Exit Schengen with residence permit (no exit stamp on tourist visa) - Implications on choice before travel and where to get married?

score:8

Accepted answer

As the spouse of an Italian citizen, your wife is very unlikely to be scrutinized for overstay in the Schengen area. Don't worry about the exit stamp.

Your wife can't be charged for a visa to enter the Schengen area to accompany or join you. A third-party visa processor (if there is one handling applications for the consulate to which she's applying), can charge their processing fee, but the consulate has to allow her to apply in person at the consulate to avoid the processor's fee. The site you linked to simply has incomplete information.

how should we handle her right to stay in the country afterwards?

As the spouse of an Italian citizen, her right to stay in any EU or EEA country (except Italy) arises automatically from EU law. In Italy, the right arises from an Italian law that guarantees family of Italian citizens treatment at least as favorable as that afforded to family of other EU citizens.

There are some documentation requirements to stay longer than 3 months, but even then, failing to obtain the documents does not put her at risk of expulsion. So if you plan to settle in the EU or EEA after marrying, just apply for a residence card (not "permit") within three months of marrying or arriving in that country, whichever is sooner, to avoid any administrative penalties that may be associated with a late application. It is emphatically not necessary to have the residence card in hand before the visa expires.

There are 3 different ways to get clearance for entry:

Are you planning to leave and re-enter? This is not clear from the question, which implies that your favored plan is to get married in Italy and stay there.

Would the information that she held a residency permit be recorded and available by other Schengen countries?

Maybe.

Would she have to provide the (expired?) permit when applying for new visas?

Maybe.

But really, if she needs a Schengen visa in the future, the missing exit stamp is unlikely to be a problem. People enter with visas and subsequently get residence permits all the time. She'll just say "I married an Italian citizen and stayed for a long time" and that will be the end of it.

When would the residency permit be valid from?

It doesn't matter. Her right to reside in Italy with you will be automatic; the card is just evidence of that. See above.

As from concern #2, if there's a period between the end of her current tourist visa and the wedding/residence permit application, could this count as negative travel history when applying for future applications?

Highly unlikely.

To avoid this, maybe (right after the wedding), it would be better to leave the country and re-enter right away (the "YOLO" option) with a non-tourist visa, for example by crossing into Croatia (which is currently not Schengen), and then right back into Slovenia?

She's still supposed to get a stamp on the way in, so doing this won't change anything.

As soon as she's your wife, she is exempt from the 90/180 rule when she's with you. A Schengen visa is only needed for entry, not for the ensuing stay. Just get married and apply for her carta di soggiorno (if you plan to stay in Italy, or another country's residence card if you plan to stay in another country). Congratulations and best of luck to you both.

More post

Search Posts

Related post