Can I leave the Schengen Area (and come back) while my non-eea spouse resident card application is being processed?
My wife and I recently moved to Germany. She's a Swedish citizen, and I'm American. It'll be December before I can actually apply for my residence card, because my appointment to register our address is so far out - the local police station was all booked out and we didn't get an apartment right away.
I imagine that I won't be getting my residence card until well after Christmas, by which time my 90/180 days will be passed. What if I want to leave to, say, London for the holidays? Will I be allowed back in? I hit day 90 around the 21st of December. I could maybe leave on day 89 and come back on day 90 (with my wife and our marriage cert), or use this Polish solution: US Citizen in Poland more than 90 days in a 180 day period, since I can't be expelled from Germany for overstaying my visa while my application is processing.
Both of those seem a bit risky though. Am I reading too far into it, or is this a legitimate concern? Will I get some sort of documentation saying I have a residence card application processing?
Best Answer
You might be mixing several different registrations here.
People living in Germany are required to register their place of residence with the municipal authorities. People living in several places must designate one as the primary place of residence. There are deadlines for doing so, but some cities (notably Berlin) have failed to handle their end of the process in a timely manner. The authorities are aware of this problem; I don't think anybody was ever penalized for simply missing the deadline as long as there was a good faith effort to start the process in time (i.e. having an appointment).
Then there is the card to show the immigration status, as mentioned by phoog. I guess you can't get that until your wife has registered as a resident. Depending on where you live, it may be possible expedite that by getting into the waiting line instead of making an appointment, if she has the time. That depends on how the city/county is organized. They can handle urgent cases, but they don't like to ...
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Can I leave the Schengen zone and come back?
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