Travelling with an Austrian or German Residence Permit, Red-White-Red Card, Blue Card EU or Visa automatically entitles the holder to travel to the other Schengen countries as well.
- Your Permit/Visa is longer valid than your trip will last
- You applied for prolongation but want to travel earlier?
1. Passports usually are only checked at the first point of entry into the Schengen zone – not when travelling within the Schengen area. So in case of a trip from New York to Vienna with a stopover
in Paris, the residence permit or visa will only be checked in Paris. Inside the Schengen area there are no regular border checks. But please, be aware that of course there can be random police inspections at airports and train stations. All nationals who need a visa either for entering Austria or Germany, always have to have their passports as well as the residence permit or visa with them when travelling.
An Austrian or a German residence permit or visa entitles the holder only to travel to other Schengen countries. But: the Schengen area and the European Union are not identical!
There are some EU-countries – Great Britain, Ireland, Rumania & Bulgaria – that are members of the European Union, but are not Schengen countries. A visa will most likely still be needed for entering these countries.
On the other hand, there are several countries that are not a member of the European Union – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway & Switzerland – but are still part of the Schengen zone. Travelling to these countries with the Austrian residence permit or visa will not be a problem.
Generelly an Austrian or German residence permit or visa at the moment entitles you to travel to the following countries for up to 90 days within half a year:
Belgium, Denmark, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland.
Rumania, Bulgaria, Croatia & Cyprus are planning to join the Schengen zone in the future.
2. You applied for prolongation of a German/Austrian residence permit/Blue Card EU or Red-White-Red card but did not get it yet?
As soon as you have submitted your application for Visa/Permit prolongation to the local authority and as soon as it has been accepted, you will get a paper that shows a registration/file number and says: Application accepted for process! From this moment your application has been registered to a general data base. At the same time any border control and police authority has access to this information: your application is in process. This means that you are still allowed to travel with your passport and permit. Even if your permit shows an expiration date within your travel period. By submitting the application for prolongation that expiration date has become prolonged as well. Until the authority makes her decision on your application.
Find more details about permits and visas in Austria or Germany here:
Ministry of Internal Affairs Austria: http://www.bmi.gv.at/cms/BMI_Fremdenpolizei/visumspflichten/start.aspx
Ministry of Internal Affairs Germany: http://www.bmi.bund.de/EN/Topics/Migration-Integration/Immigration/immigration_node.html
Happy travels and a wonderful summer from our immigration department!