Do I need a visa to work on a yacht in Europe?
Hi everyone
I'm hoping someone is able to help me out, I'm an Aussie heading to the Antibes in April to try my luck on a superyacht, and I'm not entirely sure if I need to worry about getting a Visa. I know that we as an Aussie can travel in the Schengen area for up to 90 days without a visa however do you need a visa once you're on a superyacht? Also would it be in my interest to obtain a B1/B2 visa before I leave incase I find a job on a yacht heading back to the U.S. at the end of the European Summer?
Any help will be amazing!
Thanks
Angela
You're going to need some kind of permission from someone. The best place to start is the europa.eu website, which is the official info source. There is a tremendous amount of stuff there, and it's really hard to navigate.
You're talking about entering on a visa-waiver initially, which is considered to be a "Europe-wide" permission. To extend your stay, you need specific permission from a particular country, and they expect you to stay mostly in that country, although you're allowed to "visit" other parts of Europe. Every country makes it's own rules about this, and generally speaking they don't like to do it if you're already there as a tourist. They prefer you to apply from overseas before you enter the country, but there may be exceptions.
As a crew-member on a commercial vessel, coming in and out of various ports and clearing customs each time, and only staying a few days each time, you would be fine. But a superyacht remaining within the Schengen zone is different, because you can walk on/off the boat any time without any port clearance. Once in the Schengen zone, the boat is no different from a house, car, or rubber dinghy tied to the dock. So you need to be already there legally.
Also, you are talking about taking up a job in Europe. This would be illegal under the terms of your initial 90-day visa-waiver, which is purely for tourism and specifically excludes you even looking for work.
HOWEVER, if you look at the Wikipedia page on Working Holiday Visa, and see that Australians can apply for WHVs for Italy, France, Greece, etc. with some restrictions.
If you had, for instance, a French WHV, you could legally stay in France for one year and travel to other countries for up to 90 days. As there are no border controls with other Schengen countries, nobody would know how long you were in any given location. And you would be able to work legally for an employer in France.
So if you found a French-operated boat that offered you a job under French law, paying French taxes, that would be legal in France and nobody would worry if your boat then travelled to other countries. But you couldn't take a job on an Italian boat in France, unless they were able and willing to do all the paperwork to employ you under French law. You also couldn't go to Italy and find a job on a boat there unless you also had an Italian WHV.
Working for cash only, without paying taxes and social security, would also be illegal. And you would be uninsured.
Also, check carefully about the rules and licenses required for various activities. They may be different from what you're used to, and your quals may not be accepted or need validation. I read a story a while ago about a guy who was driving a RIB tender on which a passenger was injured, he ended up in jail because he didn't have the right license. (I don't remember where it was, but Europeans love their paperwork!)
Good luck with it and for positions view our featured sailing jobs.