Facilitation Visa Rejected

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

The directive you are quoting relates to the right of free movement; what they are telling you is that you married for the sole intention of getting around the relationship rules, so is not a meaningful relationship; in other words, they think you have a convenience marriage.  The fact they are quoting a "detailed investigation" almost certainly means they have evidence to back up their claim.  You should also consider that the different EU immigration departments do talk to each other when considering visa applications.

In order to appeal, you will need to prove that you do have a qualifying "meaningful" relationship, just being married to an EU citizen is not sufficient.  How do you do that, you need evidence, so proof that you have previously lived together as man and wife.

They have told you that you are welcome to apply for a short-term tourist visa (better known as a Schengen visa) which will allow you to stay for up to 90 days; you can Google for the full details.  You can use these 90 days trips to build up evidence of a meaningful relationship.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hey bro,
It's been a long time, I wanna ask you if you appealed and how it went because I have the same problem.
Thank you

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

The guy you're talking to hasn't been back here for almost a year, so I suspect may not respond.  Until then, I've read your detailed explanation in our "living in Africa" section.  My only comment is that it is clear that they believe your relationship is not a real one.  They say "A detailed investigation has shown that you are attempting to abuse the right of free movement. You have demonstrated artificial conduct entered into solely with the purpose of obtaining the right to free movement and residence under EU law".  In other words, that you married your wife solely to get to the Netherlands.  You can appeal it, but it will be at your cost and it can take time.  So, if you have the money, then get your wife to find an Immigration lawyer in the Netherlands and see if they think you can overturn this.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thank you so much for your respond, so they don't believe that we have a real marriage.
Based on what? We sent them pictures together, with friends and family.

What's can prove our marriage?
P.S: we already made an appeal and we are waiting for the decision, if we hired a lawyer how long can take to get back from the IND?
If 3 months we prefer go through mvv road since I already passed the civic exam.

It isn't quite like that.  You are married, you have documentation that proves that.  What they are saying is that yours is a marriage of convenience, that you got married with the intention of using that to emigrate to the Netherlands.  Now you have a problem as you need to ask yourself where have they got this from?  If you think there may be something in your past that their investigation uncovered (I'd strongly suggest you don't comment on here about this), then you need to be honest with yourself and try the MVV route instead.  If you go that way, you will then have cast-iron evidence that yours is not a marriage of convenience should you decide to apply for some other related matter.

Thank you for taking your time to answer me, I got your point, I really don't know why they think like that but they are really wrong about it.
I love my wife and I asked her to live here in Morocco but she can't handle it, she already lived with me here almost one year.
That's why we decided to move on to Netherlands.
Is a lawyer can fix this issue?

I don't see how a lawyer can make this right.  It's only if something is wrong in law, that he/she will spot that and point it out to the IND who can then re-assess based on the new information.  Another area where a lawyer may help is if the supporting documentation had a problem with it, he/she would spot that so you could put it right yourself.

My problem is I can't see the mistake; from what you posted elsewhere, they appear to have followed the rules.

Not only you, everyone who is aware of the Eu law rule says that we followed all rules, even the ind workers told us the same on the phone.

We really ran out of options, I have no criminal records, never been in a relationship with a foreign woman.
In my opinion, they have no evidence to back up their claim. Even though through social media or whatever they can go through because the truth is we love each other far away from any conveniences.

I think applying for mvv can get us around their claim, hopefully.

@Cynic: My father's visa also got rejected on the same grounds. Justification not provided, detailed investigation showed abuse. We have sent many supporting documents to the embassy including birth certificates, receipts of money transfer for almost two years and legal statements that he is depending on me for his monthly costs.

I'm wondering how could one prove a "meaningful" relationship with his/her own parents

verdituro wrote:

@Cynic: My father's visa also got rejected on the same grounds. Justification not provided, detailed investigation showed abuse. We have sent many supporting documents to the embassy including birth certificates, receipts of money transfer for almost two years and legal statements that he is depending on me for his monthly costs.

I'm wondering how could one prove a "meaningful" relationship with his/her own parents

Hi again.

Family visas normally only extend to your wife/partner/children.  Family visas for fathers are only permitted in special circumstances where there is an absolute dependence - they are very rare.

So it is not as straightforward as the IND says on their website?

https://ind.nl/en/eu-eea/Pages/Family-m … ality.aspx

You are the parent or grandparent or the child or grandchild aged 21 or above of a Union citizen or of the partner of a Union citizen:
. Documents proving that you are the parent or grandparent or the child or grandchild of a Union citizen, e.g. one or more birth certificates (authenticated if necessary).
. Documents proving that you are financially dependent on the Union citizen or his or her spouse or registered partner, e.g. proof that you receive money from your family member on a regular basis (e.g. every month).
. Documents proving that, because of your financial and social situation, you require material support to be able to meet your basic needs (e.g. rent, food and drink), e.g. a declaration from a benefits agency.

All I read in internet regarding abuse/facilitation visa is related to marriage of convenience.

I am totally clueless how IND managed to apply this to our case.

I just want to ask how did you go about with the appeal procedures, did you use an immigration lawyer? I just want to have a clear idea because the application for my family member (non EU) was also rejected. We provided supporting documentations according to IND requirements but still they say it is insufficient evidence.  I read somewhere that you got positive feedback from IND so I would like to ask what is the proper way to do an appeal when a facilitation visa application is rejected and how long did you have to wait to get feedback after the appeal?

Is it possible to petition family members to come here in the Netherlands? Aside from spouse/children? That sounds new to me..hmmm..im interested. Never heard about it nor read in the IND website. Enlighten me please….

gracesaribay wrote:

Is it possible to petition family members to come here in the Netherlands? Aside from spouse/children? That sounds new to me..hmmm..im interested. Never heard about it nor read in the IND website. Enlighten me please….

Hi again.

The cases I've heard of, It normally extended to immediate family (so your mother/father) only and even then, only if you can prove an absolute dependence (so no other family members are available) on you to look after them (both financially and socially).  They do check this with the social services in the country where your family are living.  They have to live with you in the Netherlands and you are totally responsible for their social welfare and for paying their sickness insurance.

If you have an issue that you think you need some regulatory guidance, go and speak to your local IND desk and explain your situation, then ask for guidance on what all your options are.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Are we talking about “my parents moving here in the netherlands for good”? Or only for short period of time?

Hi again.

Yes - a permanent move that they could not make with a tourist visa.  I'm assuming that you will already have considered the MVV route and know that tourist visas (which are really the only other sort as far as your parents are concerned) are generally available to most people.  They can apply for a tourist visa; details are on the IND website (link).

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hello All,

I am trying to bring my Non-EU parents to live with me in the Netherlands (I am an EU citizen living in NL). With the advice of my lawyer we requested a facilitation visa mentioning to the embassy that my parents intend to file for permanent residency when they will be in NL. Yesterday we received a rejection motivated by: "Sufficient justification for the purpose and circumstances of the intended stay was not provided".
The rejection letter also mentions "Consequently, you are not eligible for this specific entry visa. You are free to ask that your application be assessed against the normal criteria for issuing a short-stay Schengen Visa".
My lawyer says that now with the facilitation visa being rejected, it will be hard to get a short-stay visa since it will be hard to prove that my parents intend to come back to their home country. I personally have doubts with the latter since I have the impression that the embassy is "inviting" us to file a short-stay visa.
My lawyer advised to go through the appeal procedure which will be costly and lengthy instead of just asking for a short-stay visa which I find more optimal since if no immigration at least I can be with my parents for few weeks.
Can anyone advise or share their experiences with regards to requesting a short-stay visa after a facilitation visa being rejected. Is it trus that short-stay visa becomes harder to get?

Thanks in advance!

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

These visas are normally restricted to "a spouse (male/female) or registered partner; children under the age of 18."

They can be extended to "family member or relative" provided they meet specific conditions, document 3085 (link) (Enabling a family member or relative to come to the Netherlands) published by the IND then goes on to list them all, "Sufficient justification for the purpose and circumstances of the intended stay" does not feature on the list.

We are all human and sometimes make mistakes; I think the IND is not complying with their own requirements and I would appeal, or simply make an appointment at your local IND desk, take a copy of Document 3085 and their refusal document with you and ask them to explain where, in their document, it says you are required to justify this to them.  To find where your local IND desk is, this link will take you to the contact section of the IND website, you can find it there.

I wish you and your family the best of luck; you don't need a lawyer to do this.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

@KariBenz- I suggest that you appeal via IND within 4 weeks after you received the facilitation visa rejection. I went via the short term visa route because I thought it will work. Once it has a registered visa denied on a VFS office, they will always go back to the reason why the facilitation visa was rejected (similar to what you got for your parents). I have provided all documentation because in my case it is not my parent but my sister who depends on me financially so we thought this is a valid ground. We filed a short term visa via VFS France in my home country and provided a detailed iinerary including NL plus a guarantee letter stating I will pay for all the costs.  We have ties to France (due to EU partner) and NL (i am naturalized Dutch) so it is quite appalling the reason for the denial of the short term visa. The reason for the rejection for the short term visa is because NL (member state) disallowed the facilitation visa. In our case we are not able to contest the decision for the facilitation visa being denied. It is exhausting exercise for me and my sister so I have to give up. I wish you all the courage and best of luck.