Change of A card to F+ card

Hi,

She will receive The F card first. And after Five year with F card, she will receive F+ card...

Concerning mobility, there are no real difference.

I see. With f+ card I think you can travel to countries without a visa. For example, an Indian needs visa to go to the UK. But with a f+ card, you can travel to UK while still maintaining an Indian passport. This is what I meant by mobility

That's just an English peculiarity. Because for the rest, the holder of an F card can move anywhere in Europe without a visa.

The only one that has an advantage now is you, as a Belgian citizen, not your wife!
You don't need to bring your Indian passport with you anymore outside Belgium when you travel inside the Schengen Area (and few other countries such as Turkey, north Africa countries...) and you now have access to the 4th most powerful passport in the world: Belgium (source: Henley, passportindex.org, ...)
https://www.passportindex.org/compareby … &s=yes


But your wife will still have to show her foreigner Belgian ID card AND her passport, no matter which Belgian foreigner ID card she will get (when she travel outside Belgium and inside Schengen area).


For your understanding, when you travel inside Schengen area, you've to be able to provide:
* your national identity papers (your national ID card recognized in Europe, NOT a foreigner ID card of EU! or your passport)
* the right to cross the border. (EU national/foreigner id card / visa / passport with visa free-access)
And so, no matter your nationality.

Even other European residents in Belgium (ID card E or E+) MUST have their OWN national ID card from their original EU country/passport with them when they're going outside Belgium, and not their Belgian Foreigner card!
Or they expose themselves to be throw away at the border/refused entry!
Ok, that's a bit stupid... but that's how it is...


In the case of your wife, the Belgian foreigner ID card is just an approval that she doesn't need a visa to stay/cross borders inside the Schengen area, and her passport is the proof her identity outside Belgium.
She's obviously able to freely move inside Belgium with her Foreign Belgian ID card, as it is recognized as an ID card only in Belgium (and so, no passport needed)


The only real difference for her, is that the right to stay in Belgium with an A card can be canceled easily by the Immigration Office, which is not the case with a family member of a Belgian Citizen (F card), unless she does a serious crime or doesn't integrate into Belgium at all...




Btw, now that you're Belgian and she resides in Belgium with you, access to visa of any OECD country is pretty easy to have now that she's a EU resident... (visa is really simplified/automatically given depending of the target country (Taiwan/South Korea/...)

@AlexFromBelgium Hello Alex. I saw your message. Thanks for sharing info about OECD visa. If i understood completely, you meant that F card holders need to fill out eTA or they have visa free entry to OECD countries? Can you give more detail and source about it? Thank you very much

Hello,

what I mean is that, if you've a resident permit, you can, for example travel to South Korea without the need of a visa, blablabla... but there are still exception depending on your nationality! (North Korea, China, Irak, Syria, ...)

Keep in mind that you must check depending on your own case!

It's case by case, you've to read the exceptions of visa per country, but some OECD country allow visa-free access if you live in EU

Edit: actually South Korea just changed their policies... What I was stating was correct before the end of covid19 period, now there's an ETA + some countries need visa even if EU resident, ....

As I was saying: things move pretty fast, you've to check all the time & keep up to date!

@AlexFromBelgium Thank you very much for your response. Well i have gone through alot of info regarding this, all embassies immigration departments differentiate you on basis of your passport and they just minus the advantage of having a EU residence permit. Like they say ok if you have Belge passeport, fine enough come with eTA or without visa but if your passport is third country national, you are subject to visa. thats it. Thats why i wanted to know if there is an advantage with F card or some other card for OECD countries. Could you kindly refer to a web link or something like that to see precise info about it.

@AlexFromBelgium I am talking about OECD countries precisely ( F card and entry to OECD visa free), after all, if its all about my nationality, then the question is already answered. No worries

Before covid19 I could tell you yes, you've many OECD country's facility / no need for a visa.

But it seems that the foreigner departement of each EU country have only been busy working to get back all the visa-free access like before the pandemia, rather than trying to give advantage to all their residents like before. Things will probably change "soon".

Bah technically, keep in mind that as a F card holder and if you're working, even half time in Belgium, you'll get any tourist visa for any trip (okay except North Korea, Syria, ...)

As per definition, a visa is to verify that you stay for some defined time in a country for a reason, that you won't overstay/illegal immigration, and so with a Belgian salary, bah.... you'll get your visa without much question (if you have...)

+ as a family member of an EU, if you travel with your partner that's often a reason enough to give your visa without any question as by default the BE/EU partner is considered to have enough money for the trip without any proof to give...