I'm British, and my wife is Chinese. She was refused a visa for entry to Denmark, expressly to accompany me on a visit there, due to the lack of a reference in Denmark confirming that they wished to be visited by my wife.

As I am an EU citizen, I don't accept that my wife needs to provide such a reference when she is accompanying me, and EU law seems to back me up on this point. However, the Danish authorities, who incidentally charged my wife for the visa application - again contrary to EU law, insist that my wife must comply with Danish national visa regulations. Does anyone know why they are so sure about this? To me it seems they are obviously wrong, so I'm willing to take legal action against them, but I have this nagging suspicion I've overlooked something. Any ideas?

Edit: I should add that we don't live in the EU/EEA, but we wish to enter Denmark from Britain, not directly from outside the EU.

 

Thanks Petkanov.

I had heard of SOLVIT before, but mistakenly thought it was only for economic related matters. Looking at it more carefully, one of the "success stories" (of the German in Turkey wanting to go to France with her Turkish husband) seems to mirror my case. I've therefore submitted the form to the Danish SOLVIT centre.

I'll post the result here.

 

In case anyone is interested, if you submit a complaint to a SOLVIT centre, it should be your national centre, not the one in the country in which the problem exists. I've just resubmitted my form to the British centre.

I was talking about my case to someone the other day, and he pointed out that the EU laws I claimed existed would make it really easy for, say, the non-EU spouse of a German to enter Germany, by getting a French Schengen visa. It would also be free. That way, the spouse wouldn't have to comply with German national requirements (or pay for the visa), but could still enter Germany. As I'm British (i.e. non-Schengen), that issue is irrelevant, but I wonder how the authorities stop this. Surely everyone in that position would apply to another Schengen state, rather than the state of the national to whom they were married.

 

The EEA family permit is for visits to the UK. For the Schengen area, you just use the normal form. If you only plan to visit for a period of less than three months, a visa should be automatically granted to you *if* you are accompanying your spouse and they have no evidence it's a sham marriage. You'll probably find that in reality, they ask for proof of funds and a few other things. If the Belgians are like the Danes, they'll ask for a reference in Belgium, proof of your employment in Nepal, proof of leave from your job, proof of your wife's employment, evidence she'll return to Nepal etc etc (the Danes asked *me* to show I would return to *China* ). Hopefully, the Belgians will not be the same.

I'd emphasise at all times that you are simply accompanying your wife. Don't make it sound like your wife is accompanying you, if you see what I mean.

 

Yes, the EU website states clearly that the spouse is automatically entitled to a visa when accompanying the EU citizen, but very few countries actually practice this. From the research I've done, Britain and France are two which usually do. I've heard Spain is OK, but a little slow. I think it may be that they don't understand the crucial importance of the fact that the applicant is *accompanying* the spouse. If the spouse is travelling independently, and the EEA citizen is not already in the destination country, the spouse has no special rights.

It would be better if the Schengen countries had something like the EEA Family Permit issued by the UK, to distinguish these two cases more clearly.

The incredible thing in my wife's case is that she has previously held a Schengen visa, issued to her independently for a business trip, and fully complied with its conditions. Why would she, after subsequently marrying an EU citizen and holding a UK visa, and accompanying the EU citizen on a visit, suddenly want to remain illegally (i.e. by herself) in Denmark, when she had manifestly shown she had no desire to do so?

 

Triple H,

I don't think you'll have trouble with the Spanish, as they are used to these cases due to the big tourism industry. The smaller countries, especially those without a big tourism industry, seem to have a very variable knowledge of the law. The Danish Embassy in Beijing know *nothing* about EU law, and either don't have, or refuse to refer to, any materials that may help. They laughed at the suggestion that my wife's application should be free of charge.

I don't think the Common Consular Instructions of the Schengen countries actually mention any special rights for spouses.

Make sure you apply in plenty time though. The Danes took *four months* to decide to refuse my wife's application, and ignored every attempt I made to communicate with them about it.

 

No, my wife is in her thirties. She owns properties and a car in China, and earns many times the average salary here. We've been married almost two years, and we've known each other for six years (which we can prove if they ask).

I think the law about partners being 24 or older only applies to the spouses of Danes or the spouses of non-EEA immigrants to Denmark, as it would be illegal under EU law to apply it to the spouse of an EEA (but not Danish) citizen.

The only reason given for the refusal was that it is a condition of issuing a visa that a reference confirms that they wish to be visited by the applicant. They referred in particular to Danish Law.

 

Just thought I'd report that I've heard nothing from SOLVIT yet apart from an initial couple of emails to clarify one or two points.