Schengen visa for Spain

[Terpe]

I wish good luck in securing a refund.
I have some doubts though as the VFS website clearly gives an option for a no-charge visa fee for EU Spouse on their website.

[Donutz]

I wish good luck in securing a refund.
I have some doubts though as the VFS website clearly gives an option for a no-charge visa fee for EU Spouse on their website.

I can only wonder how many people (Non EU family traveling with their British family) are given incorrect instructions at VFS! If anything they should ask applicants if their UK family (spouse) is going to join them, as it must be a quite frequent type of Schengen application from the UK.

If indeed this is failure on the part of VFS and/or Spanish embassy and depending on how it plays out (how do the Spanish reapond) this type of issue can be adressed to the EU representative in the UK. They have regular meetings with memberstates including on Schengen visas. I did the same in Thailand, the EU representaive there put it on the agenda and within a few weeks all embassies gave correct EU/EEA instructions for the fast, free, minimal documentation visa procedure.

[Terpe]

I can only wonder how many people (Non EU family traveling with their British family) are given incorrect instructions at VFS! If anything they should ask applicants if their UK family (spouse) is going to join them, as it must be a quite frequent type of Schengen application from the UK.

If indeed this is failure on the part of VFS and/or Spanish embassy and depending on how it plays out (how do the Spanish respond) this type of issue can be adressed to the EU representative in the UK. They have regular meetings with memberstates including on Schengen visas. I did the same in Thailand, the EU representaive there put it on the agenda and within a few weeks all embassies gave correct EU/EEA instructions for the fast, free, minimal documentation visa procedure.

How would it be a failure on the part of VFS when they clearly state that EU Spouse is visa free and they give the options for selecting that service ?

Without the intention of being harsh on the OP I wonder how many EU spouses actually take time out to review the options on offer ?

As I said I doubt VFS will respond positively but one never knows.
I do hope they will show some understanding and return the visa fee.

Please, everyone reading this thread. Do check through the websites of VFS before handing over significant sums of money and unecessary documentation when applying for Schengen Visa.

[Donutz]

How would be a failure on the part of VFS when they clearly state that EU Spouse is visa free and they give the options for selecting that service ?

Without the intention of being harsh on the OP I wonder how many EU spouses actually take time out to review the options on offer ?

As I said I doubt VFS will respond positively but one never knows.
I do hope they will show some understanding and return the visa fee.

Please, everyone reading this thread. Do check through the websites of VFS before handing over significant sums of money and unecessary documentation when applying for Schengen Visa.

VFS charges a service fee, so I expect them to show atleast some service. Such as the very easy question: is your spouse a UK or EU citizen? I would think many Schengen applicants from the UK indeed have a UK/EU spouse. If the answer is "yes" it should be just 1-2 more questions to verify if one falls under EU/EEA spouse. Sadly not many people are aware that EU/EEA family members are eligable for a free, fast, simplified procedure visa to other EU countries.

If VFS ask no questions at all and are just zombies who take in the paperwork without any questions or comments, you might justaswell put everything in an envelope yourself and deliver it at the embassy or in a dropbox. VFS has to do something right, even though their primairy and silly job is just to forward applications to the embassy for processing.

VFS miight not respond postively but the embassy should, the rules clearly dicate that the visa should have been free. If the Spanish don't I'd inform Solvit (EU Ombudsman) and also the EU representative and EU council (EU Home Affairs). And the Spanish (and other EU nations) should be concerned about applicants not being given any proper service for the 15 pound "service??? fee".

I do agree that reading up on the embassy (primairy place to start) and VFS site (secondairy site to check on) is very important but that does not excuse poor service for people getting lost or misunderstanding the information provided.

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Offtopic: same with UK visas, for EU/EEA spouses the UK visa is free. But visit the UKVI site and use the "do I need a visa?" tool and at no time does it say anything about EU/EEA. You'd need to leave the visa area and check out an other part of the site about permits, which then has a subsection on EU/EEA spouse. Easy to mis aswell and even if you find it the aplication form askes for a ton of irrelevant information (the 3 main points above should only be of concern: family relation? Identification of all involved? travelng together or joining EU/EEA national?) . Members just don't seem to be enthousiast about informing people on easy, free visas under freedom of movement even though it's a cornerstone of the whole EU.

[Terpe]

.......
Offtopic: same with UK visas, for EU/EEA spouses the UK visa is free. But visit the UKVI site and use the "do I need a visa?" tool and at no time does it say anything about EU/EEA.You'd need to leave the visa area and check out an other part of the site about permits

From the UKVI webpage 'Check if you need a UK Visa' :-

Check if you need a UK visa
You’ll need a visa to join your family or partner in the UK
If you’re visiting family or partner for 6 months or less, you’ll need a family visit visa.

The visa you apply for depends on your family member’s situation.

They’re settled in the UK
Apply for a ‘family of a settled person’ visa if your family member or partner is either a British citizen or from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and settled in the UK.

They’re working or studying in the UK
You may be able to apply as a ‘dependant’ of your family member’s visa category if they’re from outside the EEA and they’re working or studying in the UK.

They’re from the EEA
Apply for a family permit to join your family or partner for a short or long stay if they’re living in the UK.

Previous answers

Start again
What passport do you have? Philippines Changeanswer to "What passport do you have?"
What are you coming to the UK to do? Join partner or family for a long stay Changeanswer to "What are you coming to the UK to do?"
Last updated: 10 April 2015

Is there anything wrong with this page?

If you look to the bottom you'll see only 2 questions were asked before reaching the needed information and a link to UK family permits
Here's the link to the webpage:-
https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa/y/philippines/family

[Donutz]

From the UKVI webpage 'Check if you need a UK Visa' :-

If you look to the bottom you'll see only 2 questions were asked before reaching the needed information and a link to UK family permits
Here's the link to the webpage:-
https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa/y/philippines/family

Thanks, looks like there was an update since last I checked (a few months ago and then reported the tool as insufficient).

Still the tool could use improvement. If I were non-EU person living on the European mainland with my EU spouse and we were to plan a 1-4 week holiday to the UK I'd fill in the fields with answers such as " What are you coming to the UK to do? --> TOURISM" as we are going on a holiday to the UK. I wouldn't look "Join partner or family for a long stay" ! I would then be told to get a visa, the page does not show any links to the EEA permit. I would then apply for a UK visa, go to a VAC not knowing any better then that I would need a UK visa and pay a fee, but at the VAC with one simple question they could find out that I would be eligible for EU/EEA-familymember procedure.

Or they could simply make the website more user friendly by taking common mistakes, oversights or unclear instructions/options into account. A holiday vistor needing to answer " long stay" is not logical and it must be a common " error" on the part of the applicant, therefor I would also consider it an error on the side&site of UKVI.

I hope Bhem reports back, if the Spanish embassy or VFS does not give a positive response they may wish to contact SOLVIT (EU ombudsman):
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...y/index_en.htm --> scroll down to the bottom.

From other migration sites/forums I know people in various EU countries successfully got their fee back from several embassies after Solvit intervened. In some cases the embassy choses to ignore Solvit as they have no legal powers. Still, Solvit reports all cases to the EU Commission and they are very much aware that member states too often mess around with people's rights. The proposed new Schengen visa rules are meant to tackle this among other improvements.

[bhem_bhem]

Thanks, looks like there was an update since last I checked (a few months ago and then reported the tool as insufficient).

Still the tool could use improvement. If I were non-EU person living on the European mainland with my EU spouse and we were to plan a 1-4 week holiday to the UK I'd fill in the fields with answers such as " What are you coming to the UK to do? --> TOURISM" as we are going on a holiday to the UK. I wouldn't look "Join partner or family for a long stay" ! I would then be told to get a visa, the page does not show any links to the EEA permit. I would then apply for a UK visa, go to a VAC not knowing any better then that I would need a UK visa and pay a fee, but at the VAC with one simple question they could find out that I would be eligible for EU/EEA-familymember procedure.

Or they could simply make the website more user friendly by taking common mistakes, oversights or unclear instructions/options into account. A holiday vistor needing to answer " long stay" is not logical and it must be a common " error" on the part of the applicant, therefor I would also consider it an error on the side&site of UKVI.

I hope Bhem reports back, if the Spanish embassy or VFS does not give a positive response they may wish to contact SOLVIT (EU ombudsman):
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...y/index_en.htm --> scroll down to the bottom.

From other migration sites/forums I know people in various EU countries successfully got their fee back from several embassies after Solvit intervened. In some cases the embassy choses to ignore Solvit as they have no legal powers. Still, Solvit reports all cases to the EU Commission and they are very much aware that member states too often mess around with people's rights. The proposed new Schengen visa rules are meant to tackle this among other improvements.

Hello donutz, hubby decided to just leave it. He can't be bothered to do it plus I got my visa on time anyway. He just want me to apply naturalisation as soon as I can so we don't need to go through all of these again.