by In the 1950s, Australia signed bilateral visa waiver agreements with several European countries. At various times the list has included the Czech Republic, Greece and Switzerland, but these countries have since rescinded those agreements, and the deal with France came later.
Currently: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden.
France, Spain and Portugal are special cases – read on.
Visa waiver agreements allow Australian passport holders to stay in these countries without impacting the 90 days visa waiver granted them under the Schengen Agreement. For Belgium, it’s 60 days. Using them to your advantage takes a lot of work. Each country operates the visa waiver agreements in its way. Most countries require you to utilise the visa waiver agreement at the end of your Schengen area travel.
Australian citizens can visit the (bilateral) Schengen member states visa-free for up to three months in each country. If, however, an Australian citizen visits another Schengen state not included in the list, the restriction of up to three months out of six months in the Schengen area applies. Therefore, if an Australian citizen has already spent three months in one or more of the (bilateral) Schengen countries, any visits to another country without a bilateral visa waiver agreement with Australia may lead to difficulties with local law enforcement agencies.
It would be best if you documented your travels thoroughly. Say you spend 90 days travelling around the Schengen Area and then drive across the border from Italy into Austria. Under the visa waiver agreement between Australia and Austria, you are entitled to stay for up to 90 days in Austria. However, since there is no border control between Italy and Austria, your passport has no documentation to prove that you “left” the Schengen Area and “entered” Austria under the visa waiver agreement. It might subsequently appear to an immigration official that you have overstayed the 90-day limit under which you are entitled to remain in the Schengen Area. If you are deemed in breach and can’t prove otherwise, that’s a severe offence.
The Nordic countries regard themselves as a single bloc for the visa waiver agreements. According to the Danish Embassy in Canberra, “Australian citizens are allowed to stay in Denmark visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180 days regardless of stays in other Schengen countries. Please note that days spent in another Nordic country do count towards the 90 days maximum.” And this from the Norwegian Embassy in Canberra: “Please be advised that there is currently a separate bilateral agreement between Norway and Australia allowing stays for up to 90 days visa-free in Norway in addition to any days spent in a non-Nordic Schengen country. Consequently, Australian citizens will not be refused entry to Norway due to time spent in, for example, Spain.” … “If spending 90 days in Norway, you must exit Norway and spend at least 90 days in a non-Nordic country before you are allowed to re-enter Norway.”
For the Netherlands: “To return to the Netherlands after a stay of 90 days, you need to leave the Schengen area for a minimal period first (for example, by travelling to the UK or any other country outside the Schengen area).” “Minimal period” is vague, but it could mean that after a stay of just a few days outside Holland, you would be permitted to return for another 90 days.
Some other countries are less specific about the time you must remain outside before being allowed to re-enter under a visa waiver agreement. Euro-Nomads have returned to Germany after one day to restart the Australia-Germany bilateral visa waiver for another 90 days.
France is a tricky case. The bilateral visa waiver agreement between France and Australia allows Australian passport holders to remain in France for three months. This agreement was only signed after the Schengen Area came into existence, and it refers to that agreement. When Australians “enter France after staying in the territory of one or several states party to the Schengen Agreement, the three-month period shall take effect from the date of crossing the external frontier, delimiting the area of free movement constituted by those states.” Therefore, if you enter another Schengen Area country other than France and stay for 30 days, you would be permitted to remain in France for only the remaining 60 days of your allowance under the Schengen Agreement. The same applies to Spain, who (re)interprets their bilateral agreement in the same way.
Portugal had a visa-waiver agreement with Australia, but sometime in the distant past, it was rescinded. The Australian government travel advisory website no longer lists Portugal as a bilateral visa-waiver state. But when invited by the EU Commission to register all existing bilateral visa waiver treaties for encoding in the new Entry/Exit system to be rolled out in parallel with ETIAS in 2023, Portugal offered up Australia!
Spain effectively repudiated the bilateral agreement with Australia in 1998. The dumbos at Foreign Affairs/Smart Traveller don’t realise it.
Like France’s interpretation of their bilateral with Australia – the 90 day visa waiver starts as soon as you enter the Schengen zone. In other words identical and overlapping the Schengen visa waiver. Then, to remove any doubt, when confirmation of existing treaties was sought for coding the new Exit/Entry system, Spain and France didn’t submit Australia.
Shame Australia didnt cancel the reciprocal visa waiver for French and Spanish nationals as a protest.
I fly in to Paris at the end of May, and then out of Paris at the start of September (95 days later). I will be going to other Schengen countries within this time but also to the UK for over 5 days. These 5 or more days in the UK, will that then allow me to fly out of France on the 95th day issue free? Because I will be spending less than 90 total days in the Schengen area, but within a 95 day time period. Thanks!
Yep, nailed it!
Short answer – yes. The calculation is a rolling window with days stamped out of the zone subtracted. Safe travels!
Trying to sort out what we can expect this year entering the Schengen area from Africa as Australian passport holders.
Am I correct in believing that along the western Mediterranean, only Italy is available using bilateral visa waivers. By not mentioning Australia in its list, does this mean that France has unilaterally removed our agreement?
I understand Portugal put Australia on its list, so where do we now stand there. Would appreciate any official feedback
Hi Grant, thanks for posting. Note – I cant give you any official feedback – just the results of much focused internet trawling. Your understanding is correct re Italy. You may hear alternative opinions re France – even from the Embassy. Note that France interprets the rules for using the bilateral in a sneaky way – time starts from first entry into the Schengen zone NOT France. The net effect is – no additional days. Re Portugal – Australia believes Portugal repudiated the agreement (they did!) but Portugal listed Australia as an in-force agreement for coding into the Entry Exit System (now delayed til 2024). But see the comment re France – I believe Spain and Portugal use the same verbal sleight of hand. Hope this helps.
I am interested in extending my stay in EU as I have had a sailing boat based there since 2004. Prior to Brexit I had freedom of movement on my UK passport but now find my AU passport is more useful.
I understand that there is a “declaration of presence” form that can ce completed and authorised by police/immigration to document your presence in a bilateral country officially for the purposes of using a bilateral extension. I’ll try to find links to this.
Hi Stuart, there is a Declaration for Italy, which has a bilateral visa waiver with Australia. I wrote up the process in a post here
I can find no mention of a Spain-Australia Bilateral Visa Agreement in existence now. The Australian Treaties Database had it rescinded several years ago. Has it been reactivated.
No Grant, it has not been reactivated. But Smart Traveller still list it.
Does that mean, as an Australian, I could spend up to 90 days in Germany, then immediately afterwards, 90 days in Italy?
A qualified yes. You could use 90 Schengen waiver days and, on day 90, enter Italy under the Bilateral visa waiver arrangement. But please read the relevant posts regarding possible issues, so you are forewarned and forearmed.
Yep, done that!