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Travel questions regarding my partner (a South African national residing in the U.K.).

We have two holidays planned in very short succession from each other. The first is to Country A from the 15th June until the 20th, 5 nights. From there we would travel back to the UK before flying to Country B on the 29th June, where we would remain until we fly to country C on the 6th of July before returning home on the 11th.

This makes 5 nights in country A. Return to country of residence then a second separate trip with 7 nights in country B and 5 nights in country C.

We initially thought that country B was the correct country to apply to, as this is where the longest stay would be in the period of the visa. Although they responded to our booking request, we were told that it was country A we need to apply through, as we would be returning to the country of residence between our trips. Upon receipt of this, and with time beginning to dwindle, we booked an appointment slot with country A and forwarded the query to double check. They today have said that they are not who should be dealing with it, and it is, in fact, country B.

Any ideas? At the moment it is looking like we can only apply through country A and hope they don't reject it, as country B has been refusing. We are considering just visiting country A and C so that the visa appointment we have will be successful, although we really don't want to have to do this.

Giorgio
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A.does
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  • Are you a British citizen? How long have you and your partner been partners? – phoog May 24 '17 at 00:47
  • I am a british citizen and we are not married so i believe her visa is completely independent of my circumstance. – A.does May 24 '17 at 07:59
  • The EU regulation extends freedom of movement to "the partner with whom the Union citizen has a durable relationship, duly attested," so your belief may be mistaken. – phoog May 24 '17 at 12:48
  • I think we would struggle to be able to prove this adequately and neither of us would know where to begin. Last year she applied for schengen for a trip to slovenia(8 days) and italy(1 day) and was granted a multiple entry for 3months. This year we have applied to the country with the longest stay in both entries and have been told ot must be the country that our first trip is visiting. That country has told us it must be the country that we are in longest even though it would be on a second seperate entry. Neither embassy is accepting it and we are at a loss. Cheers for the replies so far! – A.does May 24 '17 at 14:04
  • I'm sorry you seem to be stuck. It's definitely not supposed to be the case that both consulates reject the application; there must be one competent consulate. The obvious workaround is to apply for two separate visas, but you probably don't have time. That's the main reason I suggested the freedom of movement route; the application should be handled more quickly (it's also free of charge). If you've been living together for a time, then evidence of that fact would probably suffice. If you don't live together then most countries probably consider that you are not "partners" for this purpose. – phoog May 24 '17 at 18:58
  • Another factor arguing in favor of the freedom-of-movement approach: it would allow you to apply to country A with the itinerary showing A and C only; if they grant the visa under the directive then you can modify your itinerary to include country B. (If you tried that with a "normal" visa they might limit the "duration of stay," which could foil that plan, and even if they didn't there would be a small risk of being denied entry for visa fraud. This could not happen if you both "enjoy freedom of movement.") – phoog May 24 '17 at 19:06
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    Update! We have emailed back and forth between country A and B with them both cc'd in. Country A has seen that we have tried the correct route and are having no luck so they will process the application for us with the instruction to take that email from the consulate member to prevent problems. The appointment is tomorrow and the 15 day window puts it to just before we are leaving. Slight relief. Will let you all know how it pans out though as definitelt not a conventional ride – A.does May 25 '17 at 21:17
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    Congratulations. You should probably post your "how it all pans out" message as an answer to the question rather than as a comment. – phoog May 25 '17 at 21:25

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