How to (legally) spend more than 90 days in Europe without a visa

How can I stay in the Schengen area longer than 90 days?

It’s a question I get often, and there are a couple of ways to prolong your European journey.

Australian passport holders must leave Europe’s Schengen area, which covers most of the Continent, after a stay of 90 days. Returning to the area is only possible after another 90 days.

If you want to return to the Schengen area, you could spend that time in a non-Schengen country. In Europe those countries are the UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Greenland and the Faroe Islands, a self-governing region of Denmark, are also outside the Schengen area.

Munich Airport, Germany. Get your timing right and you can spend 90 days in Germany without it eating into your Schengen Area limit.Credit: iStock

There is another way. In the 1950s Australia signed bilateral visa waiver agreements with several European countries. Those agreements have allowed Australian passport holders to remain in those countries outside the 90 days allowed under the Schengen area rules. Most of those countries have since rescinded those agreements but some still exist.

Finding out which agreements are still in force is difficult, but Germany spells it out succinctly. According to the Missions of the Federal Republic of Germany in Australia, “the German-Australian Agreement on the Exemption of Visa Requirements, dated 22.12.1952, allows Australian citizens to travel to Germany and to stay in Germany for up to 90 days without having to apply for a visa.”

In effect, what you could do is spend up to 90 days travelling in the Schengen area and then fly to a non-Schengen state, for example the UK. According to the German Mission, you need stamps in your passport to prove you have left the area, and that requires departure from an airport. From the UK you could then fly to Germany and stay for up to 90 days.

It’s important to exhaust the 90 days you are allowed to spend in the Schengen area before entering Germany. If you were to enter Germany from another Schengen country before your initial 90 days was up, the time spent in Germany would be deducted from the time you are allowed to spend in the Schengen area.

If you want to visit other Schengen States under similar bilateral agreements you need to check with the relevant diplomatic mission in Australia to find out whether such agreements are still in force.