Schengen Visa for Italy but leave to remain expires too soon

[JMi]

I am a UK citizen and my wife is South African and has a UK Leave to Remain Residence Permit which expires on 10th November. We want to go to Italy on holiday coming back on 10th September.

But the Schengen visa application says the permit to be in the UK must have three months validity beyond the date of the projected visit to Italy.

Have I misunderstood something or is is basically impossible for her to get a visa for this trip?

Is there a way round this? Or must we cancel the holiday?

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

The general Schengen rules state there must be an extra 3 months on the passport.

The reality is that if she is travelling with you (and I would recommend you always carry your marriage certificate too!), then she has a free movement right. Some of the Schengen visa people you may have to argue with, but others will likely handle you well.

Read through the material at http://eumovement.wordpress.com/other-schengen/ on Schengen

http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/08 ... to-travel/ is also worth reading through so you understand the issues.

Where do you and your wife normally live?

[JMi]

Many thanks for your reply.

We live in the UK. There is certainly 3 months on the passport but not 3 months validity on the UK Residence Permit and of course we can't apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain before two months of the expiry of the permit.

I appreciate your advice and all the information in the links but the stated and written requirements of the Italian Embassy says that she does need a Schengen visa unless the UK Residence card specifically says "Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA National". And of course it doesn't say that; it says "Spouse/Partner Leave to Remain". It all seems very silly when all we want to do is go on holiday...

The intention of the EU directives is very clear in this matter, as you have shown, but it seems to be being destroyed by contrary petty conditions.

My feeling is that if we turn up at the airport without a Shengen visa the airline staff will simply refuse to allow us to board, and if we argue the point they will simply point us towards the Italian Embassy web site and their stated requirements.

But any further thoughts you had on this would be appreciated.

James

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

You wife has a right to accompany you to any other EU member state that you wish to travel to. That is the basic story.

Visas from Spain are a pain in the mule. I would not bother visiting there. Italy may be better. You can fight with any of these people and probably win in the end if you are patient.

If I were you... I would get a German Schengen visa. You can get it by Post and I suspect they will be a well behaved visa department. You can then get a cheap same-day-return flight on Ryanair to go and have Bratwurst for lunch. Or even do a whole whole weekend or more in Germany. It is a lovely country. Bavaria is lovely, with the mountains and lakes. As is the area around Berlin.

And if you still insist on going to hot Italy in August/September, you can also do that with the same visa.

[JMi]

OK!! Thanks ... well we are going to the Italian visa people tomorrow, so I'll post here about how we got on and if we got a visa or not.

I agree that getting a German Schengen is very easy; we got one a year ago - no charge and no need to go to London for an interview.

[JMi]

Just to update this thread, we did get a Schengen visa from the Italian Embassy despite not having 3 months validity on the UK Residence Permit. However they did ask for more information than normal including a statement from me that I was able to support my wife financially.

However we have a new problem now in that both her UK Residence Permit/ID card and her passport with the Schengen visa in it were stolen and its not likely that we shall get replacements for all three before we are due to leave. I think we may get a new passport in time but I don't know if we can just get the Italians to re-issue the Schengen visa without going through the whole application all over again.

[vinny]

What will she provide to re-enter the UK?

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Did you loose the passports in Italy? Taking a bus by any chance?

[JMi]

We were robbed while waiting for a bus at the Gare du Nord in Paris on the way to Italy - Naples. Getting from there to Naples and back again to London was tricky, but I have to say that the UK Border personnel were excellent and let us back in with only a bit of a delay - I had by that time managed to print copies of our passports and Residence Permit.

We have now got new passports - UK for me and South African for my wife(via this company spammer who are amazing!! http://www.spammer.com). Tomorrow we hope to get a new Schengen visa from the Italian Consulate in London, but the Residence Permit is still going to be a problem, in that we may not get a Schengen without it, we may not be allowed on the plane without it, and we may have problems getting back in without it. On the other hand the new card may turn up in time ...

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Apply for the Schengen visa. The visa staff should be well aware that you are legally in the UK if you are married to a Eu citizen who is working.

If you have any problems, push push push and contact Solvit asap: http://eumovement.wordpress.com/help-eu-solvit/

[JMi]

We've been to the Italian Consulate in London today who provided us with a
new Schengen visa and even did it while we waited. And no charge.

They were very helpful and understanding, so that's full marks to them for an
excellent service.

The lack of the original UK Residence Permit didn't seem to worry them since I was able to show them a copy of the one that was stolen.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Super! Thanks for letting us know.