Tourist visas for Europe

May 18, 2005 6:27 AM

Myself and my fiance will be travelling in Europe later this year, and he needs a visa to visit pretty much anywhere. A colleague has mentioned that there is one Europe-wide (apart from Ireland and the UK) tourist visa available, which would save us the time and expense of getting six separate visas, but I can't find any info about this. Does it exist? If so, where do we apply? Or would an e.g. French visa be valid to visit Spain? Thanks.
posted by dublinemma to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

Best answer: Schengen visa.
posted by teleskiving at 6:36 AM on May 18, 2005

Response by poster: That was quick! That's perfect telesk, the searches would have worked a lot better if I knew the name of the visa. Thank you sir.
posted by dublinemma at 6:49 AM on May 18, 2005

Are you staying more than 90 days in any one country? Don't most places waive the visa requirements if you're only there for a short stay? (This is entirely from memory, and I have no idea if rules have changed).
posted by gaspode at 7:16 AM on May 18, 2005

gaspode: you're thinking of people travelling on passports from first-world countries perhaps.
posted by quiet at 7:30 AM on May 18, 2005

Also, people with prior convictions (no matter how light) are often not eligible for visa waiver (or even any visa, sometimes).

There was a recent US< ->UK situation where a British man met and married an American woman and even had kids, all on visa waiver (without stating he had prior convictions). When it came to moving to the US, he couldn't get the visa as he'd received a minor conviction for smoking weed 20 years ago.
posted by wackybrit at 4:52 PM on May 18, 2005