Applying for a Schengen Visa while staying in UK on a Tier 4 visa
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 31 Jul, 2023
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Does the Tier 4 need to be valid at least three months after the UK
re-entry date?
Other answers have pointed out that the visa (or BRP, or etc) must be valid for at least 90 days after returning to the UK, and that stipulation is uncontested. I wanted to add that this is not necessarily a hard requirement and that the Visa Code has provisions for discretion, especially for cases where returning to the applicant’s home country would be “excessive“. The Visa Code Handbook provides several examples, among these are…
If your girlfriend can make a plausible case for ‘excessive requirements’, then the Italian consulate in London can go ahead and process her application. How to go about demonstrating that the requirement is excessive can be tricky and it might be worthwhile instructing a solicitor to handle it.
TL;DR
All things considered and based upon the information you provided, it’s advisable to pursue the Schengen short-stay visa and establish that it is an ‘excessive requirement’ for your girl friend to return to Iran to apply. Instructing a qualified solicitor with a renowned practice area in free movement can make a big difference.
The website you should refer to is THIS – the Italian visa application centres in the UK have outsourced applications to VFS Global.
One of the requirements for a tourist visa (including, it seems, for family members of EEA nationals) is:
UK Residence permit valid for at least 90 days beyond the return date of the trip to the Schengen Area. Please also bring a photocopy if the residence permit is not endorsed in passport.
In other words, it is not the Tier 4 visa the visa officers will want to see, but the residence permit card (called biometric residence permit, or BRP for short). This one has to be valid for at least 90 days after the date she returns to the UK from Italy.
However, it is worth for your girlfriend to seek the assistance of a qualified solicitor specialised in the field, to establish whether it would be possible to be waived from the requirement.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘