Entering DK as student with pending SE family reunification

[expatguy]

Hey everyone, So I married Danish Citizen living in Sweden and I am currently outside the EU but they are in Sweden. I applied in October for Family reunification and was interviewed today by the Swedish Consulate. They told me I am not allowed to enter Schengen while my immigration case is pending, problem is they are taking far longer than the 6 months required by EU law to process my case. I am suppose to start school in Denmark, I was accepted to university there and have paid tution fee's but they told me I am not allowed back and that I cant apply for a student visa or enter on my 90 day visit visa while my family visa is processing. The only advice they gave me was to call them when my school date got closer for advice and hope it got processed before school began... Any advice?

[expatguy]

Just to Clarify I would be living in Sweden and going to school in Denmark across the bridge

[fundiver199]

What is your danish spouse living from? Unless it is social welfare support (socialbidrag), then you have an EU-residence right in Sweden as accompanying family member to a EU-citizen using his/her right to free movement.

This also means a right to entry, and that a visa should be granted without application fee and within 2 weeks from application.

Apparently you have chosen to apply for residence permit after national swedish rules. And that is also a possibility. But it does not mean, that the EU-rules no longer exist, so you can just choose to apply for a visa according to them simultaneously.

http://www.migrationsverket.se/English/ ... mbers.html

The cunsulate probably have little or no knowledge about the special situation of nordic citizens, who are covered by both national swedish law due to the nordic convention and EU-law. So because you have applied after swedish law, they are guiding you only after swedish law.

[expatguy]

Hi, Thanks for the reply. My spouse is living in Malmo. Yes I applied for family reunification with Swedish rules.
So by the book they should grant me a visa to enter within 2 weeks? I am not sure they will as there projected waited times for family reunification was 14 months last I checked.

So as a last resort if they don't get back to me I should consider looking into coming in under EU rules while my Swedish family reunification is under process? Have you herd of anyone doing this or having problems with it before? Thanks very much again...

[skaanebo]

You have misunderstood. If you apply for a residence permit under Swedish rules, normally you won't be allowed to enter Sweden until it has been granted, and usually the processing time is around one year.

It's only if you apply for a visa as the spouse of an EU citizen living in Sweden that you can be given a visa to visit Sweden and this will be free of charge and will usually be issued within two weeks.

Once you are in Sweden, you should then hand in application for a residence card under EU rules. In theory, issuing a residence card shouldn't take more than max 6 months but practise is a different story. But once you have done that you can register your address at the Swedish tax office. This way, you are legally becoming a resident of Sweden and you have two different applications pending independently of each other. Lots of people do like that.

You didn't answer the question about what your spouse in Malmø lives from, though. And this is crucial. In order to use EU rules, your spouse has to be either a worker, a student, a pensioner or a person with sufficient funds. If your spouse lives from social welfare, you can't apply for a residence card under EU rules.

[expatguy]

Hi again,
Thanks for clearing that up. My spouse has a job and also have sufficient funds in bank account. So it sounds like lots of people have an EU rules application going while having a Swedish application going at the same time? I am just a little confused because they told me I was unable to enter Sweden or anywhere in Schengen while my application was pending, so by entering via EU rules it would seem I am breaking Swedish rules? This must be pretty confusing when throwing in my student visa also?

[skaanebo]

What they have told you would be true if your spouse was Swedish or any other national but from an EU/EEA country.

Usually when you apply for a residence permit through Swedish rules, you are not allowed to enter the country while the application is pending. But EU laws triumph national laws and therefore as the spouse of an EU citizen, you can enter Sweden and you are allowed to wait in Sweden while your application after Swedish laws is pending.

[fundiver199]

Unfortunatly knowledge of EU-law is often limited at embassys. It sounds like you have been misguided by an unknowledgeable employee. Or perhaps they were not aware of your spouses nationality, because you did not inform them about it.

[expatguy]

ok, thanks very much for your information everyone, glad I checked here!

[expatguy]

Hey guys, Do I still apply for a student visa with my University through Denmark?

[skaanebo]

You won't need a student visa for Denmark if you intend to live in Sweden and commute to your studies in Denmark. You only need a student visa for Denmark if you intend to live in Denmark.

[expatguy]

Hey guys,
Here is an update on my situation. My wife is in Malmo right now and I am still outside the EU. I plan to fly into Copenhagen and go to Malmo to join her next month. I am all up to date on my "Swedish rules" immigration case and green card application. However, I have a couple questions about entering Sweden and starting an EU rules application below:

1. Will it be ok to fly into Copenhagen on my 90 day tourist visa stamp and then go to Sweden and file my EU rules green card application in person?

2. Must I be in Sweden in person to start my EU rules green card application, or can I (or my wife) start it now before I arrive?

3. Just to clarify, filing this EU rules green card will not affect my Swedish rules immigration case, or my studies at the University?

Thanks again very much for your assistance

[expatguy]

Hi there,
I just wanted to follow up with this since I will arriving end of July. Any advise on the above questions or can you direct me to a link with information which may be helpful to my situation. Thanks again for your assistance its truly appreciated

[skaanebo]

Your wife should be able to answer all those questions by simply reading the text under "Rådgivning".

You Can fly in anywhere in The Schengen area.

Application must be done in person.

There is no connection between applying through EU laws and under Swedish laws.

[expatguy]

ok great, thanks again