EU re entry after overstay?

My fiance and I are hoping to have our wedding in France. We are both American citizens and will be legally married in the US before leaving for France and the wedding.
The only catch is that I overstayed my visa in France for 6 months in 2007. What are the chances that I can re enter? Will the fact that I am married to an American persuade them to allow me re entry?
Importantly, are there any visas or waivers i can apply for in order to assure my re entry?
As this is my wedding and we have already sent deposits to our vendors, I am heartbroken that we may be denied entry. We would really appreciate any ideas and information you may have.
Thank you!

"Let me say first that I think questions like this are IMO better asked directly to the local authorities, as only they can give you the answers based on their latest regulations. Well-intended as people on this forum are, we are no experts on immigration matters so estimated guesses are the best you can expect to get."

I agree 100%. I see no value in asking us to guess what your chances are.

Let me say first that I think questions like this are IMO better asked directly to the local authorities, as only they can give you the answers based on their latest regulations. Well-intended as people on this forum are, we are no experts on immigration matters so estimated guesses are the best you can expect to get.

That said, even for guessing I think you'll have to provide a little more info, such as what happened when you left France after your overstay. Did you get a stamp in your passport saying that you're banned? Do you know if they registered you in some computer?

Will the fact that I am married to an American persuade them to allow me re entry?
Why do you think that would have anything to do with it? Technically you broke the rules (I know, I know - you didn't kill someone, but...) and even if you would marry a local that wouldn't increase your chances of being allowed in. American citizens AFAIK do not get any preferential treatment in this respect.

Call the French embassy and explain the situation. You may be told that you're in trouble, but better safe than sorry (for flying to France and being told there that you can leave to the States on the next plan). Good luck.

When you left France, on a passport from what country did you leave? I'm guessing it wasn't a US passport and you did not overstay as a US citizen.

1) Did they actually notice you overstayed, i.e. were you fined, reprimanded etc ? If not, chances are that EU immigration never noticed you overstayed and you won't have any problems. If you were previously deported, then you will be barred from entry for a certain period of time, which you will have be told at the time of your deportation. If so, there is no way around that ban.

2) I wouldn't go talking to an embassy about this. Chances are that if they didn't have you in the computer up to this point, they'll enter your details into it, when you point out you overstayed previously. You're better off talking to an immigration lawyer first if you are unsure.

3) In the end likely no one will be able to give you a definitive answer. Immigration officers have a great deal of leeway on whether to admit a person or not. It will most likely come down to whether or not the individual officer on the day you arrive deems you likely to overstay again - if indeed he knows by virtue of a computer entry that you have overstayed previously.

Sarah228, you probably won't welcome this but thanks for highlighting the folly of overstaying. Questions about overstaying in the Schengen Area come up time after time and you can never predict with certainty what you might want to do in the future.

Be that as it may, Aribo has said all there is to say on this. Just follow his advice.

As this is my wedding and we have already sent deposits to our vendors, I am heartbroken that we may be denied entry.
It's a bit late to be asking now, but it's better to lose just the deposits than to waste all those air fares as well. Do what Aribo says.

Will the fact that I am married to an American persuade them to allow me re entry?
Interesting question. Why do you think it would?

George5 (and Sarah), there's no such thing as "EU immigration". I think Sarah has enough intelligence to not to have planned a wedding in France if she had been banned. A more likely scenario is that the passport was scanned electronically and the immigration officer turned a blind eye to the offence. However, we'll never know and Sarah probably didn't even see her passport being scanned. I do, however, agree with your point (3) completely.

Call an embassy, but invent a name, date of birth and passport number so that if they ask for these details you avoid drawing attention to yourself.

You might find it easier to speak to a human being and get an intelligent answer by approaching the Austrian embassy: they are part of Schengen and so will operate broadly the same policies as the French, but seem to be rather more serious about attracting visitors (tourism is a massively important part of the Austrian economy). My experience with London embassies: the French do not respond to e-mail, while the Austrians give rapid and intelligent replies.

George5 (and Sarah), there's no such thing as "EU immigration"

You are technically right, Tony. However I was refering to the EU Schengen immigration system, which does exist. And it's computer system is where all matters relating to vsia issuance/refusal etc are entered into.

George5, I don't want you to think I'm nitpicking but it's not a technicality. There is no "EU Schengen immigration system". There's a big difference between the EU and the Schengen Area and it's important to recognise the distinction otherwise you're going to confuse posters.

There are countries that are members of the Schengen Area that are not members of the EU, just as there are members of the EU that are not in Schengen. (There's plenty on the internet about this and Google will be your friend.)

As far as tourism is concerned, the EU has no immigration policy or controls so it's pointless talking about the EU in that context. The Schengen Area certainly does have an immigration system and that is what concerns the the OP here.

were you fined, reprimanded etc ? If not, chances are that EU immigration never noticed you overstayed and you won't have any problems
That's what I was wondering too. I assume not, because if OP had been reprimanded for her overstaying she would have been informed.
It could indeed be that French immigration didn't scan OP's passport when she left France and therefore she got out of the country without trouble, but isn't it possible that her name/dob/passport number may still be in the system as someone who entered France but never left? That could cause an interesting situation when she returns.
Just out of curiosity: why did you overstay 6 months Sarah? If you have a good reason and can back that up (e.g. medical condition that made it impossible for you to leave within 3 months) I don't see why you shouldn't call the French embassy to sort things out. If it's not such a good reason, like you overslept and woke up 6 months later or didn't know (would that be possible????) about your stay limit, it's a different story though.

Call an embassy (e.g. Austrian as #6 said), just say that you're inquiring for a friend or so who is scared to call the French embassy herself directly because she doesn't know the consequences, whatever.

It could indeed be that French immigration didn't scan OP's passport when she left France and therefore she got out of the country without trouble, but isn't it possible that her name/dob/passport number may still be in the system as someone who entered France but never left?

In my experience, half of the time they don't scan the passport on entry - often they even don't stamp them, especially when things are busy. You usually notice because they have to bend the passport so that the plastic part fits on the scanner. The scanners don't seem to work very well either, as often it takes two or three tries to get the passport scanned properly.
I.e. I'd be very surprised if not having been scan on entry or exit would create a problem later on.

George5: that still wouldn't reassure me, for what it's worth. Just like there's no guarantee that she'll be refused entry there's no guarantee that she won't have trouble either. Since a lot of money is involved in the wedding, air tickets etc. I would personally feel much better checking with the authorities anyway and change my wedding plans if there is a realistic chance to be turned away at the border, but that's just me.

Maybe it's time for OP to enlighten us a bit here about why she decided to stay illegally, how she got out of France and if she received any warning at that time. Any theory from our side would be mere speculation until we know more about that. And even if OP provides more details, there still won't be anyone who can guarantee her that she will, or won't, have trouble.

The French Consulate can answer this best.

George5. Did you read post #8? Just wondered.

Tony - I don't really want to get into a discussion on this as this is not the place. However : the Schengen system is part of the EU, even though there are member countries that are not members of the EU. The EU is a complicated institution you know !

And there is a common visa policy, which gets decided by the EU Commision. Changes to Schengen rules are made by EU regulations, which are EU laws drawn up by the Comission that come into force directy without any further involvement on the part of member states.
It is the Commission which lobbies foreign countries in regards to their visa policy for EU citizens and it is them who decide things such as the 90/180 day rule and the free-fee-country list for entry into the Schengen countries. The only visas national member states still have regulatory competency for are long term visas add visas for study/work not covered by the Schengen system.

Since the OP has not returned as of yet to even say what actually happened when she left France, everything is speculation at this point.

George5, you've obviously done your homework since #4. That's good because you'll now be aware that there is no "EU immigration", just as there is no hybrid "EU Schengen immigration system".

I'm not bothered that you weren't aware of that and I don't want to get into a discussion about this either. I was just mildly surprised that you hadn't acnowledged my post #8 because I'd taken the trouble to explain the difference between the EU and Schengen.

I'm all too aware of the mechanics of the EU: it used to be my academic specialism. But explaining that is not helpful to the potential tourist coming to Europe. Barely a week goes by without a poster confusing the EU with Schengen when it comes to the 90/180 day rule. It doen't help when people add to that confusion when they could be clarifying the situation.

I'm not bothered that you weren't aware of that and I don't want to get into a discussion about this either. I was just mildly surprised that you hadn't acnowledged my post #8 because I'd taken the trouble to explain the difference between the EU and Schengen.

Oh, I was perfectly aware that not all EU member states are part of the Schengen area. Living in Cyprus, I realize that every time I enter and leave the island for (mainland) Europe. However, as you say that the EU is an academic speciality of yours, I'm a bit surprised that you don't seem to realize that the Schengen system is part of the EU not a separate entity. There is only one common visa policy for all Schengen states an that is set by the EU Commission. In a way it is similar to the eurozone : that is also a part of the EU, although there are both EU countries that don't have the Euro and non-EU countries that do. But maybe we were both just a bit unclear in the wording of our posts....

Forget the Schengen/EU crap. All that will do is confuse the average reader.

The OP may or may not have had her overstay noted when she left France. She has not in fact stated whether that happened or not. For all anyone knows, she overstayed and left without anyone noticing. The OP needs to clarify that point for starters.

IF her overstay was noted, the people she needs to be worried about are French Immigration since that is the country she plans to fly to and that is the Immigration department she has to get past. Not EU immigration or Schengen Immigration, they do not exist.

In your first response george you referred to 'EU Immigration'. There is no such thing and it will as I say only confuse the average reader. It is French Immigration she will have to deal with. Get it right in future and don't bother trying to tell us what is and isn't part of the EU technically. The average reader here doesn't give a toss, they just want to know who will they have to deal with and how to do so.

If the OP wants to know if she will have trouble getting into France, the people to ask are the French Embassy Immigration staff in her home country. End of story.

Interesting to see that OP still hasn't bothered checking her replies. I would have assumed that her original question bothered her pretty much given that her wedding and a lot of money is involved.
The only country OP has to deal with is France. That the immigration policy of that country is in line with/based on EU/Schengen regulations is not important here. The only thing that matters is: will the French let her in? There is no-one here who can give her that guarantee, as said above, also because our educated guesses are partly based on assumptions.