While preparing for the next season in the Mediterranean and trying to understand how to better deal with the Schengen Dance of 90 days over a rolling period of 180, we decided to investigate the bilateral visa waiver agreements that Australia still has with some of the European countries, and although I think we will still be playing our Schengen Dance it is good to know that we have a bailout option in case of need to stop for a more prolonged period than planned in the EU.
Our first stop in this research was the Australian Government Traveller Bulletin available through their website where we found an official update dated 12 of July 2018 with reference to the countries that still have these agreements.
With that list of countries in hand, the next step was to contact their embassies in Canberra to get confirmation if these agreements are still being honoured and the details of their applications.
The answers were, to say the least, interesting and the reason for our decision to not rely on these agreements for our travel plans, since they don’t match with the information provided by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs Bulletin, creating a risk we are not prepared to take unless in a case of extreme need.
Some of the embassies of the listed countries stated that those agreements have been ceased when the Schengen Agreement regulations entered in force while others confirmed they are still being honoured but that the traveller needs to be able to make proof of entry within certain periods to be able to spend the extra allowed days, with the lack of passport control points in between Schengen countries this becomes extremely difficult unless entering via an international airport coming from a non-Schengen country. There was also the case of some embassies replying to us the agreements were not being honoured but to other people replying they are still in place.
Nonetheless, having this information in hands can be useful, although as we mentioned before we will not rely on it due to the uncertainty of procedures.
ANYONE that wishes to use this information to plan their travels within Schengen space is at their own risk and should seek further confirmation from the embassy of the relevant countries and their border police for further details on these agreements, we are just sharing some of our findings and will not accept any responsibilities for the information stated in this post and related posts. This information was received by email from the listed countries embassies in Canberra when queried about the agreements, their replies are copied to post of each listed country on the lists below, for reference only.
Unfortunately the majority of the Schengen countries that still honoured the bilateral visa waiver agreements with Australia are in northern Europe and not so helpful when sailing in the Mediterranean Sea, but still worth knowing in case of need or in case of sailing on the northern seas.
Canberra embassies that confirmed the bilateral agreements are still being honoured.
Canberra embassies that confirmed the bilateral agreements have ceased with Schengen regulations.
Italy
Spain
***ANYONE that wishes to use this information to plan their travels within Schengen space is at their own risk and should seek further confirmation from the embassy of the relevant countries and their border police for further details on these agreements, we are just sharing some of our findings and will not accept any responsibilities for the information stated in this post and related posts. This information was received by email from the listed countries embassies in Canberra when queried about the agreements, their replies are copied to post of each listed country on the lists above, for reference only.
*** If you have experience using the different Australia Visa waiver bilateral agreements in Schengen space give us a shout and help us improve this post contents so that other travellers may more easily plan their journeys.