Euro Visa extension
- Thread starter Sahula
- Start date
Ubergeekian
New member
How good are you foreigners at typing "schengen visa extension" into Google?
Twister_Ken
Active member
We have NZ friends who have no difficulty getting a six-month visa, every N. Hemisphere summer, so it can't be hard.
Shengen gives you 90 days out of 180. You can apply for another visa when the 180 days are up.
I suggest you contact an embassy or consulate of a member country to find out exactly what the rules are that govern Shengen.
John_Lana
New member
Visas
Legally you can stay just 90 days and then you have to leave for 90 days. The rules changed last April and are being enforced in many places.
Two possible solutions:
Spend 90 days in Europe and then go to Turkey for 90 days. Many folk used to go to Tunisia for their 90 days but I guess that is out for the moment.
Other possibility is to get Seaman's Books, either from your own country or from your flag state. When you are in an area for more than a few days, you can go to Immigration and ask that your visa is suspended and stay there on a shore pass. The shore pass limits you legally to within 10 kms of the boat. When you want to leave or go exploring, turn in the shore pass and start the clock ticking on the visa again. I do this in Italy with my Filipino crew and it lets them work the whole season on a 90 day visa.
If you get caught overstaying the visa then normally you get banned for 3 to 5 years from entering Europe, so they are taking it pretty seriously now......
John
Legally you can stay just 90 days and then you have to leave for 90 days. The rules changed last April and are being enforced in many places.
Two possible solutions:
Spend 90 days in Europe and then go to Turkey for 90 days. Many folk used to go to Tunisia for their 90 days but I guess that is out for the moment.
Other possibility is to get Seaman's Books, either from your own country or from your flag state. When you are in an area for more than a few days, you can go to Immigration and ask that your visa is suspended and stay there on a shore pass. The shore pass limits you legally to within 10 kms of the boat. When you want to leave or go exploring, turn in the shore pass and start the clock ticking on the visa again. I do this in Italy with my Filipino crew and it lets them work the whole season on a 90 day visa.
If you get caught overstaying the visa then normally you get banned for 3 to 5 years from entering Europe, so they are taking it pretty seriously now......
John
Unless I'm mistaken, if your crew are working then they need a residence permit for the country concerned.
As I said, best to contact the consulate or embassy of one of the countres concerned. That way you know precisely what the law is.
maxi77
Active member
The other consideration is VAT and RCD requirements for longer stays, we met a US yachtie who had to leave because his boat was only allowed in the EU for 90 days. He had sailed direct from Norway, non EU, to Portugal and then left for Morroco and then the Carribean.
Twister_Ken
Active member
As they are currently in Christchurch (they survived) they have other things on their mind. I do know they applied via their local French consulate.
bbg
Active member
- Joined
- 2 May 2005
- Messages
- 7,225
So an American, Canadian, or antipodean (for example) can't take a gap year and "back pack around Europe" anymore?
srm
Well-known member
It does not look like it.
The only advice the Consulate of the Netherlands in Toronto gave my Canadian partner yesterday was to enter using the 90 day allowance then apply for an extension to the authority where she was staying. He then agreed it was not realistic for a cruising couple who could be in another country the following week. In the end he gave us the phone number for the Immigration office in the Netherlands.
John_Lana
New member
Visas
Yes, you are mistaken. With a Seaman's book they can work on a foreign flag vessel within the EU, without a work permit or residence permit, provided they stick to the 90 days of the visa running and the rest of the time on a shore pass.
John
Yes, you are mistaken. With a Seaman's book they can work on a foreign flag vessel within the EU, without a work permit or residence permit, provided they stick to the 90 days of the visa running and the rest of the time on a shore pass.
John
Sounds very interesting, do you have any info on whether this is available to full time cruisers and how easy it is to obtain?
jimbaerselman
New member
A reasonable source of information about Schengen visas is http://www.mediavisa.net/schengen-area.php . This commercial site is geared to giving quick answers to visa questions for a fee. The free information available on the site's public pages looks good. The advice below is given with the help of the Cruising Association (www.cruising.org.uk) , whose (sorry!) member only pages broadly cover the subject.
CA overseas members often ask questions about this matter. The information below is incomplete; people keep finding new wheezes to get around the limitations.
The most important matter to bear in mind is that permission for a boat to stay within the EU for up to 18 months is not permission for the crew to stay within the EU.
Certain country nationals, NZ, Aus, Canada and many others (confusingly listed on the site as "visa exemptions") may just present themselves on entry and obtain permission to stay for 90 days out of any 180 within the Schengen zone. Other country nationals must obtain a visa beforepresenting themselves at the border.
Schengen visas can not be extended, excepting for circumstances proven to be beyond your control, as listed on this site.
The most bureaucratically simple means for "visa exempt" nationals to cruise Europe continuously is to spend 90 days or more per 180 in one or other of the grey areas on the map (UK, East Adriatic coast countries, Turkey, Levant and North Africa) as permitted by the visitor's visas available from those countries.
The most reliable, but most bureaucratic, way to spend longer periods within the Schengen zone is to obtain a residence permit within one of the Schengen countries, the one in which you expect to spend most time. This requires planning well ahead, and presenting several proofs - that you can pay your way, you have a reason for wishing to live there for a period, you have insurance and so on. These requirements vary from country to country, so you will have to approach a consulate of your chosen country to elicit the details.
Of course, if you're a diplomat, or in the military services on duty, or in the merchant marine, other exemptions may apply!
Here's the eu website, though I note one of the objectives mentioned in the doc is to establish an official Shengen website.
http://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/borders/borders_visa_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/borders/borders_visa_en.htm
John_Lana
New member
This boat is on a commercial registration; I do not know if that makes a difference. However, to get a shore pass issued you must have a Seaman's Book from either your flag state or your own country. In Italy the shore pass is very easy to get from the nearest police station, other countries may require a bit of asking around.
The Seaman's Book can also help you get special prices and baggage allowances on some airlines, so it is worth having.
John
srm
Well-known member
Have been pusuing this further and the legally qualified advice I have been given is that the Schengen agreement does not make allowance for extended travel within the region. You are limited to 90 days in 180, unless you obtain a residency permit from a Shengen country. Once resident in one country you are free to travel within the Schengen area.
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multihullsailor6
New member
Can you please clarify for me, who is a South African citizen but has an unrestricted residence permit for Germany, the statement in your above shown sentences:
I am free to travel within the Schengen area (yes, I agree) but still have to adhere to the 90 out of 180 days "normal Schengen visa" requirements?
Thanks
jimbaerselman
New member
"Third-country nationals (that's you!) holding a valid residence permit issued by a Schengen Member State are exempt from the visa requirement for entry into another Schengen State if their stay does not exceed three months within a six-month period."
That's a detail of the regular requirement which applies to all EU passports, and which a lot of people are not aware of. If you plan to spend more than 90 days continuously in an EU country which is not your normal country of residence, you are required to register with that country's authorities as soon as reasonable.
However there is no uniform system for policing or enforcing this requirement once within the outer Schengen borders, so this can viewed as a matter for personal discretion, and it is easily dealt with by crossing internal borders. You'll find the appropriate references about two scrolls down on:
http://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/borders/borders_rights_en.htm
So, the big answer for all third country passport holders, get a residence permit!
I've been following this thread with interest as it is something that potentially could thwart our plans for cruising through the Med, when we eventually set off. As a Kiwi, married to a Brit, I've been aware that it is possible for me to obtain permission to settle in the UK and then after the probationary period, I could obtain "indefinite leave to remain". What hasn't been clear, and still isn't sadly, is whether this allows us to then go off cruising through the EU.
We're also wondering if I can actually work abroad during that period too (I'm guessing not, but it would be kind of convenient to establish this now and continue working out here rather than having to go back and look for work, pay tax, etc....).
It now seems, if my reading of the document here at the below link is correct, that irrespective of whether I have obtained "residency" in the UK, I could in theory move between countries with my spouse so long as she was establishing residency in each of those countries. How we (or more specifically she) goes about this is not clear at the moment.
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:229:0035:0048:EN:PDF)
Interested in other's thoughts.
Cheers, PT.
We're also wondering if I can actually work abroad during that period too (I'm guessing not, but it would be kind of convenient to establish this now and continue working out here rather than having to go back and look for work, pay tax, etc....).
It now seems, if my reading of the document here at the below link is correct, that irrespective of whether I have obtained "residency" in the UK, I could in theory move between countries with my spouse so long as she was establishing residency in each of those countries. How we (or more specifically she) goes about this is not clear at the moment.
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:229:0035:0048:EN:PDF)
Interested in other's thoughts.
Cheers, PT.