HELP!! Visa
 

My daughter is in France and has been traveling throughout Europe (Berlin,Prague,Croatia,Greece and now France) for almost 3 months. She JUST discovered that even if you are just touring you need to have a long term visa if you stay in the Schengen(?) countries for longer than 90 Days! Is there a way she can obtain one there so she can continue her travels for another couple of months? What are the implications of all of this? Does she have to immediately return to the US? Does anyone have any idea about this?

&quot;<i>She JUST discovered that even if you are just touring you need to have a long term visa if you stay in the Schengen(?) countries for longer than 90 Days!</i>&quot;

That really isn't a secret. Her main legal option is to leave Schengen. For instance, she could go to the UK for the rest of her trip. She would not be allowed back into Schengen until 180 days after the date of her first entry. (she is allowed 90 days w/i a 180 day period)

A 'google' of the words &quot;Schengen visa&quot; brings up a number of websites that outline the rules.

I thought the 90-day stay was very common information I'm surprised your daughter or you both had not heard of this.

The &quot;implications&quot; are she must leave the Schengen countries.

Switzerland is another option, as it is a non-Schengen country, where she could spend some time to extend her trip.

US Dept of State may be able to address this better than Fodor's authorities....

I doubt there's a way she can obtain one at this point - the whole idea is that you obtain it before you leave.

She needs to come home, go to a non-Schengen country, or face what might be some fairly dire consequences.

&quot;US Dept of State may be able to address this better than Fodor's authorities....&quot;

And exactly what's it got to do with them? Last time I checked, the European countries involved were perfectly capable of setting their own immigration and visa rules.

And she does need to understand - if she does go to the UK or Switzerland, she won't be able to legally enter any Schengen country -- except to transit through an airport connection staying airside.

Where is she flying home from?

Does she had a ticket home booked at some future date?

Interesting. I never knew all this. Does she need a visa at all if she's only staying for 2 or 3 weeks?

We only needed our passports to tour a couple weeks when we went a couple years ago....maybe we were illegal??

No, US citizens don't need a visa for a couple weeks in Europe. You can stay up to 3 months in the various Schengen countires going in on only your passport as a tourist (can't work).

It's staying longer than the 90-days (like this question) that you need to have prearranged and specialized paperwork to be able to legally stay longer than the initial 90-days granted.

Again, I am sorry for this person's situation, but this is not exactly a secret.

Timlin, on your passport alone, you have 90 days to get in, do your thing and get out. That's three months. If you wish to stay within those countries longer than 90 days (at one time) you need a visa.

You were only there a couple of weeks, so you were legal :)

I'm very familiar with the Schengen agreement and the 90 day visitation, but have a quick question for the experts: if she goes to non-Schengen countries, for example back into Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, etc. would she be able to extend her trip? If she flys from one of those countries, or Switzerland, but lays over in a Schengen country on her flight back home, will she then run into problems? Just curious and this info may help out the OP.

Tracy

tcreath: Do you mean a layover or a connection? After her 90 days, she can connect through a Schengen airport (in other words, not &quot;entering&quot; the country). But she can't &quot;lay over&quot; and leave the airport to travel around.

Meant to clarify - leaving Schengen doesn't &quot;re-start the clock&quot; to get an additional 90 days.

Janis, thank you for the clarification. I went a connection...sorry for the confusion!

Tracy

Thank you for all of your replys. Unfortunately this was not common knowledge to my daughter or me! Live and learn. She actually has a ticket home from Paris on Oct. 30 but will need to change that to Oct. 6th! I was hoping there was a way she could go to a consulate and extend this there. Thank you all again.

As janisj wrote, &quot;leaving Schengen doesn't &quot;re-start the clock&quot; to get an additional 90 days.&quot;

But if your daughter left Schengen before the 90 days was up, then she could return to France for her flight home on Oct 30th (as long as she didn't exceed 90 days in total). For example, if her 90 days expires on Oct 6th, she could go to the UK at the beginning of October, then return to Paris a few days before the flight.

&lt;&lt;&lt; Her main legal option is to leave Schengen &gt;&gt;&gt;

Her ONLY legal option...

And there isn't such a thing as a long term Schengen visa

hey I like that idea! If she has the time &amp; money, leave Paris right now, go to Switzerland or up to London and stay for a few weeks, and return by train in time for her flight home. That would be very easy to do.

Doesn't that solve the problem? Knowing that just staying in Paris is not an option.