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by em-bee 191 days ago
In Europe, he can stay for only 90 days

that doesn't make any sense for two reasons. first, he only entered the EU in september this year, so either the 90 days are not up yet or he should be in mexico now. is he? but why would he fly to mexico when he could just go to the UK?

but more importantly, he is a british citizen. getting a visa to walk through europe, especially now that he already has a track record of walking for so long should really not be an issue.

4 comments

have you tried? I'm a South African living in Europe and visas are a nightmare.

Many europeans have never had to apply for a real visa in their life (I don't mean the online ones, or the apply on arrival ones, I mean the ones where you submit a 20 page form of personal details and hotel bookings and letters from friends you'll be staying with and bank statements and a full travel history) and they assume that I'm just making life difficult for myself by not doing some simpler option that they assume must exist.

I don't know about what visa options UK citizens have for the EU since brexit, but I'd be surprised it was as simple as "I feel like spending more than the 90 days I get".

I'd be surprised it was as simple as "I feel like spending more than the 90 days I get"

why? that's exactly what i think he should be able to do. it's not like he spent 27 years walking across the planet in order to then misrepresent what he wants to do in the EU.

UK is not part of EU anymore.
if it was, he would not need a visa to stay more than 90 days.

for the third time: i am talking about how easy it should be for a UK citizen with his track record, to get a visa that allows him to walk through the EU for longer than 90 days.

"Should be", "I think". Shouldn't you check the official rules first before writing opinions of how ought to be organized in your opinion?

The facts are:

1. The only EU-wide visa is 90/180. Citizens of UK don't need to apply for a separate visa.

2. Past the duration of 90 days, the matter goes to the national level. EU-wide long-term travel does not exist legally and this is done purposefully!

3. So the long stays require one country as your base. Long STAYS, not TRAVELS. Meaning that you get your official EU country of residence. Yes, you can travel to other EU countries, but outside travel still remain capped at 90/180, which is not useful in case of traveling through more than 2 countries.

you are right, i should have checked. however i still believe that it is possible to get a special visa for exceptional circumstances. that's not going to be documented anywhere but you'll need to talk people at various embassies.

some EU countries offer extended tourist visas and there is the digital nomad visa, for which while tied to a country, it doesn't even make sense that it would only allow to stay in one country. the point of being a digital nomad is after all to be nomadic.

so yeah, it's going to take some research. but i don't think it's impossible.

EU-wide long-term travel does not exist legally and this is done purposefully!

this being done purposefully suggests you have read that somewhere. got a reference?

That's not the way it works.

I live in Norway, have residence and stuff. I can travel freely through most of europe without much hassle - but I can only travel 90 days out of 180 days - then you gotta go out of the area (or back to your home country if it is inside), stay out or home for 90 days, and then start anew. The closest border to me - one to Sweden - has no real security. A customs office because there is border shopping in the area and I know they very occasionally stop folks. A crossing an slightly inconvenient distance north just has signs.

Anything outside of this requires paperwork.

the paperwork is exactly what i am talking about. with his track record getting a visa should not be an issue.
> but why would he fly to mexico when he could just go to the UK?

Because of one of the original 2 rules he set up from the beginning.

There is no Europe wide long stay non-working visa for UK citizens. 90 in 180 days is the Schengen visitor option, no?
90 days within any period of 180 days visa free. Everything else is bureaucracy …

https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/02/visa-information-2441822