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I'm American and planning to fly into Europe for 7 months. With the Schengen visa, I'll be allowed 90 days out of 180 days in the Schengen zone. That's fine, I understand the rules, how the time period works, and have every intention to follow it.

I was thinking about spending the first 3 months in the Schengen zone, leaving for 3 months to regions outside, then returning for the last month. This means I'll be flying from the US, and my arriving and departing flight in Europe will both be inside the Schengen zone, so it's going to raise some flags and they might assume I'm staying within the zone for the entire 7 months.

If I simply explain on arrival that I understand the restrictions and plan to visit Turkey for 3 months in the middle of the trip, will I be in the clear?

I did a similar trip in the past, although it was only 5 months, and I booked my arriving flight in the Schengen zone and departing flight outside, so I was easily able to explain I was leaving to the departing country after 3 months, and flying home from there. All of these stamps are still in my passport, so I'm wondering if they see I did something similar a couple of years ago and followed the rules, they'll be more understanding.

Any thoughts or precautions I should take when booking these flights? Has anyone done something similar in the past, and had a return flight in and out of the Schengen zone longer than 3 months, and if so, how did border security react?

phoog
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user13287
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2 Answers2

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Having a return ticket or proof of onward travel is not required so it boils down to whether the border guards trust your story. Being able to show you have done it before and know the rules should help.

Note that not staying too long is only one of the requirements. Even if you had all the tickets and never overstayed, repeatedly staying for 3 months without a stable situation elsewhere could raise some red flags (if I am counting correctly this would be your third and fourth multi-month stays in the Schengen area).

If there are doubts, being able to provide details or documentation about your plans and your financial means could help too. At least that's the theory, being an EU citizen myself I don't have first hand experience doing such a trip.

Community
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Relaxed
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As long as you follow the rules of the Schengen visa waiver requirements you should be fine. If you can prove with a itinerary (plane, train, hotel bookings, etc.) that you are going to be travelling out of the Schengen zone, and won't be overstaying in the Schengen area you should be fine.

My girlfriend (she is American) and I went on holiday to the central Schengen countries and they didn't even ask for her exit flight when she arrived at Rome. They did however question her a lot when she was leaving France to enter the UK.

It is probably more hassle entering the UK and USA than most Schengen countries.

Vagish
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