Dear X, Thank you for contacting the Europe Direct Contact Centre. You are a X national with a British husband, residing in the United Kingdom. You wish to travel together for extensive periods of time in different EU Member States. You would like to have information on his right to entry. 1. EU law on free movement Article 21(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union stipulates that every citizen of the Union shall have the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in the Treaties and by the measures adopted to give them effect. The respective limitations and conditions are to be found in Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. You can download a consolidated version of the Directive at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:2004L0038:20110616:EN:PDF Article 3(1) of the Free Movement Directive provides that the Directive applies to all EU citizens who move to or reside in a Member State other than that of which they are a national, and to their family members as defined in point 2 of Article 2 who accompany or join them. Article 2(2)(a) of the Free Movement Directive includes the spouse of an EU citizen in the definition of 'core' family members. The Article applies equally to EU citizen and non-EU national family members. According to Article 5(1) of the Free Movement Directive, Member States shall grant EU citizens leave to enter their territory with a valid identity card or passport and shall grant family members who are not nationals of a Member State leave to enter their territory with a valid passport. As provided in Article 5(2) of the Directive, Member States may, where the EU citizen exercises the right to move and reside freely in its territory, require the family member who is a non-EU national to have an entry visa. Article 6(1) of the Free Movement Directive provides that EU citizens have a right of residence on the territory of another Member State for a period of up to three months without any conditions or any formalities other than the requirement to hold a valid identity card or passport. Article 7(1) of the Free Movement Directive grants EU citizens a right of residence beyond three months if they: (a) are workers or self-employed persons in the host Member State; or (b) have sufficient resources for themselves and their family members not to become a burden on the social assistance system of the host Member State during their period of residence and have comprehensive sickness insurance cover in the host Member State. If the EU citizen fulfills the above conditions, non-EU family members who accompany or join the EU citizen in a host Member State derive a right of residence under EU free movement law without any limitation to 90 days in a 180-day period. 2. Your question: Right of entry of a non-EU national spouse of a EU mobile citizen As you are a X citizen, you continue to benefit from the rights set out in the Free Movement Directive when traveling to EU Member States other than that of which you are a national. As stated above, the Free Movement Directive applies not only to EU citizens who move to or reside in a host Member State but also to their family members as defined in point 2 of Article 2 who accompany or join them. Your husband will thus derive a right of entry and residence from you when accompanying or joining you in the territories of EU Member States of which you are not a national. However, as mentioned above, Member States may, where the EU citizen exercises the right to move and reside freely in its territory, require the family member who is a non-EU national to have an entry visa (Article 5(2)). Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 listing the countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement determines which non-EU nationals need a visa when traveling to EU Member States, except for Ireland. Annex I to the Regulation lists those non-EU nationals who are required to be in possession of a visa when crossing the external border of the Member States. Annex II to the Regulation lists those non-EU nationals who are exempt from the requirement to be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States for stays of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period. The text of the Regulation and its Annexes is available at the following website: EUR-Lex - 32018R1806 - EN - EUR-Lex Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 has been amended to exempt UK nationals intending to visit the EU from the visa requirement for stays of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period. The above means that your husband will be able to travel visa free in his own right for a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period in the EU. It also means that he will be exempted from the entry visa requirement when accompanying or joining you to visit the EU, without any limitation to 90 days in a 180-day period (Article 6(2) of the Free Movement Directive). When he is traveling alone from the UK to the EU with the purpose to join you, he would derive his right to entry from you, as non-EU national spouse of an EU mobile citizen. He will not have to wait 90 days before re-entering the EU, after already having spent there 90 days. In order to verify whether he has a derived right of entry and residence, the host Member State may only require him to present a valid passport, a proof of family ties with you (i.e. your marriage certificate) and proof that he, as the non-EU national spouse of a mobile EU citizen, is (or will be) joining you who are exercising free movement rights in a host Member State. Please note that, regarding periods of residence that exceed three months in any host Member State, you will need to have sufficient resources for him and yourself not to become a burden on the social assistance system of the host Member State during the period of your residence and have comprehensive sickness insurance cover in the host Member State (Article 7(1) Free Movement Directive), unless you work or are self-employed in the host Member State. We hope you find this information useful. Please contact us again if you have other questions about the European Union, its activities or institutions. ------------------------------------------------------ I am an EU citizen and my spouse is British. We have both resided permanently in the UK from birth. We wish to travel long term within the EU on our own boat, but we do not wish to apply for long stay visas or residency. We will therefore limit our stays in each EU state to a maximum of 90 days per trip. As an EU citizen, I understand that I have the right to travel throughout the EU accompanied by my non-EU spouse. My question is, does this right take precedent over the 90/180 Schengen rule that my non-EU spouse would normally be subject to were he not travelling together with me? To put it another way, could we as a couple spend 90 days in France, followed immediately by 90 days in Italy, and then 90 days in Greece, and so on? Many thanks for your time and help. |
Cue a Beyoncé song then
Cue a Beyoncé song then
I am afraid you will have to be more explicit as I am of an age where Beyoncé is beyond me.
Here you go!
Prior to Brexit we had a problem with the local SEF office in Portugal when applying for a none EU spouse resident document. The certificate must have an apostle stamp as required by the Haye Convention of 5 October 1961. Ours, issued in Denmark, did but the SEF officer did not want to recognise it. Eventually, I took the certificate to the Portuguese registry office across the road and they confirmed it was valid. I suspect I benefited from a bit of inter agency rivalry as there were a couple of phone calls involved and then smiles amongst the registry staff.
Easier to understand it as a right of an eu citizen to travel to another EU country with their non EU spouse etc. Without the eu spouse the right does not really exist. It arises as a perk of the eu citizenship,