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I consider applying for a working and holiday visa for France.

If I understand it correctly, even though it is only in France where I can stay validly, no one checks my visa and passport even while I'm in other Schengen countries since there is no border check. So it happens when I get out of the Schengen area that I finally get the stamp on my passport.

However in this case, does my working and holiday visa expire once I exit out of the Schengen area, even though there remains a few months? Or can I enter France again until the initial expiration date of the visa?

Also if I can enter France again, is it possible to enter it from another Schengen country via a transfer flight (e.g. a flight from Beijing to Paris with Frankfurt as a transfer, operated by Luthahansa)?

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A type D visa issued by France actually authorizes you, legally, to travel to other Schengen countries during the visa's validity, provided that you do not exceed 90 days in other Schengen countries during any 180-day period. So it is not correct that you can only stay in France. It is therefore also possible for you to travel to France through Germany or any other Schengen country.

The visa is likely to be issued with validity for multiple entries ("MULT"), in which case it will not expire when you leave the Schengen area, but you must look at the actual visa sticker to be certain.

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  • I know I can travel to other Schengen countries but it is also subject to 90/180 rule. So if I stay in France from 2018-01-01 to 2018-03-31 and then go out of the Schengen once and come back on 2018-04-30, it means I already stayed 90 days in the recent 180 days, so I would get denied the entry at the Germany border, right? I feel that only France border would accept it, if it allows multi-entry...
    – Blaszard
    Oct 14, 2017 at 22:49
  • @Blaszard no. The 90/180 limit does not apply to time spent in France. The Germans will understand that you are most likely traveling through Germany on your way in and out of France. In the unlikely event that they ask about it, they'll probably accept your statement that that's what you're doing. Your really have nothing to worry about. People with D visas and residence permits travel around Europe all the time.
    – phoog
    Oct 15, 2017 at 3:27
  • I see, but then how can the immigrant officer know if you stay in France or any other places in Schengen? Since there is no border control they have no way to know if you stay in France (legally) or in Germany for more than 3 months (illegally).
    – Blaszard
    Oct 15, 2017 at 11:24
  • @Blaszard they don't know, which means they can't be sure you've violated the 90/180 rule. If you're really worried about it, you can bring some evidence of your presence in France, such as your pay records from your job, but the chance that you'll need to rely on that is vanishingly small. In practice, for people in your situation, the only way of getting in trouble for violating the rule would be to come to the attention of the police for some other reason and then to be found to be living outside of France.
    – phoog
    Oct 15, 2017 at 12:57
  • I feel that the visa allows the multi-entry, given that it is explicitly written as such in French embassy in New Zealand. For some reasons it only lists NZ, Australia, Colombia, and Canada, though I feel it holds true for applicants from other countries.
    – Blaszard
    Oct 17, 2017 at 15:29

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