# Italian schengen visa extension



## Sincejune (Apr 11, 2016)

Hi everyone 

I and our two children are British citizens. My has a type c schengen visa issued under European free movement directive 2004 for family members. 

her visa had 30 days expirey date we want to extend it to 90 days allowed. We currently in Holland with family for few weeks. 

My question is do we have go back to Italy apply for the extension with the police?
Or can we extend her visa in Holland with the immigration department?

Thanks.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

I assume you're asking about your non-EU/EEA wife. Check with Holland first. Visas in the Schengen Area are always issued by national authorities, and some other national authority (Italy in this case) cannot grant stay permission elsewhere in the Schengen Area (Holland in this case) beyond 90 days. This case is a bit tricky since the original visa was 30 days, and Italy might be able to extend it by up to 60 more days, but I'd still check with the Dutch authorities first to see what they can do. With luck they might issue a fresh 90 day visa.

That said, the Dutch authorities are likely to have a very reasonable question. Italy granted the 30 day visa to allow your wife to enter Italy and establish residence there with you, I assume. So why hasn't she applied for residence in Italy yet? Once she has an Italian residence permit (or residence permit receipt) in hand -- a PdS or PdS receipt -- she would have 90-out-of-180 stay permission in other Schengen countries, including Holland. There is no "attach the foreign spouse to the EU/EEA spouse and roam the Schengen Area for as long as you want" visa. (That question comes up fairly often.) She (and you, if you haven't already) need(s) to land somewhere and establish residence. Then she can roam elsewhere in the Schengen Area for tourism to a great (but not unlimited) degree -- less than half her time, and for no more than 90 days in any/every 180 day period. So that's the real answer, assuming I understand your situation correctly.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Technically speaking, a Schengen visa can't really be extended. I suspect that you'll have to apply for a new Schengen visa for the additional period of time (and for the country in which you intend to visit during that time). The problem is that "Schengen visas" are issued by the individual countries for the particular country - albeit with rights to visit other Schengen countries during the term of the visa. 

In what country is your wife currently resident? That would be the country where she would have to apply for a new Schengen visa. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## Sincejune (Apr 11, 2016)

Thank you both for ur reply. 

We are currently in Holland. 
My wife was issued the visa for free of charge as eu rule free movement. Under free movement directive for family members of eu national even though she has 30 days but she's allowed to stay upto 90 days without any restrictions it says on Europa.eu website. 

Now iam in a situation which is I wanted to apply for uk spouse visa for her which she can't apply for on temporary visa in Europe. So my other choice is to register for work either in Italy or Holland rent a place and apply for residency card for her. 

i wanted to extend her visa to think about which route do we chose. Go back to her home country apply for uk spouse visa. Or we chose an eu country and live there for a year or two until she get the residence card.

Does any one have any experience if I apply for residency card in Italy how long will it take? And after getting her residency card I we chose to come to Holland and look for work can she change her residency card to Holland one?

Thanks.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

You're in a somewhat tricky situation with this approach. 

Not sure about the rules for Italy or the Netherlands, but in France (and I suspect other countries), you can't get a residence permit for your non-EU spouse simply by "registering for work." You generally have to be "exercising your EU rights" in that you are actually working in the country, or are retired there, or are a student there. (In France it's called having a "statut" - more or less a reason to be living in France.)

Looking for work is not considered to be actually working there. And between EU countries, you may only be considered a "job seeker" during the period of time (i.e. 3 months) when you would be eligible to receive your home country unemployment payment by registering at the local unemployment office. (This assumes that you were receiving unemployment when you left your last country of residence.) Italy may handle things differently but I'd look into this very seriously before deciding how to proceed.



> Or we chose an eu country and live there for a year or two until she get the residence card.


Under the EU rules, she should be entitled to a residence card pretty much right away - once you have established yourself as "resident" in the country (again, with a job, a pension or a student situation). However, to use EU residence to apply for a spouse visa for the UK for her, I believe you have to demonstrate that you have actually moved your centers of interest to the new country for at least a couple years or more. (You can get more information on this in the UK section of the forum here.)

You don't mention what country she is from, but even in returning there to apply for a spouse visa, you will have to show that you have adequate income to support her (and I believe I have heard they have just raised the amount required). Again, check with the UK section of the forum. They handle lots of questions about spouse visas over there.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Sincejune (Apr 11, 2016)

Thank u again. She's from Afghanistan I work full time in the uk I have about 30 k saving. We have the required documents to apply for uk spouse visa. 

There is no visa centre in Afghanistan we usually travel to India Dubai or Pakistan on tourism visa to apply for uk visa. So i assumed that she will be able to apply for uk visa on schengen visa. 

I can't take her back to afg because the situation is not good there if we can't apply for uk I will get a job in Italy or Holland and bring my centre of life here so she get the residence card. 

My question is which court will be the easier and the quickest for her to get the residence card?

Thanks.


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## Sincejune (Apr 11, 2016)

I meant which country not court.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

The UK Embassy website for Kabul doesn't mention visas at all, save for a referral to a website: https://www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa But the site does say that you can apply online from "outside the UK" - so you may not need to establish a residence for her elsewhere.

See what you can get from the website and then perhaps post your question over in the UK section. It sounds as though you can probably qualify to get her a UK spouse visa, based on your job and income and shouldn't have to worry about being resident elsewhere for a period of time.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
Cheers,
Bev


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