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I am an Australian interested in travelling to Europe for over 6 months.

I am eligible to get a working holiday visa for France, which will allow me to stay and work in France for up to a year. However, in this time I would like to travel the rest of Europe too. As an Australian I can spend 90 days in every 180 days without a visa in the Schengen countries.

Will being in France with the visa count towards the 90 days?

Assuming it doesn't, how will the authorities know how long I've been in the Schengen countries apart from France? I'll be flying to and from France.

Relaxed
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EntertainMe
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    Re: How will they know? The regulation is not entirely clear on what counts or not. In practice they probably won't care and just disregard the period covered by your work-holiday visa but if for some reason the issue of where you were at which time comes up, it might be up to you to prove it, by any means (credit card statements, rental contract, work contract, even shopping receipts, i.e. anything documenting an activity in France). – Relaxed Mar 30 '15 at 09:19
  • @Relaxed, thanks for your answer.

    Tor-EinarJarnbjo, the only thing that might be different is I'm talking about going to other countries during the period of the work visa, not after it. But I guess the result is probably the same (ie that it won't count towards the 90 days).

    Thanks

     – EntertainMe Mar 30 '15 at 09:54
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    @EntertainMe: Time spent in a Schengen country other than France while your long-term visa for France is valid will count towards the 90/180 day rule. As Relaxed says, the authorities won't have any systematic way of knowing that you were outside France, but if you go by the rules those days will count. – hmakholm left over Monica Mar 30 '15 at 13:51

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