EU boat with some USA crew transiting Greece to Italy

P

philip17

Active Member
Joined
27 May 2003
Messages
42
Location
Ayios Nikolaos Crete
Visit site
I will soon be making a passage from Greece to Gibraltar and would like to break up the journey and visit the Aeolian Islands (Stromboli in paricular) en route. As an British flagged EU yacht with a EU owner/skipper transiting from one EU country to another it would appear that I am not required to clear into Italy. However two of the crew are from USA. They both arrived by air through Europe and have Schengen entry stamps in their passports. If they do not get stamped out of Greece they will not have overstayed their 90 days when they depart from Gibraltar/Spain (even though it will take us 3 weeks to get there)
The question is: do I have to clear them in and then out of Italy in order to visit the Aeolian Islands because if they left by air or ferry from Greece to Italy then they would not be stamped out of Greece and then stamped in again in Italy (I will just take a little more time to make the passage across the Ionian)
I would be grateful if anyone has any experience of this conundrum.
Thanks
 
You may find this page helpful. http://www.noonsite.com/General/EuropeanUnion

N.B. It has been noted by cruisers that there is considerable incosistancy in how these rules are interpreted.

Esp. this section

Nationals of New Zealand are permitted to spend up to 90 days in EACH in several of the Schengen Area countries due to prior bilateral agreements.
These countries are:- Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark (including Greenland), Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
See New Zealand Travel Advice

This may well apply to the nationals of other countries, such as Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, South Korea and the USA, but Noonsite has not yet been able to get confirmation of this arrangement.
Click to expand...
 
Speaking now about non-EU residents.

Schengen, as far as people/immigration is concerned, is one country. Traveling from one country to the next, if both are Schengen, does not require people to "book in" and "book out".

However, if you choose to book out, and have a Schengen exit stamp in your passport which matches an entry stamp, you are deemed to have left Schengen. In which case, if arriving in a Schengen port, those who have left must now re-enter.

If they attempt to leave Schengen by an "approved means of transport" their passports will be checked to confirm they have an un-cancelled entry stamp. If they don't, the individual risks a fine, and the possibility they are not allowed re-entry for a period of time.

It's a moot point whether going more than 12nm from a Schengen coast is or isn't leaving Schengen. Thus hopping from one Greek island to another . . . or from Greece to Italy, if you don't tell immigration you're leaving Greece, means you're still in Schengen - even though you're all at sea. Difference between legality and bureaucracy.

More fun stuff on this subject at http://jimbsail.info/going-foreign/european-organisations and its child pages.
 
Last edited:
As Schengan is about freedom of movement you should have no problem travelling between countries . What they have to be careful about is ensuring that when they leave the Schengen area that they have not spent more than 90 days of the 180 day period of the visa in Schengen countries.
 
As Schengan is about freedom of movement you should have no problem travelling between countries . What they have to be careful about is ensuring that when they leave the Schengen area that they have not spent more than 90 days of the 180 day period of the visa in Schengen countries.
Click to expand...

See my earlier post. Citizens of some countries can/may/should be able to spend 90 days in each of some Schengan countries.
 
See my earlier post. Citizens of some countries can/may/should be able to spend 90 days in each of some Schengan countries.
Click to expand...

The countries quoted are signatories to the Schengen Agreement which allows free flow between each others countries and they along with Brits and Irish who have rights of access to the countries mentioned under EU rules do not need a visa.People from the USA need a 90/180 Schengen visa and everybody staying beyond 90 days needs residency ; however most eg Greece do not enforce this.

As these crewmen have visas and on leaving Italy will have spent less than 90 days in Schengen countries they should be OK . I suppose the questions are does Gibralter class as part of the UK , do Americans need separate visas for Gib and would they have to clear their Schengen visa at that the last Schengen country visited ie Italy
 
OK I may have may misunderstood this.

Case I With a Schengen visa you can spend 90 days out of 180 with the 90 days adding up REGARDLESS of which Schengen country you are in.

Case 2 People from certain countries including the USA can spend 90 days out of 180 in a single country then if they move to another Schengen country the clock restarts from zero.

I know of Kiwi couple who spent a couple of years in the med using this, at least that is what they said.
 
Case 1 is correct for most.When your 90 days are up you must leave the Schengen area until 180 days have passed.Even if you have not spent 90 days in Schengen countries you must leave on day 180, it is a 180 day visa. Countries are tightening up on applying the regulations .The question always is do you want to take the risk.
 
Last edited:
Case 2 is correct for New Zealand nationals. I don't know which other nationalities it applies to. Ask your own embassy.

Some non-European nationalities have rights of residence in individual Schengen countries. People will have to ask of their own embassy if that applies, and also what steps (if any) are needed before entry. Technically, this right of residence only applies to the specific country, and the 90/180 rule applies when visiting the rest of Schengen. However, there are no means of policing this type of exception within Schengen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top