UK passport holder with wife who has EU (Irish passport).

[zen1th]

Wonder if someone can help, as googling throwing up mixed answers.

Basically, we are planning on a long trip away across UK, Ireland and then on to mainland Europe (Spain, France, Italy and Portugal to name a few.)

Really struggling to understand the possible visa requirements.
We want to spend longer that 90 days in EU.

Does my marriage to an EU passport holder eliminate need for visas, or do I need to apply for a visa in each country we plan to stay in (longer than 90 days)?

I’m sure some of you funsters have done similar travels, so hope you can help.

Thanks.

 

[Emmit]

I wish I had your 'problem'

I'm prepared to be contradicted on this but;
If you are married to the EU Passport carrier and provided you are travelling together, then

You can accompany said passport holder and stay as long as you like in EU land, PROVIDING!
your stay in that country within the EU is for a maximum of 90 days at a time.

It is then necessary to move across the border, (any border) even temporarily and then the 90 days starts again
in that country.

Over to the cognoscenti.

 

[The Coops]

Carpmart (Harvey) is your go to on this has a wife with an Irish passport see his posts on the subject

 

[Sewdhull]

Travel documents for non-EU family members - Your Europe

Travel rights – visa requirements for relatives (family members) of EU nationals travelling to or in Europe

europa.eu

 

[Ven]

We are in the same situation (I have an Irish passport) and as Emmit says you can travel with the same privileges as your wife as long as you are travelling with her and stick to the existing EU rules.

We have done 3 trips each way so far all longer than 3 months and we were only questioned once by a French customs officials who obviously got out of bed the wrong side that day, she eventually accepted seeing a copy of our marriage certificate and we were on our way in 5 minutes.

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[Bolti]

Make sure you have your marriage certificate with you, original not copy, as copies of documents are often not accepted.

 

[ivorantony]

Never had a problem, 5 months holiday last year, French immigration guy picked it up
But seeing the marriage certificate was quite happy,
Advice…….. Don’t P-ss her off

 

[Odd-no-more]

We're off to Spain for a long trip, I will see if my passport gets stamped, I have a UK passport and Mrs. Odd has an Irish passport. I believe, as we are traveling together, my passport sould not be stamped

 

[Odd-no-more]

Never had a problem, 5 months holiday last year, French immigration guy picked it up
But seeing the marriage certificate was quite happy,
Advice…….. Don’t P-ss her off

I have been warned

 

[zen1th]

Travel documents for non-EU family members - Your Europe

Travel rights – visa requirements for relatives (family members) of EU nationals travelling to or in Europe

europa.eu

This was one of the sites I looked at, but couldn’t find a definitive answer.

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[zen1th]

I have been warned

We're off to Spain for a long trip, I will see if my passport gets stamped, I have a UK passport and Mrs. Odd has an Irish passport. I believe, as we are traveling together, my passport sould not be stamped

Be interesting to hear how it goes.

 

[zen1th]

We are in the same situation (I have an Irish passport) and as Emmit says you can travel with the same privileges as your wife as long as you are travelling with her and stick to the existing EU rules.

We have done 3 trips each way so far all longer than 3 months and we were only questioned once by a French customs officials who obviously got out of bed the wrong side that day, she eventually accepted seeing a copy of our marriage certificate and we were on our way in 5 minutes.

Mind if I ask where you got married? Was it in the UK or Ireland?

Heard conflicting reports that some customs won’t accept UK marriage certificate as it’s not EU.

 

[zen1th]

Carpmart (Harvey) is your go to on this has a wife with an Irish passport see his posts on the subject

Thanks. I’ve not been here long and a bit unsure how to search for someone’s posts.

 

[The Wino]

I think at the moment it must be almost impossible to police the big question being what happens if the eu passport holder leaves the EU before the non EU passeort other half? Presumably part of the deal is if you go together under the accompanying an eu passport holder rules if they leave you have to as well. In that case it would make sense for the non EU passport to be stamped on the way in and the holder show their accompanying partners status on the way out.

 

[Fragle]

We are in the same situation (I have an Irish passport) and as Emmit says you can travel with the same privileges as your wife as long as you are travelling with her and stick to the existing EU rules.

We have done 3 trips each way so far all longer than 3 months and we were only questioned once by a French customs officials who obviously got out of bed the wrong side that day, she eventually accepted seeing a copy of our marriage certificate and we were on our way in 5 minutes.

I have just been granted Maltese citizenship. Paperwork collected end of April and passport application goes in. All being well end of May and I will have my passport. The other half can then apply but in the meantime I will put the marriage certificate in her passport when we hand them over. I don’t expect any issues. We will probably be more towards 2months return 1 month then 2 months again rather than longer trips

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[Armytwowheels]

We're off to Spain for a long trip, I will see if my passport gets stamped, I have a UK passport and Mrs. Odd has an Irish passport. I believe, as we are travelling together, my passport sould not be stamped

Don't worry about the passport being stamped. We have been travelling with one Irish and one UK passport since 2020, and sometimes they stamp the UK passport and sometimes not. There is no logic to it.

Coming back last week, after 6 months away, I was questioned by a right grumpy border guard. He was incredulous that we had been out since September. When I said I was entitled to as travelling with my EU husband. He then frowned even more and asked if we were married, even though both passports are in the same name, I said yes we were, would you like to see the marrige certificate? He grumped, no and stamped the passport good and hard!!! I think I really spoilt his day.

 

[Orion]

We're off to Spain for a long trip, I will see if my passport gets stamped, I have a UK passport and Mrs. Odd has an Irish passport. I believe, as we are traveling together, my passport sould not be stamped

No, your non-EU passport should be stamped, otherwise you, as a ‘third country national’ would be unable to evidence where and when you entered the EU. In practical terms it may not create a problem unless you come across a snotty official when exiting who might want to do it by the book. So if you want to avoid any potential delay on exit it’s prudent to insist that you receive the stamp on entry.

The instructions to stamp ‘third country’ family member’s passports, (unless the holder has a residence certificate), are contained in the Practical Handbook for Border Guards at S.6.2(1)

https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-11/Practical%20handbook%20for%20border%20guards_en.pdf

 

[Ven]

I have just been granted Maltese citizenship. Paperwork collected end of April and passport application goes in. All being well end of May and I will have my passport. The other half can then apply but in the meantime I will put the marriage certificate in her passport when we hand them over. I don’t expect any issues. We will probably be more towards 2months return 1 month then 2 months again rather than longer trips

Only once in about 6 times have we had to present our marriage certificate but we keep it to hand just in case.

Don't worry about the passport being stamped. We have been travelling with one Irish and one UK passport since 2020, and sometimes they stamp the UK passport and sometimes not. There is no logic to it.

Coming back last week, after 6 months away, I was questioned by a right grumpy border guard. He was incredulous that we had been out since September. When I said I was entitled to as travelling with my EU husband. He then frowned even more and asked if we were married, even though both passports are in the same name, I said yes we were, would you like to see the marrige certificate? He grumped, no and stamped the passport good and hard!!! I think I really spoilt his

Sounds like he was like the woman we saw on our last return. Most are fine but some just like to be a little awkward.

Dave’s has always been stamped so far, but hasn’t caused any problems on the next trip.

 

[Fragle]

Only once in about 6 times have we had to present our marriage certificate but we keep it to hand just in case.

Sounds like he was like the woman we saw on our last return. Most are fine but some just like to be a little awkward.

Dave’s has always been stamped so far, but hasn’t caused any problems on the next trip.

That’s good to know. I assume they don’t stamp the uk passport when handing over with EU passport

 

[Ven]

That’s good to know. I assume they don’t stamp the uk passport when handing over with EU passport

We hand over my Irish passport and my husband’s English passport - they stamp his, not mine.

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[Ads86]

I'm testing this situation out on Saturday at Dover. No doubt they will stamp my wife's UK passport otherwise, like others have said they couldn't track her whereabouts.

We have been warned to take as much paperwork as possible in case my wife has to travel without me and gets questioned why she has been over staying. Minimum should be marriage cert and proof of your joint travel out of the UK into the EU.

 

[Badknee]

We don’t do France at all but at Portsmouth Irish passport, marriage certificate, UK passport. Mine gets stamped.
Same exactly at Santander and never had a problem. Only mine stamped.

 

[The Wino]

I'm testing this situation out on Saturday at Dover. No doubt they will stamp my wife's UK passport otherwise, like others have said they couldn't track her whereabouts.

We have been warned to take as much paperwork as possible in case my wife has to travel without me and gets questioned why she has been over staying. Minimum should be marriage cert and proof of your joint travel out of the UK into the EU.

Why would you need to travel separately unless it was some sort of medical emergency and you were unable to travel together? With the new electronic system coming in it should be a lot more straightforward to administer they will know when you both enter and leave.

 

[Ads86]

Why would you need to travel separately unless it was some sort of medical emergency and you were unable to travel together? With the new electronic system coming in it should be a lot more straightforward to administer they will know when you both enter and leave.

My wife needs to come back to the UK occasionally for work. Just that and the emergency aspect, yeah.

 

[nicholsong]

Why would you need to travel separately unless it was some sort of medical emergency and you were unable to travel together? With the new electronic system coming in it should be a lot more straightforward to administer they will know when you both enter and leave.

Can we be sure that the system will connect the two persons together and not treat them separately?

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[The Wino]

Can we be sure that the system will connect the two persons together and not treat them separately?

No we can't. But if the non EU passeort holder is leaving the EU and been there more than 90 days it should be possible to quickly check their other halves entry and exit from the EU and the point of entry and exit.

 

[Orion]

With the new electronic system coming in it should be a lot more straightforward to administer they will know when you both enter and leave.

Can we be sure that the system will connect the two persons together and not treat them separately?

Exactly the issue that I can see occurring. The powers that be appear to be making a right dog’s dinner of just getting it up and running, so I have little faith in them even having considered linking to two together, let alone building it into the system.