Does uk residence card equal visa free travel in europe?

Question

i have a 5 year eea family member residence card , my wife is german and i am south african , we are both working and living in the uk. Can i travel to other eu countries without a visa eg shengen visa , does my residence card allow me visa free entry ?

Answer 1

Actually not.

Other than other people coming from countries outside the EU, normally as husband of a German citizen or of a citizen from any EU-country  you have also the visa free travel privilege.

However the United Kingdom and Ireland are a very special case. Although they are EU-members, they do not yet fully participate in Schengen, that means there are a couple of restrictions, also for citizen from other EU-Countries that fully participate in Schengen as for example: Other than the Schengen Countries a passport is requirement to travel into, although they do not need a visa but they can not travel just with an ID.

For this reason I would recommend you to contact the consulate of the country or countries you would like to visit. It can be that you do not need a visa but it can be you need it as I said the United Kingdom and Ireland do not participate in Schengen.

More about it (official web of the EU):

http://europa.eu/abc/travel/doc/index_en...

Answer 2

No, because the UK is not part of the Schengen agreement. However, if you get a visa to a Schengen country, you would be able to travel with it to all other Schengen member states, but not to the new EU member states for instance. The advantage of being married to an EU citizen is that you will not have to pay the fee for processing your visa application.

Your wife can travel visa free everywhere in the EU, no matter Schengen or not, as she is an EU citizen.