I know this has come up in various ways before, but here is our dilemma - we are spending 115 days in Europe,about one month of which is traveling around and 3 months are in Finland to send our 11 year old son to school (he is too young for us to get him a student visa and we are acompanying him also)
I cannot find any way besides applying for residence visas for all of us for the 25 days extra which seems excessive financially.
We have a return flight booked...has anyone else been able to solve this problem?
thanks

Normally, I would say to make sure you spend enough days out of the Schengen zone, such as the British Isles or the Central European countries -- but since you are really going to be mostly in Finland, you should just apply for a visa long enough to cover your trip (not a 'residence' visa!). Doesn't the school have information about this?

Hi O,

You can always take the chance that if you don't tell anyone that you have overstayed your time that they won't hassle you when its time to leave.

You will have to do your traveling around first, while it is legal.

There is a good chance that US Immigration will detain you as possible enemy combatants, especially if you look like you might once have known someone who could have been a Muslim.

Good advice from K,
"just apply for a visa long enough to cover your trip (not a 'residence' visa!). Doesn't the school have information about this"?

Here's my story: My wife and I detained leaving Zurich after spending 107 days in “Schengen”. We are U.S. citizens and did not have a visa (not required). We entered Belgium, stayed in France and exited from Zurich. We were ignorant of the Schengen treaty, zone, rules, etc. We were fined 560 Swiss francs each, totaling US$1300, which we paid.
Now our case goes before a Swiss judge who (we were told) can 1) return all or part of the fine and 2) ban us from “Schengen” for some number of years. We’re worried as we visit Europe every year.
Is there any similar experience from U.S. travelers? Might they return all or part of the fine? More importantly, might they ban us from “Schengen” for some period of time?
Please spare us from comments that we should have known (we know that), in particular from "Schengen" residents or other that require a visa to enter "Schengen" and therefore know the rules.

Yes, they might ban you from Schengen for some years. And it seems unlikely they would return a fine they have already collected (which seems modest based on the Swiss economy - how much more is it than a serious traffic violation?)

I would think a lot depends on the judge and if you were able to provide any rationale for what happened (illness or something similar).

From what I've heard, it's best to avoid exiting from Switzerland or Germany if you overstay in the Schengen because they would absolutely not look the other way, never. For what it's worth, Belgium and France are rumored to be more lenient. Honestly it's not worth the risk of travel ban.

I have heard a 5 year ban is often imposed.

Don't hold your breath on a refund... after an infraction in Germany many years ago I was told I'd get back a refund if the fine was less than the amount I had already forked over... it's been close to 40 years and I'm still waiting! ;^)