How long can an Australian sail in Europe without a visa?

O

Oscarpop

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 Jul 2011
Messages
1,053
Location
Kent
Visit site
My girlfriend is Australian, and has permanent right to remain in the UK.

We are currently sailing Portugal, and have realised that under normal circumstances, Australians can only stay in schenken states for a total of 90 days.

Does this count for her with UK right to remain?

If so , we need to think about leaving .


Cheers
 
It's a potentially huge problem now. We are still within the 90 days, but need to be in gran canaria for the Atlantic crossing.

Another problem, is that despite telling the marina authorities in a coruña at we had an Australian onboard , no one from customs turned up to stamp her passport. So, there is no sign of a schenken visa in there.
We have asked 3 times in 3 years about immigration stamps on entering Europe. Twice in France ( where they called immigration and then said dot worry), now this year, where although I told them our last port had been Falmouth, they were uninterested.
Anyhow. This problem was finally noticed in vilamoura as we were checking out . For some reason they called an immigration officer , who was very nice and checked her passport. He asked about the lack of stamp.i replied that I had asked on arrival and they weren't bothered. He just said "lazy Spanish". However he did advise that we could get into all sorts of strife if an eagle eyed official checked.
I guess that now, there is little we can do.
Some research on the internet suggests that no one has managed to get an extension visa, which seems to exist in theory.

I'm just struggling to see how any non EU citizens sail the eu for more than 90 days.
 
My understanding is that many (all?) of the Schengen countries can issue a visitor a long stay permit which is usually valid for 12 months but is only valid for the country which issues it. My further understanding is that, provided you have the necessary 'normal' Schengen visa, you may spend 90 days visiting any Schengen country you wish. After that and provided you have a long stay permit you may move to the country which issued the permit and continue your stay there. But during this period you may not visit any other Schengen country - what happens after being there for 90 days I cannot guess and with no borders in place, I don't know how they police the rules.

See here for an Australian bargee's story about getting a long stay permit. http://www.kanumbra.com/2013/french-long-stay-visa.html

In May we bumped into a South African lady in Armentieres who had been granted a French long stay permit issued from the French embassy in Cape Town.
 
After sifting through 3 hours of EU directives, I have come across this.

https://eumovement.wordpress.com/directive-200438ec/

As far as I can see, my partner is registered as my long term partner with the UK. It is the basis of why she has indefinite leave to remain.
According to the directive above, she is afforded the same rights as I have within the EU.
Can anyone validate this, from the link above please?
We have the paperwork from the ukba confirming her residency as well as her indefinite leave permit.
Many thanks in advance, we are having a little flap while at anchor :(

Ps, many thanks EU cruiser. The link seems to suggest the same, that as the (unmarried) spouse of a UK citizen, she has the same rights as me.
 
Last edited:
EU_Cruiser said:
My understanding is that many (all?) of the Schengen countries can issue a visitor a long stay permit which is usually valid for 12 months but is only valid for the country which issues it. My further understanding is that, provided you have the necessary 'normal' Schengen visa, you may spend 90 days visiting any Schengen country you wish. After that and provided you have a long stay permit you may move to the country which issued the permit and continue your stay there. But during this period you may not visit any other Schengen country - what happens after being there for 90 days I cannot guess and with no borders in place, I don't know how they police the rules.

See here for an Australian bargee's story about getting a long stay permit. http://www.kanumbra.com/2013/french-long-stay-visa.html

In May we bumped into a South African lady in Armentieres who had been granted a French long stay permit issued from the French embassy in Cape Town.
Click to expand...

Under the Schengen rules a non EU visitor can stay in total up to 90 days in 180 days counted backwards from the day of departure from the last Schengen Country, so if you overstay thats where you will be caught. It can take a bit of working out and calculators have been devised to take out the hard work if you have multiple visits. We have the same rules here in Turkey which harmonises their rules with the Schengen Countries but has the advantage of the 90 days being applicable to only one country.
I believe that the long stay permits you refer to are in fact residency permits.
 
Oscarpop,

If your Australian partner has right to reside in UK, this should be recorded in her (Australian?) passport. If she's registered as your partner, this also gives her the right to reside in the UK - but not all EU countries recognise partners as "close relatives". So it's best to have the passport entry.

Anyone who has a right to reside in any EU country may travel freely around other EU countries. However, after more than 182 days in a year in any one country, they become tax resident there. Suddenly, your boat may become liable to local taxation rules!

Lots more detail about this at http://www.jimbsail.info/going-foreign/time-abroad

Long stay visas may be issued to some non-EU nationalities for some countries - such as France. They have to be applied for in your home country before you depart. Make sure you apply only for a visitor visa - not permission to reside. The reason for this is that people with permission to reside in the EU may not use boats which are not VAT paid.

Happy reading!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top