VFS Bali refused EU family member visa facilitation: help?

1POSTS

20 hours ago

Hi all, looking for experiences or advice.

Situation: I’m a Portuguese citizen living and working in the Netherlands. My fiancée is Indonesian and lives in Bali. We’re not married. We’ve been together over a year, with daily contact and an in-person visit in Indonesia in January 2026, and we plan to live together in the Netherlands and marry. We prepared a full application for the free Schengen visa facilitation for family members of EU citizens (durable partner, Directive 2004/38/EC art. 3(2)(b)), following the NetherlandsWorldwide checklist, plus an indexed dossier with proof of the relationship.

What happened: On 12 November 2026 she went to her appointment at VFS Global Bali. The staff said they don’t know this type of visa and that she’d need to be married. The manager looked at the documents and also refused to accept the application. Nothing was registered, and she got nothing in writing.

What the official sources say: The Dutch eligibility page says an unmarried partner qualifies if they have lived with the EU citizen, or been in a durable relationship with them, for at least 6 months, and “frequent and significant contact” counts as proof. The Dutch foreign ministry contact centre confirmed this in writing by WhatsApp, and a consular officer I phoned agreed that marriage isn’t required.

What I’ve done so far: phoned the ministry’s contact centre, emailed the embassy in Jakarta (only an auto-reply so far), contacted the contact centre by WhatsApp, and started a free enquiry with Your Europe Advice.

My questions:

Has anyone had VFS refuse to even accept a facilitation application, and how did you get it lodged?

Can the embassy accept it directly, or can another VFS centre in Indonesia (Jakarta, Medan) be used?

Is there a complaint route that actually works with VFS?

Thanks for any experience or pointers.

See also

Visas for the Netherlands - Guide
Home help in the Netherlands - Business
Rejection of facilitation Visa - 8 Replies
Facilitation visa - 2 Replies
Visa facilitation and verification against eu law - 3 Replies
Facilitation Visa - 2 Replies
facilitation visa - 9 Replies

SimCityAT Expert

14458POSTS

19 hours ago

VFS Global acted improperly by refusing to accept the application, as external service providers have no legal authority to assess visa eligibility or reject a dossier. Under EU free movement rules (Directive 2004/38/EC) and NetherlandsWorldwide eligibility rules, unmarried durable partners of EU citizens exercising treaty rights in the Netherlands qualify for free Schengen visa facilitation, and only the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (via the Embassy) can decide on the merits.

Because VFS Global Bali turned her away without registering the file or issuing a written refusal, you must immediately escalate this to the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta to get the application accepted.

Send an urgent formal email today to the Consular Section of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jakarta at jak-ca@minbuza.nl (and copy info.nlid@vfshelpline.com).

Include the following details in your email:

Subject Line. URGENT: Unlawful Refusal to Accept EU Family Member Visa Application (Directive 2004/38/EC) – VFS Bali – [Fiancée's Full Name & Passport Number]

Summary of Facts. State your Portuguese citizenship, your legal residence/employment in the Netherlands, and that your fiancée appeared at VFS Global Bali on 12 November 2026 with a complete dossier under the NetherlandsWorldwide EU Family Member Checklist.

The Breach. Explain that VFS staff and the centre manager falsely claimed marriage is mandatory and unlawfully refused to register the application or provide written confirmation of the refusal.

Clear Request. Ask the Embassy to either instruct VFS Global Bali in writing to accept and forward her application immediately without charging a new appointment fee, or grant her a direct appointment at the Embassy in Jakarta.

Attachments. Attach scans of your Portuguese passport, your Dutch BRP extract / residence registration, your employment contract, her passport biodata page, her VFS appointment confirmation from 12 November 2026, and your dossier index.

File a Formal Complaint with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & VFS

Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Submit an official complaint regarding the service failure via the NetherlandsWorldwide Complaints Page or by emailing HDCV-NWW-KLACHTEN@minbuza.nl. This creates an official administrative record in The Hague.

VFS Global Escalation. Log a formal complaint through VFS Global Customer Care or CustomerCare@vfsglobal.com, noting the date, time, location (Bali), and that the centre manager refused a Directive 2004/38/EC application.