Hi,
I find a fair amount of conflicting info on the duration of visas in the Schegen zone (most of Europe). I am Korean, which means I get a 90 day stamp on entry with no difficulty. However, I want to stay more that around six months in the zone. My plan was to take a trip to the UK (outside the zone) for a weekend and get a new 3 month stamp on my return.
However, I see that many websites (including most govermental ones) state that you can only stay three months in a six month period. Others (mainly anecdotal) state the opposite, and that a simply re-entry works well (as it does in asia, south america, etc).
So: does anyone have experience of what actually happens? From what I read on the web, it looks like the official policy is 3 months in every 6, but this is very slackly enforced and people often string these visas together. If you have tried this, can you let me know what happened to you.
ps. I will be staying mainly in Portugal visiting freinds.
Thanks!!!!
I think you anwered your question:
Officially it's 90 days in Schengen, 90 days out of Schengen. So you can stay with your friends in Portugal for 90 days, can do some trips within Schengen during these 90 days and then you have to leave and stay outside of Schengen for the next 90 days.
If you're looking for travelers' tales of some way around this rule, who guarantees the tales are true? And even if they are who guarantees that the immigration officers weren't simply lazy that day and will be equally lazy when you try to do the same?
Remember that the 90 days are not counted as something on a stamp in your passport. Your passport is swiped when passing the Schengen borders and the Schengen information System (the central computer) keeps track on the days you are in.
Going in and returning does not in any way give you better chances for leaving with an undetected overstay. (But of course those days in GB do not count towards the 90 days).
When leaving - and having overstayed the 90 days - the screen at the passport control WILL tell that you have overstayed.
What will happen can vary from nothing to being kept for hours (missing yor flight) - getting a no-entry to Schengen stamp + record in SIS computer.
It is like speeding in a car or drunk driving: maybe nothing happens - maybe you loose your divers licence!
The important thing to bear in mind is that one person's experience at one location on one date tells you nothing about what your experience might be at another location on a different date. Plus, the number of people who overstay AND who post on here is numerically very small and not a reliable indication of what you can expect. Some officials can be quite anally retentive about overstays.
In response to a similar question asked before last Christmas (these Schengen overstay questions come up every week) I did a thorough search on other traveller forums. There were posts from people who had been stopped as they left the Schengen zone: some got their passports stamped in a way that you really don't want if you intend to continue travelling, and some got fined up to €1100 as well. One poor woman was detained for questioning at Athens airport, was fined and missed her flight to Australia as a result: that worked out very expensive. You can also be fined by your own country for passport fraud according to one poster who works for the German immigration authorities.
To summarise, it's a question of luck. You should be aware of the possible consequences and take those into account before making your decision.
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