CR1 (Green Card) vacation travel to Europe

[Spinnors 0]

Hello, my wife recently arrived in the USA (from the Philippines) and has received her Green Card.  

 

Now we want to travel to Europe for a small 2-week vacation.  It appears she still needs to get a Visa for Europe even though she is living in the USA?  If that is true, who does she send the Philippines Passport to?  Does she have to send it to a Philippines embassy?  

 

The other issue is we're wanting to go to Ireland, UK, and France -- which apparently all three of these require separate Visas.  Can anyone offer advice on how to handle this?  We wanted to leave in about 10 weeks (seems unlikely now).

[SalishSea 17,829]

Have you looked at the websites for those countries?  

[Lil bear 4,201]

57 minutes ago, Spinnors said:

Hello, my wife recently arrived in the USA (from the Philippines) and has received her Green Card.  

 

Now we want to travel to Europe for a small 2-week vacation.  It appears she still needs to get a Visa for Europe even though she is living in the USA?  If that is true, who does she send the Philippines Passport to?  Does she have to send it to a Philippines embassy?  

 

The other issue is we're wanting to go to Ireland, UK, and France -- which apparently all three of these require separate Visas.  Can anyone offer advice on how to handle this?  We wanted to leave in about 10 weeks (seems unlikely now).

Visa requirements are based on Passport country ( eg Philippines) not country of residence 

 

Google will easily provide you with information about getting visas for those countries for her . Search it, apply .. i would be hopeful that you can get out done in time.  But start now !! 

[Redro 4,611]

1 hour ago, Spinnors said:

Hello, my wife recently arrived in the USA (from the Philippines) and has received her Green Card.  

 

Now we want to travel to Europe for a small 2-week vacation.  It appears she still needs to get a Visa for Europe even though she is living in the USA?  If that is true, who does she send the Philippines Passport to?  Does she have to send it to a Philippines embassy?  

 

The other issue is we're wanting to go to Ireland, UK, and France -- which apparently all three of these require separate Visas.  Can anyone offer advice on how to handle this?  We wanted to leave in about 10 weeks (seems unlikely now).

If you want to travel to all three countries you will have to apply for all three visas. 
 

Maybe only choose one of those countries.

Requirements for France are fairly strict and she might not get the visa as a brand new resident. (think 3 months of bank statements) and of course with Schengen she will have to get travel insurance. 
I also know for the UK she will have to send her passport off to get the visa in her passport. Probably the same requirement for France. Not sure about Ireland… 

[.yana 597]

If you apply ASAP, you might get all three visas in time for your trip.

I only have experience with French embassy, and it took about 10 business days to get my passport back.

[top_secret 2,421]

On 2/4/2024 at 10:00 AM, Spinnors said:

Hello, my wife recently arrived in the USA (from the Philippines) and has received her Green Card.  

 

Now we want to travel to Europe for a small 2-week vacation.  It appears she still needs to get a Visa for Europe even though she is living in the USA?  If that is true, who does she send the Philippines Passport to?  Does she have to send it to a Philippines embassy?  

 

The other issue is we're wanting to go to Ireland, UK, and France -- which apparently all three of these require separate Visas.  Can anyone offer advice on how to handle this?  We wanted to leave in about 10 weeks (seems unlikely now).

 

We just completed a UK tourist visa for my wife and stepdaughter (CR1 and CR2 with Philippine passports).  We are currently in the middle of processing German tourist visas which covers all the Schengen Area countries in Europe. 

 

For UK the process is that they apply online and pay the fee (USD $151).  Then they must schedule and attend biometrics a USCIS Application Support Center.  Obviously the UK and USCIS are on very close friendly terms.  Then the receipt for the biometrics, all the documents, and passport are mailed to New York City to await adjudication of the application and placement of the sticker.  UK seemed primarily interested in financial documents and proof of US LPR status.  Bank statements and pay stubs showing how the trip would be paid for.  I could guess the US spouses financial records would suffice with proof of the marriage.  They accepted expired CR1 and CR2 green cards with extension letters without any problems.  It took three weeks to get the UK visas which seems about typical.

 

I think France requires biometrics at a VFS Global application center and pretty much any Schengen Visa requires a big stack of paperwork.  Before my wife was a US LPR she was denied by France and at that time we discovered the Netherlands is the most "Filipino friendly" Schengen country.   Though I think she would be fine applying through France now.  This time we are applying through Germany based on some unsubstantiated anecdotal speculation that Germany is more likely to issue longer term multiple entry visas to US LPR's than some other Schengen countries.

 

 

Edited February 5 by top_secret

[Redro 4,611]

3 hours ago, top_secret said:

I think France requires biometrics at a VFS Global application center and pretty much any Schengen Visa requires a big stack of paperwork.  Before my wife was a US LPR she was denied by France and at that time we discovered the Netherlands is the most "Filipino friendly" Schengen country.   Though I think she would be fine applying through France now.  This time we are applying through Germany based on some unsubstantiated anecdotal speculation that Germany is more likely to issue longer term multiple entry visas to US LPR's than some other Schengen countries.

 

 

This is interesting news. As I know Germany isn't too generous with the amount of time they give tourists. Some friends of mine were only given permission to stay in Germany for the stated time they said they would be traveling. 

[top_secret 2,421]

7 minutes ago, Redro said:

This is interesting news. As I know Germany isn't too generous with the amount of time they give tourists. Some friends of mine were only given permission to stay in Germany for the stated time they said they would be traveling. 

 

One thing we discovered from my wifes earlier Schengen visa applications before she was a US LPR, is that different Schengen embassies have differing responses to different nationalities.  So the embassy that might be the most generous towards Filipino passports, may have a much tougher attitude towards some other nationalities and vs versa.  It remains to be seen what response we get from Germany but we saw a number of anecdotal accounts of them giving somewhat longer term multiple entry visas to US LPR's with Filipino passports.  Plus we missed Germany our last trip so plan to stop there anyways. 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,092]

On 2/4/2024 at 11:03 AM, Lil bear said:

Visa requirements are based on Passport country ( eg Philippines) not country of residence 

There are a few countries where US permanent residents can normally visit legally without a visa, but they're in the Americas.

[Lil bear 4,201]

13 minutes ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

There are a few countries where US permanent residents can normally visit legally without a visa, but they're in the Americas.

Yes. Understood. Just not the countries OP is considering visiting 😞

[harry.st 62]

On 2/4/2024 at 10:01 PM, Redro said:

If you want to travel to all three countries you will have to apply for all three visas. 

 

Definitely not true https://www.dfa.ie/media/embassyindia/ourservices/bivs-faq.pdf

and https://www.irishimmigration.ie/coming-to-visit-ireland/british-irish-visa-scheme/

 

 

Edited February 14 by harry.st

[harry.st 62]

22 minutes ago, harry.st said:

https://www.irishimmigration.ie/coming-to-visit-ireland/british-irish-visa-scheme/

 

Note that the link above contains false info (ie that it applies only to Indian + Chinese citizens. It does not)

[Redro 4,611]

2 hours ago, harry.st said:

 

Definitely not true https://www.dfa.ie/media/embassyindia/ourservices/bivs-faq.pdf

and https://www.irishimmigration.ie/coming-to-visit-ireland/british-irish-visa-scheme/

 

 

Explain the caveat. 
You don’t have to apply for an Irish visa IF you

Have a UK Visa and you ENTER the UK FIRST AND you still have time on the UK visit visa… 

 

[harry.st 62]

7 hours ago, Redro said:

Explain the caveat. 
You don’t have to apply for an Irish visa IF you

Have a UK Visa and you ENTER the UK FIRST AND you still have time on the UK visit visa… 

 

 

The OP's wife does not have any visa.

 

She needs only 1 visa for the Common Travel Area. Whichever country they land at, first.

Edited February 14 by harry.st

[Redro 4,611]

1 hour ago, harry.st said:

 

The OP's wife does not have any visa.

 

She needs only 1 visa for the Common Travel Area. Whichever country they land at, first.

For France, UK and Ireland?

What is the common travel area?

And please show the link that indicates if a Filipina applies for an Irish visa they do not have to obtain a UK visa...

I can see the link indicating the opposite is true for traveling to Ireland after going to the UK...