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by ritzaco 184 days ago
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".

1 comments

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?

It's you claiming that he must have the ability to get an extraordinary visa, so do you have a reference for your claims?
> that's not going to be documented anywhere but you'll need to talk people at various embassies.

This is absolutely not how bureaucracy works. In cases when there are special visas (like USA's talent visas), they are well documented. There are no special under-table visas that are given to people who a clerk at the Embassy likes.

> 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.

Once again, we are talking about reality, about how things are, instead of how things ought to be in your mind...

E.g. check Portugal D7 / digital-nomad visas: https://www.portugalist.com/d7-vs-d8/

> The term “Digital Nomad Visa” can create a lot of confusion as many other countries offer digital nomad visas that are temporary, and do not offer a path to permanent residency or citizenship. Some also don’t require you to pay taxes. Portugal’s Digital Nomad Visa is aimed at those that want to live in Portugal more or less full-time and make Portugal their home. In return for downsides like physical stay requirements and being taxed on your worldwide income, you do get access to the public healthcare system and you can later qualify for permanent residency and Portuguese citizenship.

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

Can't really provide you with the proof of something (work to unify EU visas) that doesn't exist. You can just check how the system works and how purposefully visas are left to be decided on the National level.

Even with the EU-level status of long-term residents ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_resident_(European_U... ), the details depend on the individual country. And even then, this is how it goes e.g. in Finland ( https://migri.fi/en/permanent-residence-permits ):

> If your stay in another Schengen country takes more than 90 days, you must apply for a national residence permit of that country.

> Your P-EU permit granted by Finland will expire if another EU Member State grants you a long-term resident's EU residence permit for third-country nationals (a P-EU permit).

So it's the same limit again.