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Here is my situation in bullet points:-

  1. I'm British, living in the Philippines.
  2. My gf of 4 years is a Filipina (pause for inevitable joke ... ).
  3. We wish to permanently relocate to Spain.
  4. We asked the Spanish consulate in Manila for the procedure to apply for permanent residence, and they asked us to submit a standard Schengen visa application form.
  5. We did this with all of the usual proof of relationship, finance, health, etc.
  6. She has now been issued a 90-day Schengen visa, marked 'vis estancia'.
  7. Not knowing what to do next, we asked the consulate again and their reply was "she needs to apply to the local authorities in Spain for a residence permit".

So my question is, what do we do now?

It seems wrong to enter Spain on a visitors visa when it is our stated intention to remain there permanently, however that appears to be the advice we're being given. Does anybody know what/where/to whom we should apply once in Spain, and what exactly are we applying for? I'm confident that we meet the relationship criteria as specified in 2004/38/EU and also the Spanish equivalent (Royal Decree 240/2007). However are we likely to hit any bureaucratic issues because local officials only understand certified marriage/partnerships?

pinoyyid
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    Did you pay for the visa application? – phoog Jul 21 '16 at 12:41
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    http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/documents-formalities/non-eu-family-members-residence-card/index_en.htm – Michael Hampton Jul 22 '16 at 02:12
  • @phoog No. They didn't charge us anything for the application. – pinoyyid Jul 22 '16 at 09:23
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    That means they've accepted your relationship as qualifying under the freedom of movement directive. Your partner therefore has a legal right to freedom of movement in the EU as long as she is traveling with you or joining you. You have absolutely no need to be concerned about any intent to visit temporarily or to immigrate permanently that may or may not be implied by any given document. – phoog Jul 22 '16 at 11:06
  • @phoog many thanks for confirming that. I suspected that was the case, but was concerned that there is nothing in the visa which indicates that acceptance. I have read elsewhere that the visa should have been annotated "familiar de EU" instead of "vis estancia". – pinoyyid Jul 22 '16 at 12:53
  • @pinoyid yeah, she would qualify as a "familiar de ciudadano de la union europea". But for her to get a more permanent visa you have to apply once you get to Spain you need to fullfill an EX-19 form (more info http://extranjeros.empleo.gob.es/es/InformacionInteres/InformacionProcedimientos/CiudadanosComunitarios/hoja103/#procedimiento and http://extranjeros.empleo.gob.es/es/ModelosSolicitudes/Mod_solicitudes2/index.html (only spanish ones are official) to have her be your dependendant but I would advise you find a job first – xocasdashdash Jul 27 '16 at 20:18
  • @xocasdashdash thanks for the links - very helpful. Cam I ask why is it important that I get a job? Without boring you with the details, I'm semi-retired with a very large savings pot and regular income from property investments, so I haven't felt the need to have a job for a long time. – pinoyyid Jul 28 '16 at 10:18
  • @pinoyid oh, yeah that would be enought. You have to show that you can support your partner and the most common situation that's done with a job. Anyways it's important that you can prove that your income is sufficient for both of you. Also try finding out if you can get "pareja de hecho" where you're thinking of moving to, that will help you when you deal with authorities – xocasdashdash Jul 28 '16 at 11:24
  • Any chance we can move some of these comments to an answer? – ouflak Aug 01 '17 at 08:39
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because comments have taken care of the OP and nobody has opted to answer – Gayot Fow Aug 03 '17 at 10:29
  • Just to clarify and elaborate on an earlier comment: Having a job is useful because EU freedom of movement is not unconditional. If you have a job, your finances do not matter, you could even get welfare and other benefits if your income makes you eligible. On the other hand, if you do not have a job, then you need to show that you have health insurance and enough income/savings to provide for you and your partner without recourse to public funds (but a pension or decent savings – 10s of thousands, not millions – should be fine). – Gala Aug 03 '17 at 14:15
  • @Gala is correct. I was told at the policia that the savings requirement for self sufficient status was only 6000 Eur. – pinoyyid Aug 03 '17 at 15:26

1 Answers1

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Thanks to those who commented.

The answer is:

  1. EU applies for residencia using form EX-18 at the local policia.
  2. Non-EU applies for Article 10 Resident Card using form EX-19 at Oficina de Extranjeria. This art. 10 RC is valid for 5 years and permits working.

There is a lot more detail between the lines, but these are the main items

Gala
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pinoyyid
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