Zoe

Is it true that once my 90 days is up as a tourist that I will have to return to my home country, get a stamp in my passport and then return back to Italy? Or, is it possible to exit the EU to Switzerland or something like that? I would like to tour around the EU for six months.

Doug

This truly depends upon what your home country is.<BR>It seems like a good idea to contact the consulates of the countries that you wish to visit and find out the answer from them.<BR>Just off the top of my head though, you should have very little problem solving this situation as almost all countries want tourists to visit.

no sure

I'm not sure what you are asking, and agree with Doug that the answer to the question would depend on your home country.<BR><BR>As a US citizen I have spent over 4 month travelling in various European countries, some outside the EU, with no problem. So if you are US, worst you'd have to do is go to Switzerland, tho don't even think that is necessary. However, best you talk to the consulate for an actual answer instead of speculations such as mine!

Cristina

If you are an American citizen, you may travel as a tourist for 90 out of 180 days legally. The old trick of going to Switzerland for dinner is no longer leagal. You would need to stay out of the EU for 90 days before coming back. Now granted not many people check these things but you never know. Your best bet is to contact the country that you will be arriving in firsts consulate and apply for a Schengan visa. This woudl allow you the mobility and the time you would llike.

Patrick

Technically you are not allowed to stay in Europe over 90 days, and I suppose that the &quot;trick&quot; of leaving to go to a non Euro country overnight no longer is accepted as an alternative. But I have traveled to Europe several summers staying 5 months at a time. I had checked with every source I could find for a definitive answer and was generally told &quot;not to worry about it&quot;. It is especially amusing when I've re-entered the US at passport control and either had the attendant see how long I was gone or asked the question. The invariable answer I get from them (the people controlling such things?) is, &quot;wow, you've been gone a long time&quot;, or &quot;you must have had a great time, welcome back&quot;. <BR><BR>I agree with the above: don't worry about it.

Zoe

I am a US citizen, to answer the above question. I just contacted the Italian consulate here and they told me that I would not only have to leave after 90 days, but that I would have to stay in my home country for 90 more days before travelling back to Italy. Does anyone know of any other alternatives? Or, should I just do as the previous person said and not worry about it. What are the consequences of not leaving after 90 days? Anyone know? Or does anyone know of anyone that this happened to?

Zeena

If I travel to France, Greece or Italy how would they know how long I stayed there by looking at my passport? I mentioned these contries only because I traveled there and never nobody stamped my passport. They also do not look at any computers when we go through Immigration so how do they know?<BR>

Killian

A few things -<BR><BR>The 90/180 days rule applies not to the EU, but to the Schengen Area. This includes all EU countries EXCEPT UK and Ireland, PLUS Norway and Iceland, and soon Switzerland. The rule is really that you have to stay OUT of Schengen for as long as you've been in before re-entering, and the max you can stay at once is 90 days (hence you have to stay out another 90 before re-entering - so you're legal for 90 out of 180 days).<BR><BR>Ireland and the UK are not part of Schengen, and normally allow US, Canadian, Aus etc. citizens to stay for up to 6 months in each country without a visa - check with your local UK or Irish consulate or embassy for specific details for your nationality. To answer your question, Zoe, you don't have to go back to your home country after 90 days, you just have to be out of the Schengen Area - UK or Ireland or any non-Schengen country (like Czech Rep, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Poland, etc.) is fine. <BR><BR>Two ways to stay longer than 90 days in Schengen are (1) apply up front for a Schengen visa for whatever peiod of time you need. You can do this via the embassy/consulate of any Schengen country. You'll be asked the reason for your stay, and asked to prove you have funds to support yourself without working during this time period. The other option is to apply for an extention in any Schengen country - this is normal when you have entered the Area expecting to stay less than 90 days and your plans have changed or you are unavidably detained. Neither of these options is difficult and you will likely be granted the visa without fuss if you have a plausible story and sufficient funds.<BR><BR>If you are caught overstaying your time limit in the Schengen Zone, one of two things MAY happen. If you're over your time limit and it's discovered when you're leaving the area anyway, nothing will happen except that a note will be made of your violation. This probably won't prevent you from entering Schengen again later on in your life on holiday, but it WILL prevent you from getting a long-term visa, student visa or work permit of any kind for any Schengen or EU country. If you are stopped or arrested for any reason when NOT leaving the country (e.g., you're suspected of committing a crime, you're a victim of or witness to a crime, you're suspected of working illegally, etc.), AND it turns out you've overstayed, you'll be deported and, if they do they paperwork correctly, prevented from entering the EU/Schengen for any reason for the next 10 years. <BR><BR>Finally - I've heard a lot of people comment that there's nothing to worry about for a citizen of a western country overstaying in the Schengen area because passports are not always stamped at the border. This is a misconception. Machine-readable passports are often not stamped when entering/levains Schengen, but they are almost always scanned or the details otherwise recorded. The most frequent scenario is that you leave Schengen, belatedly, thinking you've gotten away with overstaying because your passport wasn't stamped, and later on you apply for, say, a work permit in another Schengen (or non-S EU) country and are summarily turned down. You can appeal, saying (e.g., ) - I left Schngen on a ferry from Spain to Morocco and no one scanned/recorded my passport details on the way out, and then I entered by ferry UK to Netherlands and no one recorded them on the way in -but the burden is on you to prove that.

Paul

Author: Paul Killian ([email protected])<BR>Date: 09/17/2002, 09:03 am<BR>Message: Okay I am going to to be Norway the end of this month, I arrive on Friday in the late afternoon into Oslo, and must be back in Oslo by 5 pm on Monday to catch a train home. The only things I know I want to do are the Norway in a Nutshell tour of the fjords and such, and I want to see the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. Besides that I would like suggestions on what to see on my trip, and suggestions on where to stay, what to see and do, and how long to spend on the Norway in a Nutshell trip. Any help would be appreciated.<BR>

Sam

Paul, if you want to talk about Norway, you should start a new thread rather than trying to hijack someone else's.

Zoe

Killian,<BR>Thanks so much for all the information you gave me!! This is incredibly helpful! One more question, though. I've looked on embassy websites for the &quot;Shenghen Visa&quot; and have had no luck in finding out how to apply for it. Is it only something you can apply for within the Shenghen countries, or could I apply before leaving?

Cristina

http://www.italyemb.org/Visti.htm is the Italian Embassy page on Visas. You can go back to their main page and find the consulate for your area and then look on their site. The one is San Francisco is here for example http://www.italcons-sf.org/images/schengen_visa.pdf<BR>

ellen

Zoe, I noticed a difference in the way others spelled &quot;Schengen&quot; is different from the way you searched it...without a &quot;c&quot; after the &quot;s&quot;. This would make all the difference in the world for your search...perhaps you should try to verify the correct form of the spelling before searching the web. Good luck and have a great trip. I only wish that staying too long could be my problem also.

Killian

Zoe - you can apply for the Schengen visa via any Schengen member country - normally, you'd pick the one you will either enter first or stay in the longest. For example, if you plan to stay two months each in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, and Portugal, in that order, apply to the Netherlands embassy. If you plan to stay a week in Amesterdam and then take the train to Brussels where you'll stay for a year, making a few sidetrips, apply to the Belgian embassy.<BR><BR>There really are no hard and fast rules, but applying to the country you'll enter, or which is your main destination, is the Schengen recommendation &amp; makes it easier for you.<BR><BR>Hope that helps.