The New Zealand Embassy is not responsible for providing information on entry requirements or issuing visas to New Zealanders wishing to visit, work or reside in Spain. As the Embassy cannot comment on the immigration laws of another country, we suggest consulting with the Spanish Embassy in New Zealand(external link). If you are currently in Spain and require information on applying for a visa or the right to remain in the country, the competent authority to advise you is the Oficina de Extranjería(external link). Alternatively, you may wish to consult with an immigration lawyer(external link).
Bilateral visa waiver agreement
The Embassy cannot comment on the immigration laws of another country. We can confirm, however, that New Zealand and Spain have a bilateral visa waiver agreement currently in place. A copy of this is available both in English and Spanish at the following official websites: New Zealand Treaties Online(external link) and Boletín Oficial del Estado(external link). This Agreement allows New Zealanders that meet the specified requirements to spend up to 90 days in Spain without reference to time spent in the Schengen area. However, the decision to apply this rule over the visa waiver rests solely with local border and immigration authorities. Consequently, neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade nor our New Zealand Embassies or High Commissions overseas can provide New Zealand travellers with a blanket assurance of how entry and length of stay decisions will be applied by Schengen area countries, nor can we intervene to overturn a decision.
We strongly recommend doing the following:
- Consult the advice available on our SafeTravel website(external link) which provides general information regarding travelling around Europe and within the Schengen area.
- Ensure your passport is stamped on first entry into the Schengen area. Officers at initial ports of entry may wave travellers through without stamping passports but it is important to have evidence in your passport of the date of first entry into the Schengen area for any subsequent dealings with border, immigration or other local authorities. The same applies to exiting the Schengen area for the last time.
- Retain informal evidence of time spent in each Schengen country, such as accommodation and travel receipts and tickets, ATM receipts, boarding passes etc., as the onus is on the traveller to prove length of stay in a particular country or the Schengen area as a whole.
- Should you have any further questions, we advise contacting the Spanish Embassy in Wellington.