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I have a Schengen visa (for five years) which states that I am a family member of an EEA national. I traveled, on this visa, with my spouse (UK citizen) to Croatia in May 2015 with no issues.

However, now I wish to travel to Hungary without my spouse for a week but I am not sure if I will be allowed entry this time around into the country without my spouse.

Do I have to produce any documents at the border since I am not traveling with my spouse?

I plan to take a copy of my marriage certificate and my partner's passport copy anyway.

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    Are you resident in the UK or another non-Schengen country that is in the EU or EEA?
    – phoog
    Commented Jul 15, 2015 at 17:35
  • Have you asked at the Hungarian consulate? I suspect that you will need to get a regular Schengen visa (which may unfortunately require cancellation of your family member Schengen visa), but, looking through the regulations, I do not see anything that explicitly states this. It's seems pretty likely, though, that your visa is not valid unless you are accompanying or joining your spouse. Who issued your existing visa, by the way? Croatia not yet being a Schengen member, it must have been issued by another country.
    – phoog
    Commented Jul 15, 2015 at 17:57

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Assuming that you have a Schengen visa issued under Regulation 562/2006 (Schengen Borders Code) or one of its amendments and it has not expired etc etc then you would be entitled to enter any member state in the same way any other Schengen visa holder can.

Despite different terms and conditions applied when it is issued to each and every holder, there is only one kind of visa issued under the Schengen regime and there is only one controlling reference point (the regulation linked above and its various amendments, an example being Regulation 610/2013).

You wrote that your Schengen has an amendment in the 'remarks' section describing you as a family member. Accordingly, the border official would be entitled to be sure that this was still the case, so you would need to bring evidence of that. Your marriage certificate along with a note from the relevant EEA family member confirming that the relationship was still persisting would be fine. You mentioned that you wanted to bring a copy of the portrait page of your partner's passport. This is fine as additional support, but will not work without the other evidence.

Based upon your 'remarks' section on your visa, you might be able to use the EU queue. It's certainly worth trying if the queues are long. All that will happen is you'll be scolded and sent to join the non-EU queue.

All of this assumes that you have a Schengen issued by a member state. If there is a terminology issue and in fact you have a 5 year residence card (or family permit), then all bets are off. Those documents are issued under different regulations and the stipulation "accompany or join" applies. You did not include your status in the UK with your UK partner, so I mention this just in case. Be sure your visa is in fact a Schengen before setting out.

Adding...

Per commentary, you can also refer to the Schengen Visa Code.

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  • It would make more sense to refer to the Visa Code than the Borders Code.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 8:30
  • Among other things, the health insurance requirement for example or, in fact, the whole visa examination procedure. I am still unconvinced that it makes sense to consider that the visa is issued under Regulation 562/2006 and it's quite difficult to learn about and find the Visa Code from the link you provide (whereas, as your citation shows, the reference is clear and explicit in the other direction).
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 10:33
  • I also have the option to nudge you into improving your answer, which I what I chose. Of course, you can do whatever you want with them but I might still add some comments ;-)
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 14:08
  • Where is this coming from? I just made a very simple suggestion and haven't even had time to look at the rest or post any new comment yet. The idea that I should write a new answer to post the right link is ludicrous. There is indeed no need to play games for something as trivial but it seems to me that it's exactly what you have been doing.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jul 30, 2015 at 13:00
  • That makes no sense at all, it's precisely because it's not significant enough to warrant writing a new answer that I put it as a suggestion. If I had a completely different answer to offer or I thought your answer was crap, I would not comment on it! It's absurd to get all worked up about this or to react to every comment by daring people to write a different answer. Why make so much fuss instead of simply taking this opportunity to make your answer more useful and accurate and leaving it at that? That's how this platform is supposed to work.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jul 30, 2015 at 15:28

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