Visas: Spain via the UK?

Omnispire says on Feb 6, 2008, 02:31:

I am British and my wife is Colombian as well. Its pretty hard and expensive however you do it.

Towards the end of last year we went to Paris, Amsterdam and Spain within a 3 month period. We needed a chengue visa to enter all of these countries Any one of these embasssies could issue a chengue visa but the issuing country should either be the one where you are going to spend most of your time or the one where you enter first.

The dutch embassy was really rude and unhelpful. The french one was less rude but all in all our experience of getting a Chengue visa was that it was not a pleasant experience and you have to pay for the privilige.

Coming from Britain will not give you any special privilige except maybe to be treated even worse.

I would advise going straight to Spain. You will need to get the chengue visa anyway so all you would be doing is adding an extra step to your journey unnecesarily.

BTW I am not sure if you know but you have to get a chengue visa even if you are only travelling through.

As the only flights to uk are by third party countries of Italy, Spain, Germany, France (all Chengue countries) and America (in which case you would need a visa from them as well) it does not make sense to add to the aggro and cost of getting the visas.

If your father has adequate funds to act as a sponsor then the visa will not be a problem for any amount of time. At the end of the day all they care about is whether letting your wife into the country is going to cost them money. i.e. no recourse to public funds and you are not going to take away work from one of their own citizens that could do with the work. If you are coming to spend money (e.g. as a student) or you are investing money into the country then that is okay but it really depends on whether the person interviewing you got out of bed the wrong side that morning.

My wife has advised that the Spanish look down on Colombians like the poor relations even though a lot of the wealth in spain has come directly from South America. The reason I say this is because it will probably prejudice your application more than if you were going to another Chengue country (all things being equal).

Good luck anyway. If you have any more questions I will be glad to help if I can.

It's not about the destination, its about the journey

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SiV says on Feb 6, 2008, 07:44:

Thanks Omni. After checking out briefly Spain's visa, it seems that she may qualify for "Family Reunion" (Reagrupacion Familiar), as her father is a legal resident there, but that's just at a superficial glance. (Anyone have any experiences with this one?)

I've lived two years in Spain (Madrid and Granada), so I know about their attitudes to foreigners. Sometimes they get a bit of bad press, sometimes it's deserved.

Stultórum númere infinitum est.

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Omnispire says on Feb 6, 2008, 10:02:

On the subject of attitude to foreigners.

At Christmas we stayed in a Hotel taht was probably 40% Spanish guests. One of the nights (possibly Christmas day) the hotel had booked a singer. He was doing all the crooner type songs Frank Sinatra, Lenny Bennett. Classic songs thata re known the world over. He wasn't great but better than nothing.

All the spanish people started heckling the singer "cantara en espanol" I thought a fight was going to break out between the English and the spanish. It didn't but all the spanish en masse walked out in disgust. It doesn't help your situation but i thought it was funny.

It's not about the destination, its about the journey

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ronald1168 says on Mar 5, 2008, 15:22:

This is very easy, As you are British your wife can apply for a schengen Visa free of charge just on presentation of the mariage certificate. The Spanish embassy have got very little possiblities of refusing the Visa (only on grounds of national security)

You can move any time to Spain, you as a EU citizen has the right to exercise the 1992 Rome treaty right which guarantuees free movement of EU citizen. Third country dependends share this right automatically. You can stay as long as you wish, as long as you can sustain yourself without getting any public funds.

ronald@donders.co.uk

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robi666 says on Mar 5, 2008, 15:27:

SiV, whatever she has the right or not, it will be much much easier to get a visa in England.

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present."

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ronald1168 says on Mar 5, 2008, 15:33:

I took this from the EU website:

If the family members are not EU nationals, the EU Member State(s) to or through which travel is intended may require an entry visa, depending on their nationality. This visa should be granted free of charge and without undue formalities by the competent consulate authorities. These freedoms apply to non-EU national family members only when they accompany or join an EU citizen.

http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/freetravel/thirdcountry/fsj_freet...

Very clear, no problems. My wife is Colombian and i live in the UK and i never had issues with getting a Visa for her, some consulates try to do difficult but you have the law on your side.

ronald@donders.co.uk

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