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A friend and I (Australians) are planning on visiting Europe in August next year. We wish to tour West and Central Europe for 4-5 weeks (on a normal Schengen visa) before entering Germany and applying for a 12 month Working Holiday visa (http://www.australien.diplo.de/Vertretung/australien/en/Visa/Working-Holiday.html)

My question is, am I allowed to travel outside Germany again (to Schengen countries) while holding the GWH visa? If I travel 4 weeks before getting the GWH visa, meaning I will have 8 weeks remaining on the Schengen visa, can I visit surrounding countries on weekends?

Sorry if this has been asked before, I was just having trouble finding an answer. Thanks in advance!

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  • Given there are no borders for many of the surrounding countries, nobody is going to be stopping you if you wanted to. However, this is not an official answer - although I suspect it'll be fine.
    – Mark Mayo
    Dec 27, 2014 at 4:33
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    To anyone who reads this in 2017, with the refugee situation, there are regular border controls again, e.g. at the Austrian-German border. You still will most likely be waved through in a passenger car with German plates, though.
    – helm
    Mar 22, 2017 at 12:53

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Since the WH visa is a category "D" (=national) visa, the following applies:

Third-country nationals with a national residence permit issued by a Schengen country may, for the duration of its validity, travel for up to 90 days per 180-day period to any other Schengen country. This also applies to holders of a national visa (category “D” visa) issued by a Schengen country.

Source: http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/EinreiseUndAufenthalt/Schengen.html

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