Can I apply for a Schengen VISA when not in my home country?

Schengen visas are issued by the various countries, and each one has it's own rules. There is no universal rule. You should apply for a visa at the embassy of the country where you plan to spend the most time, or the one where you will enter the Schengen zone, because the people who write the rules have never heard of backpackers and don't understand that you may want to just buy a cheap last-minute flight and wander around aimlessly. Worse still, embassies in one place may have different rules than the same country's embassy in a different city.

So, for instance, the French embassy website for New Zealand specifically mentions in their FAQs that a visitor to NZ requiring a visa for France could apply for it while in NZ as a tourist.

I'm 99.99% certain you can't apply to extend your visa while in the Schengen zone, so it looks like you will have to apply for a second visa. However, your nationality makes a difference too, probably. Your profile lists you as Namibian, which probably makes you unwelcome so they won't make things easy for you. For instance, you may not be permitted to get a second Schengen visa after using the first one. They may make you wait for a year.

And of course, they won't tell you clearly what the rules are because they don't want you to play the system.

You might try to get a multi-entry visa from the beginning. It will be harder to get, but then you will be able to come and go. You will still be subject to the 90-day rule, as far as I know, but won't have to face the uncertainty of re-applying. You have to look at the websites for each country's embassy individually, to find out whether you can apply from where you are.

StoneKotze,

We're in a similar situation and posted a thread recently about it a few weeks ago (Beyond Shcengen). I've done some research and found out this much so far:

To stay within the Schengen Zone beyond 90-days there are basically three possibilities, none of them great:

1. When your 90-days are up, leave the Schengen Zone until the 180-day period has past, then return (this is what you are proposing). I've seen no requirement that you must return to your home country, only that you must not overstay your 90-days within the180-day period. Also, it looks like the penalties for overstaying your Schengen permit are fairly severe including stiff penalties and possibly cause for prohibiting you from obtaining a Schengen permit in the future.

2. Apply for a 90-day extension to your existing Schengen permit. From what I've seen this is very difficult to do and requires proof of new circumstances sufficient to justify an extension - probably not an option.

3. Establish residency in a Schengen country. That would allow up to a year in at least one Schengen country from which we could visit the others which would be within the limits of the Schengen permit. As you might expect, this is pretty involved and has some disadvantages, but appears possible. We're considering a "non-lucrative" residency permit of Spain (where we plan to spend the most time in the Schengen Zone). This is a visa allowing you to live in Spain, but not work or earn money in Spain. France and Italy have similar one-year residency visas, but they all have basically the same requirements; have your own medical insurance policy, proof of financial solvency - something like at least $40K usd in the bank and/or reliable income, criminal background check, and an address where you'll stay in the country. It appears that any income could be subject to Spanish taxes (including Social Security payments, annuities, or dividend income).

Well, let ;us know what you find out. I'm continuing to research it myself.

Bob, Sone

I have an EU passport, so the rules are different for me, but my gf is an "undesirable" from a poor country and we've been struggling with this recently so I've also done a lot of research. A few replies to Bob's points:

1 - Going out and coming back works just fine if you're on a visa-waiver. I've met Americanos who have managed to stay in Europe for years and years by bouncing between the Schengen zone and non-Schengen countries. (UK, Ireland, Cyprus, beautiful Bulgaria, etc.)

But if you require a visa, surrounding countries usually use that one as the reference point. While you have a still-VALID Schengen visa, you can spend a week or two in Serbia, or up to 90 days in Bulgaria, for example, without any other kind of visa. But when your Schengen visa expires, they won't let you into those countries either. We're in Turkey right now for exactly this reason. We couldn't get a visa for Bulgaria after the Schengen visa expired. Europe doesn't like people from poor countries to keep coming back, and if Sonje's on a Namibian passport she will probably have the same problem.

Turkey has a separate visa regime, and it's relatively easy to extend visas once you're there. It's also a fascinating place, so Sone could feasibly spend three months travelling across Europe to Istanbul and then three months in Turkey.

BUT, something I just remembered, is that in many cases you have to apply for your Shangen visa from the country where you are resident. If you're just hanging out in Ireland, you may not be able to apply for a visa from there. You may have to establish residency first. Establishing residency temporarily in Turkey seems to be easier, but there is still no guarantee of getting a visa. Like I said, they don't want people from poor countries applying for multiple visas.

Overstaying is a very messy issue. I know one guy (American) who was barred from re-entering the Schengen zone for a year because he crossed the border from Greece three hours after midnight on his last permitted day. Three hours overstay and huge trouble. On the other hand, I crossed the exact same border with my girlfriend and nobody checked her passport. She didn't get a stamp, and that created problems later on. The border police suspected she was overstaying when in fact we had been very careful to stay within the limits. One of her friends had a similar problem because he entered France from the UK on the train and nobody stamped his passport. My advice is to be very careful to BE SEEN to be following the rules. Make sure you get stamped.

2 - The tourist visa specifically states on the application form that no extension will be granted, except for verified medical emergency. Even if you meet and marry a local, you still have to leave and apply for your residence permit from your country of residence. Americans on a visa-waiver can apply for residence in certain countries, depending on circumstances, while they are there, but anyone requiring a visa is out of luck.

3 - Establishing residency is difficult if you're not bringing lots of money with you. The easiest option for Sone would probably be to enrol on a language course in one country and then travel wherever she wants. But, depending on the country, there is probably a requirement to actually go to the classes. A year in Spain or France, with trips to other countries, is not a bad option so I wouldn't discount it if you can afford it.

In conclusion, I would still recommend trying to get a long-term multi-entry visa. You'll need to do your own research about where to apply from, as each embassy will have different guidelines and you may need to be resident in whichever place you apply from. Then put together a travel schedule that will make sense to the people processing the application. eg three months in northern Europe, three months in Ireland, three months in Spain and North Africa, then via Italy to Eastern Europe, going out of Schengen to Bulgaria, Turkey, then back to Schengen via Greece.

The exact route is not important, but it should justify giving you a multi-entry one year visa. You will still be subject to the 90-day rule, so your schedule should make sense from that perspective, but will be able to go in and out.

Also, I don't know if you (Sone) have looked at the application form yet, but for my girlfriend we had to supply confirmation of accomodation bookings for the entire travel plan as well as show money in the bank. I had quite an argument with the guy at the embassy because the visa didn't allow for the possibility that plans might change. You can't even build gaps into your plan in case you decide to stay a few days extra in one place, or make side-trips. Stuff like couchsurfing doesn't count, it has to be at a proper hotel or hostel, or a legally rented apartment.

Thanks chris, that's helpful.

I checked the U.S. Department of State and the Schengen information websites and as I understand it a multiple entry "visa" is basically a Schengen visa waiver that allows you to enter and exit the Schengen Zone multiple times, but still subject to the 90-day within 180-day rule. Is that what you describe in #3 chris?

Bob, for you as an American, there is no visa. It's visa-exempt entry. They simply stamp your passport whenever you cross the border in or out - except then they don't. When they remember, they count up your days in the zone to make sure you don't break the rules.

The rule is that whenever they check, they count backwards from that date. If you have been in the zone less than 90 days out of the last 180 days, you're in the clear. So if you're in for a month, then out for three, you are allowed an additional two months. But when the two months is finished the 180-day clock is ticking too. So one week later, if they count backwards, the 180 days starts one week into your first month and you're still clear.

So you can split up the time any way you like, so long as whenever they count back from 'today' you don't have more than 90 days in the Schengen zone.

There is some official info on this, including worked examples, on the http://europa.eu website. It's hard to find them, and the search engine is not great, so when I'm looking for official stuff I usually use google and add "site:europa.eu" at the end of my search terms. This tells google to only search that site. It's better to get your info from here rather than from a foreign government, as you can print it out should you ever have a problem, and argue that you have followed the officially-published guidelines.

As for "Schengen visa", that's also a bit of a misnomer. The visa is not issued by the EU or some mysterious entity called Schengen. Every visa is issued by a specific country, but allows you freedom of travel within the Schengen zone. Every country has it's own rules for long-term visas, but the 90-day tourist visa (for those who need it) is a standardised process with the same form, requirements, fee, waiting time, etc.

I'm not familiar with Spain's rules, but generally speaking, if you enter a country on a visa-waiver, they don't like it if you then apply for residency. Many of them specifically state that you can only apply for residency while outside the Schengen zone, and often from "your country of residence."

There are exceptions, eg Americans can apply for some classes of residency in Germany by going to the local authorities, but you have to check country by country and it will depend on your passport. Also, be aware that legal systems vary and this affects the amount of discretion enjoyed by local officials. In Germany, strangely, the laws can be interpreted more flexibly than in the UK (or USA). So if the immigration officials like you, they might find a way to help you out. If not, you can quote the rule book until you run out of oxygen and faint, but it won't help you.

And whatever the rules say, officials on the ground are often quite creative when it comes to finding ways of discouraging foreigners from settling. NOBODY wants migrants, even from other EU countries, no matter what the politicians might say or what the EU's rules on freedom of movement might be. But, again, a face-to-face application can work better than simply sending your paperwork to the embassy while you're still at home.

In many cases, applications for residency are processed in-country even though you send the paperwork to the embassy. You may have to come into the embassy personally for interview or fingerprints, but the decision is made in the destination country and they do that in their own sweet time - applications can take up to year to process, apparently.

After fifteen years dealing with this crap in other places, especially the USA, I must say I love being able to go wherever I like now that I'm back in Europe. I really should get a girlfriend with the right kind of passport, instead of one that nobody wants, but it's a bit late for that!

First things first: what's your nationality, SoneKotze?

chris (#5), Ah, I see. I hadn't thought of the 180-day limit as a "rolling" 180-days.

If I understand correctly, I (as an American)am only allowed to stay within the Schengen Zone for 90-days within ANY 180 day period AND that 180-day period is counted from the present day backward. I had thought the 180-days was a fixed period of time that started when I first entered the Schengen Zone.

That would allow more flexibility if leaving and re-entering the Schengen Zone a number of times (multiple entry) since the time spent outside of the Schengen Zone would accumulate along with time spent within the zone during any 180-day period and eventually the earlier days within the Schengen Zone would fall out of the 180-day limit (since it is counted backward from the present day, which has the effect of moving the beginning date of the 180-days forward).

Is that right?

Bob, that is what I understood from the examples they gave on the Europa website.

"The 180 days period is defined as the period of 180 days preceding each day of stay in the Schengen area. This means that, on any day of your stay in the Schengen area, you must not have stayed more than 90 days over the preceding 180 days."

http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/taiwan/travel_eu/visa/index_en.htm

I ofund that while looking for info for a Taiwanese friend, but it's the same class of visa-exempt entry as you would get. Hope that helps.

Thanks chris (#8). You've been very helpful and your information is very useful.

Odd that it's so hard to come by this information. I guess it's because most people visit Europe for a just few weeks instead of traveling indefinitely.