a national type D visa (that's just a guess) but I do not know if there would be a separate application form for that.

[dazzle]

Sorry of course..

We are moving to Latvia

We need to apply for a visa from the French Embassy in Cameroon, as advised by the Latvian authorities because there is no Latvian Embassy here.

I am British, she is Cameroonian.

[Wanderer]

Sorry of course..

We are moving to Latvia

We need to apply for a visa from the French Embassy in Cameroon, as advised by the Latvian authorities because there is no Latvian Embassy here.

I am British, she is Cameroonian.

I'm intrigued - why Latvia?

[dazzle]

Its where my employment offer is. In my industry jobs are very difficult to get hold of (as with all industries at this time, before anyone says it).

A company in Latvia has offered a good package, so Latvia it is! It's much nicer than where I am now.. for sure

[pierre75]

If you married in Cameroon, be very carrefull about the legacy and the details of the marriage certificate as well as of the passport of your wife. Check it again with the local authorities (the best is to get it officialised by a Cameroonese Consulate in Europe, French consulates doesn't like it but they have to do with it). Also, they are more and more asking biometric passeports (normally they have to recognise the former passeports till 2015 but some airlines company from CEMAC countries now refuse passengers without biometric passeport (see http://multinational.leforum.eu/t809-PA ... TRIQUE.htm ).

Ask also the English document stating that the marriage is recognized or registered or signaled or "put in the box" by UK (I don't remember which word is relevant for UK but others in this forum may tell you that easily).

The French Consulate challenges marriage certificates as almost routine (as well as the local birth certificate that French-3rd country married have to show in order to ask a visa "spouse of French" to France). We have exemples that they try to do the same for the UE road.

[dazzle]

Thanks for the information.

Yes we did get married in Cameroon, and we only have a Cameroonian marriage certificate. I have called the UK High Commission here, but they only register births and deaths; not marriages. I will have to take the chance with the marriage certificate alone, as I don't have the time/resources to go back to Europe to register (if that's even possible without my wife).

We also have our child's birth certificate, which should further prove our relationship (?).

My wife's passport was only issued 6 months ago, so I assume it is the newest type of Cameroonian passport.

I'm having a very difficult time with the French consulate already. They don't give any information for EU family member visas, and refuse to allow me to speak to anybody who actually knows anything. We don't even know what documents to submit, and they have forced us to call a premium rate number for making an appointment (which I understand is against the EU Directive).

Any ideas on completing the details of the form please?

[pierre75]

If I rightly remember, it should be some kind of UK official box where authorities register your marriage. No formalities, no nothing. Only a UK paper stating that your marriage has been registered in this "box". I don't remember the name but it could be quite usefull for you because for UE road, as well as for most national roads, the marriage should have some legal recognition-aknowledgment from the country of the European spouse.

Documents to submit for EU family visa are very simple :

- Marriage certificate and passeport for your spouse.
- Passeport for yourself.

- You may also send a copy of the EU commission new guidelines for 2004/38 as of july 2009 (you will find it here both in French and English : http://multinational.leforum.eu/t488-No ... 004-38.htm ).

You may also give copie of the contract of your new job in Latvia and a letter asking the French Embassy to issue a EU 3 months visa to Latvia for your wife in order to go there with you while you will start your new job.

If no answer from the consulate, don't forget that you can start procedure against them one month after the deposit of your file (as stated in the EU guidelines, for the French road, you have to wait two months).

The most important is to get an official receipt from them with the date they received your file. If they refuse to give you this receipt, send them the full file by registered letter and use the receipt of the letter as the proof.

The new CEMAC biometric passeport has a chip on it.

The French consulates in Cameroon (both Douala and Yaounde) are some of the worst in the worlds. Hundreds of french-foreign families blocked for artificial challenge of legal documents or challenge of genuineness of marriage or no allowance for the kids to go to France with their mother. Hundreds of dready files. Some of them 3, 4 or 5 years old.

[dazzle]

Thank you pierre75. You've being a great help and source of information!

I will try to look into the UK authority marriage registration tomorrow as a priority.

I've visited the link you posted. As a point of interest it states:

"Marriages validly contracted anywhere in the world must be in principle recognized for the purpose of the application of the Directive."

Doesn't this go against their requirement for some kind of EU recognition of the marriage?

In any case, I am going to visit the embassy tomorrow and request to see their manager, as so far our treatment has not been consistent with what I've researched in the EU documentation. Particularly the premium call line, which we had to buy a code for twice because the first lady made an appointment for myself and not my wife(!), after we explained that she was going down the EU route. In trying to correct her mistake, she insisted that we had to buy another code and hung up. To make it worse, this calling code can only be purchased in a place with a 45 minute taxi ride from my house - a trip that we had to make twice.

The staff we have encountered so far have been very unprofessional, and even rude at times. Although we both have the right of free movement in the EU, we are feeling trapped in Yaounde.

Her passport does not have a chip in it unfortunately. With my new job starting very soon, I think we will just have to take our chances with her current passport and hope for the best. If they have any qualms, then maybe she'll need to get a new passport again, and follow me to Latvia at a later date.

Thanks again! Any other advice/info is much appreciated.

[dazzle]

Just to add that I've search the web and seen the procedure for depositing a marriage certificate via UK consulates.

"To deposit your documents:

* you must have been married in a foreign country, but not a Commonwealth country (see list below) or an overseas territory"

Cameroon is a commonwealth country, so it seems this road is inappropriate and I guess (!) explains why the UK High Commission doesn't register marriages.

[dazzle]

Just as a follow up, for any anyone in the same position in future, we did the following:

Got a certified copy of the marriage certificate, stamped by the mayor that married us.
The same mayor gave us an marriage authenticity certificate.
We then took these documents to the Cameroon Ministry of External Affairs, for them to legalise a copy of the marraige certificate.

We also got a letter from the UK high commission, stating that they do not register marriages in Commonwealth countries.


Another question for anyone who can help please.
My wife has a previous refusal from the UK (Appeal is underway). The schengen visa form does not ask about previous applications/refusals from non-schengen countries. So should we disclose the reasons for the UK refusal? There is obviously a refusal stamp in the back of her passport. Can they refuse an EU family schengen visa based on an outstanding non-schengen refusal?

[pierre75]

All depends if she's registered with an alert in the Schengen Information System. I don't know how it is connected with the UK national system.

Look to the visa handbook, page 82 :

http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/fr ... 620_en.pdf

In my view, it may depend on why she has been refused by UK.

If it is simple refusal, it doesn't matter.

If it is for fraud or false information, you may have to fight.

In any case, you should attach your working contract with her application.

[dazzle]

Thanks again.

Am I correct to assume that a copy of my passport certified by the UK High Commission to going to be sufficient? The appointment they offered my wife was too late and I have to travel for the new job, so my original won't be available.

[Plum70]

I believe the consulate needs to see your original passport unless otherwise stated on their website.

[dazzle]

Again we come full circle to the cause of the problem. Their web site contains zero information on spouses of EU citizens, and they are completely unapproachable to make enquiries via any form of communication.

The closest scenario on the web site is where the application is joining a French spouse, who is presently in France. For this, they required a copy of the spouses identity card (no mention of passport)

I can also leave my original UK birth certificate to add, if would help to prove my EU citizenship.

I'll try to visit the consulate again tomorrow. It's so frustrating not being able to ask a simple question to someone at the consulate with any knowledge.