Irish Citizen - Non Eu Spouse - Travelling within EU on holidays?

StickyIcky

Hi yall.

I'm Irish and I got married recently to my non-eu partner. We're going to Greece soon (our first trip together since after we were married) and I was surprised to find we still had to get a visa for her.

I was under the impression that she could travel with me on my passport within the EU no problem?

Getting a visa is a hassle (she needs to bring eight things in total to the greek embassy and wait two weeks etc). The one plus from us being married (as far as EU tourism visas go) is that she won't have to pay the usual fee. Is that it?

Kinda bummed because here I was thinking when we were married it would drastically reduce the amount of P.I.T.A travelling anywhere would be.

Anyone else in the similar situation here? Is there anything else we can do to make the EU need to look into her with a fine comb every time we want to travel?

I'm so spoilt with being Irish, it seems like we can get into almost any country in the world with a wink and a smile

mdn

I hope this extract from Europa.EU is of help to you:

Non-EU family members- Do they a need a visa?

If you are an EU national but you have family members who are not, they can accompany or join you in another EU country-

They must carry a valid passport at all times and, depending on the country they are from, may also have to show an entry visa at the border.

Your non-EU spouse, (grand)parents or (grand)children do not need to get a visa from the country they are travelling to if:
◾the country they are travelling to belongs to the passport-free Schengen area (see list below) and they have a residence permit or visa from another country in that area, or
◾they are travelling with you or travelling to join you and have a residence card issued by any EU country (except the country you are a national of).


Do take a look at the Europa.EU website as it is very informative. Martin

StickyIcky

Thank you very much :-)

This is pretty much as I gathered now. It's a pity Ireland isn't part of the schengan. :-)

I'll take a look at that site, thanks again.