mgilmour

Hi all, after trawling the forums I can't find the answer to this situation so was hoping someone could point us in the right direction.

I hold an AUS passport and my wife holds both a UK and an AUS passport. We plan to take our kids (AUS passports) travelling in Europe next year for 10 months. We wont be working (apart from emails etc related to AUS business) for that period and plan to spend say 4 months in France (in 3 or 4 different locations), 1 month Italy, 1 month Spain and the balance in other EU countries.

Can we just turn up or are we facing a red tape nightmare?

(Sorry I know it is a stretch to call us British Expats but was hoping someone would help us out )

Thanks in advance,
Matt

Azarel

Hi Matt,

Here's some EU rules stuff from their site:

http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/citiz...=0#survey-form

Basically you should be ok. The only thing is that you might have to apply for a visa for the first country you go to (one in the Schengen zone is best) and then that allows you and the kids into the other Schengen countries too with no extra visa. You should be able to get the visa quickly as the partner of an EU citizen and they are supposed to have simplified the procedure.

The only problem you might have is with France. Technically, an EU citizen (and family) can stay up to THREE months in another EU country without having to register as a resident. It's not too tricky to do, and it's a right, so you can't be refused, and non-EU spouses and kids get the right to reside there too, it's just that you might not want the bother just to stay the extra month. You can probably get away with it, or maybe just spend your time in Spain in between stays in France and break it into two blocks of 2 months or something.

All the best, sounds like a great trip!

mgilmour

Azarel

Thank you very much .. I checked and Australian passport holders do not need a VISA for Schengen countries. We were already planning to break up the France stay into 2 blocks so that works perfectly. So I think we can just turn up and go for it ...

Thanks again
Matt

Azarel

Hi Matt,

You're welcome. Hope you have a great trip!

libra90210

Do not get confused. Australian passport holders do not need a VISA for Schengen countries, but the catch is that you must not spend more than 3 months in any 180 days in Europe. If you intend to spend more time in Europe, you will need the so called Schengen visa. And, there are two things. If you wanted to stay in the UK only, then you would be able to get by with so called EEA Family permit based on your wife's UK citizenship (see here EEA family permit). That is probably what Azarel meant by "register as a citizen". This would be a document that would allow you and your kids to stay as long as you like in the UK but not in France. If you want to stay for a long time (in total longer than 3 months) in other European countries (France), you will need visa (see Schengen visa).