Hi,
I'm taking a gap year travelling in Europe and am approaching the end of my 90 day tourist visa... I am currently in Italy but have been in France since January and would like to know if I need to leave the European Union or leave both the EU and the Schengen Territories in order to start a new 90 days. Originally I planned to spend a weekend in Switzerland, but now that it is part of Schengen I'm afraid that it will not change the statu of my visa. I'm very nervous about overstaying my visa, and have heard some unpleasant stories about those who have.
Please help if you can,
janan.
Reply to this Hello Janan 😊
I dont know if you have to leave Schengen to get another 90 day. Hopefully somebody who know will come along shortly. In the meantime, here is a thread which may interest you.
Overstaying Schengen visa
Mel
Reply to this Hi Janan and welcome to the Forum!
This information from an
Australian government website states that Schengen normally applies for 90 days within a six month period. Any longer and you will need to apply for a specific visa.
I'm sure that there are practical reasons for the Schengen convention, but when I travelled through Europe in 1992 I spent 8 months out of 10 within Schengen countries and the only issue with my stay was to insure that I had a French visa. Schengen really does restrict those who like the long, slow road around the continent.
Reply to this It's important to understand the difference between the Schengen area and the EU. The EU is really irrelevant to this situation and all that matters is that you leave the Schengen area in order to restore your visa status. So, in other words, you can go to EU countries outside of the Schengen area like Ireland, the UK, Norway, etc. Also, you cannot simply make a "visa run" by exiting the Schengen area and immediately returning. You must leave for 90 days before you will be eligible to enter for another 90 days. Of course another option would be to apply for some kind of extended visa.
And FYI, it's always a good idea to state what citizenship you have when posting visa questions 😊
Reply to this Hi Justin,
Thanks for your response, it is precisely what I was looking for. I have an American passport, so I know that I probably wouldn't be hassled as much as someone else, but I just wanted to get a sense of where I stand. I think that aplying for an extended visa woud be futile, as my schengen visa runs out on Saturday...=/ I think I'm just gonna wing it.
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