Saturday 10 April 2010

Freedom to travel: Schengen long-stay visas

Third-country nationals legally residing in the Schengen area on the basis of a long-stay visa have been unable to travel to other member states during their stay or to transit through the territories of other (EU) member states when returning to their home country.

A new EU Regulation now extends the principle of equivalence between residence permits and short-stay visas issued by the Member States, fully implementing the Schengen acquis to long-stay visas. As a result, a long-stay visa should have the same effects as a residence permit as regards the freedom of movement of the holder in the Schengen Area.

A third-country national holding a long-stay visa issued by a Member State should therefore be allowed to travel to other Member States for three months in any six- month period, under the same conditions as the holder of a residence permit. The Regulation does not affect the rules regarding the conditions for issuing long-stay visas:



Regulation (EU) No 265/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 March 2010 amending the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement and Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 as regards movement of persons with a long-stay visa; published OJEU 31.3.2010 L 85/1.

The directly applicable Regulation 265/2010 entered into force on 5 April 2010.

The United Kingdom and Ireland do not take part in the new arrangement.




Ralf Grahn

6 comments:

  1. Sir, what about switzerland. I am a third country national with a Long Term National Visa of Italy. Is it possible to travel to Switzerland without a residence permit

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am also an expat (Brit girl moved to Oz) and I am creating a blog about the Australian visa process.I am writing articles to help others who are looking to move to Australia.If you would like to submit a story to my blog I would love to hear about your experience of the Australian visa process, especially if it can help others. I would love to hear about whether you did it yourself or if you used a Migration Agent to help you, and what problems orpit-falls (if any) you experienced.Thanks a lot and i love your blog.
    applying for australian fiance visa

    ReplyDelete
  3. Claire Lewis,

    Thank you for explaining your link, which leads to a legitimate blog, which is why I published your comment.

    (Sadly, editing comments has become an exercise in eliminating ever increasing amounts of spam.)

    Good luck with your blog!

    I have come into contact with Schengen (EU) and US visas, but I have no experience with visas to Australia, yet.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sir
    If a long stay visa is being considered equivalent to residency permit, then why is the French embassy at India making me fill out the OFII form. Isn't that for the residency permit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sir,
    If a long stay visa is being considered equivalent to a residency permit, then why is the French Embassy in India making me fill out the OFII form. Isn't it for the residency permit.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sir,
    If a long stay visa is being considered equivalent to a residency permit, then why is the French Embassy in India making me fill out the OFII form. Isn't it for the residency permit.

    ReplyDelete

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