Hi!

Erstmal muss ich entschuldigen das ich auf Englisch schreiben; mein Deutsch ist leider noch nicht gut genug, so eine komplizierte Frage zu stellen.

I’m currently trying to find some clarification around how the Bilateral Agreement between Australia & Germany works, in particular as to how it works together with the more recent Schengen agreements - I’ve asked the consulate for clarity on this without much luck.

In essence, my understanding of the Bilateral Agreement is that an Australian can, following their stay in Schengen for up to 90 days, stay in Germany for an -additional- period of up to 90 days - first via leaving the Schengen zone, and then re-entering Germany. This agreement was confirmed by the consulate and is pretty clear on a few official sites.

However, what I’ve not been able to get clarified is whether any additional stay under the Bilateral Agreement would then count against the 180 day period of the Schengen Agreement.

I.e:
* I arrive in Schengen Jan 1, and stay until March 31. Normally in this scenario, I would then need to leave Schengen for 90 days (until June 29) before being able to come back in, to complete the 180 day period.
* I then fly out of Schengen for approx a few days, then return to Germany under the Bilateral Agreement, and stay for another approx. 90 days (let’s say until July 1).

In this scenario, am I then free to leave Schengen and re-enter again under the Schengen Agreement, or would my additional stay under the Bilateral Agreement count as ‘time in the zone’, and therefore mean I’d actually need to leave for a further 90 days before returning, if I want to ‘travel freely’ through Schengen?

The consulate’s only advice was that the two agreements ‘don’t interfere’ with each other, and that it’d be effectively up to the interpretation of any immigration officer I run into.

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks again.

T.P.2013 schrieb am 14.03.2023 um 03:05:48:


Thanks for the quick reply, appreciated!

I’m fairly comfortable with how the Bilateral Agreement itself works in so far as only being applicable for Germany (there are other agreements with other countries, of course, but those are separate!), but my question is actually about what happens ‘after’ (not during) the second stay - that is, does the Schengen clock reset as a result of another 90 days having elapsed (from the second stay in Germany), or is this second stay counted as a stay under the 90/180 rule?