Law /
EU citizen, inviting a non-EU fiancée and wanting to get married, best course of action? [4]
Hello,
I am from an EU country, have been working in Poland for 3 years, have been in a relationship with a non-EU person for 7 years, separated for 2 years due to the pandemic. I had lived with her for 4 years in her country while I stayed there. She visited me on a one-month Schengen travel visa just before the pandemic.
I am currently in the process of getting an invitation letter (invitation for 9 months) so that she may apply for a visa in her country (we wrote to the Polish embassy there and they replied that she can apply which is seen as a preliminary positive based on other people's experiences [those that don't get any reply would just be rejected]) and then ideally stay with me for longer than just the maximum 90 days that any Schengen visa allows.
However, we don't know what's the best course of action.
From what I gathered, even though she may apply for a national visa based on the invitation letter from me (i.e. we are not yet married, but in the national visa application, she can tick the "visiting family/friends" checkbox as the reason - the same as in the case of a Schengen visa), the most likely outcome is that this would not be approved and thus it's best to apply for a Schengen visa.
The issue with Schengen visa is that it allows for a maximum stay of 90 days in 180 days.
We would like to get married and make it possible for her to stay with me in Poland, without having to go back to her home country in the process (mostly due to extremely expensive flight tickets but generally, it would be best if she doesn't need to go back). Is this possible?
It is difficult for me to understand a few things:
If she comes on Schengen visa, registers her temporary residence, we get married - can she (does she have to?) then apply for a national visa here in Poland in order to be able to stay longer than 3 months? Does she need national visa in the first place? (i.e. can't she just come on Schengen visa, we get married, she applies for a residence card and can stay?)
When one has a residence permit, does one still need underlying visa? Is that residence permit issued only up to the visa expiry?
Thanks a lot for any hints