US Citizen Bilateral Visa Waiver experience in Italy, France or Spain?

Hi Ben,

These three countries have bilateral visa waivers with the US as documented here:

Which Countries Have Bilateral Visa Waivers?

The actual treaties are in the Resources section.  Also in the Resources section is the much more recent list used to confirm the rules to be coded into the new ETIAS system.  This list has confirmations from all three countries that they seek for their bilateral visa waiver treaties with the US to be included in ETIAS.  But note that I have only found independent documentary confirmation by the Government of one of the three countries you listed – Spain – in their publication Guia di Tratados Bilaterales con Estrados.   Also note that France and Spain have at various times caveated their agreements with the sneaky proviso that the additional bilateral days are deemed to start upon crossing the external borders of the Schengen zone.

I did a survey seeking responses from Aussie, NZ, Canadian and US citizens regarding their experience using the visa waivers here: https://euronomad90.survey.fm/bilateral-visa-waivers.

31 responses were received so it has limited statistical validity.  I am guessing that few people ever try for fear of failure.  However, 20+ Aussies and Kiwis have successfully used the visa waiver – primarily in Italy, usually with some minor resistance.  No one has ever been fined or arrested.  I will do a post on the results when I get the chance but in brief, only 4 US citizens responded, saying they had not tried.  So one could assume not a single US citizen across 4 large facebook groups has ever used a bilateral visa waiver.  BTW you do not get issued anything.  The waiver is just like a Schengen visa waiver afforded citizens of selected countries.