Non-EU spouse may not get Schengen Visa in time

Upvote:1

Is it going to be a lot of hassle hoping for a long shot of boarding the plane

Timatic doesn't mention any special exemptions for spouses of EU citizens, therefore you are quite unlikely to board the plane successfully.

and not being refused at the border?

If you do get to the border you are in luck because Schengen border guards must apply leniency when processing EU family members:

However, if they arrive at the border without an entry visa, the border authorities should give them the opportunity to prove by other means that they are your family members. If they manage to prove it, they should be issued with an entry visa on the spot.

Take your marriage certificate and you should be fine at the border, assuming you manage to get there in the first place.

Does the fact that she has a valid UK and Ireland tourist visa matter? Could we change our flights and stay in Ireland for a night, then fly to Spain?

Whether you're flying from the USA or from the UK is completely irrelevant - the Timatic rules which airlines usually care about your citizenship and visa status, not where your flight has originated. Likewise your UK visa doesn't grant you visa-free entry to the Schengen area.

However if you take the train from the UK you will be able to go through Schengen immigration on UK soul, which would allow you to receive the above-mentioned visa on the spot. So your full itinerary would be: USA → London → Paris → Portugal.

Upvote:2

Your first decision is whether to follow through with the application for a new Chinese passport. If China is like most countries, she'll need to submit her old passport for cancellation when she applies for the new one. If she doesn't get the new passport back in time then it will not matter whether she has a visa. If someone says it will take 15 days to process (and is that calendar days or business days?), and the fifteenth day is the day before you travel, then that is indeed a risky proposition.

Of course, trying to use the old passport in its current state is also risky.

If she is able to get into the UK, as you say, the two of you could travel from there to the Schengen area by train or ferry without a visa if you have your marriage documents.

The other option, as I've noted in the comments, is to try applying to Portugal for a visa, based on the assertion that the wedding in Portugal makes it your main destination. You may be able to do this before June 8th, because the visa must be granted "on the basis of an accelerated procedure."

If Portugal accepts the passport with the rip and that they are the "main destination," they should grant the visa, and you should be okay to travel. If they don't accept one of those things and reject your application, then you can try getting a new passport and hope that it arrives before the 29th.

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