Worldschoolers, nomadic families, globe trotters, backpackers and other travellers often have the same question: How to travel Europe long-term?
In this comprehensive article, we will delve into practical solutions catered specifically for long-term traveling families. Additionally, we will briefly address the unique needs and options of other types of travellers to cover all bases. Admittedly, it is a rather lengthy read…. but it might save you a lot of hassle, money and stress and instead inspire you to extend your trip to Europe!
Why do jet-setters want to plan a longer stay in Europe?
Europe is a dream destination for travellers. Each country and region has its own unique charm, making it worth exploring at your own pace. 90 days simply are not long enough for many worldschoolers and digital nomads!
Flying once can be a more cost-effective option if you’re traveling long distances to check off your personal bucket list items.
Why is a longer stay in Europe complicated?
To answer this question, we need to take a step back. To travel Europe long-term is not actually the issue. Visiting specifically the Schengen Area is.
Schengen Agreement in a nutshell
Destinations
We have explained everything around Schengen including the official links in another article: Schengen Area Explained. The very short summary is though that the Schengen Area consists of currently 27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Visa requirements depending on country of origin
The documents needed to enter the Schengen Zone depend on your country of origin. As a rule of thumb most (there are exceptions though!) African and Asian citizens will need a Type C Visa. Those are valid for 90 days and are issues as single, double or multiple entry type of Visa.
Citizens from other countries are Visa exempt. Travellers from those countries are also subject to the 90 days limitation inside the Schengen Area.
90 days is the standard length of time for all visas
The majority of short-term travellers will enjoy not needing a visa. It provides a level of flexibility, saves cost and there is no waiting for documents before you can book your holiday. Realistically, they will also never have to worry about the 90 day limit due to the way they travel.
I understand that for individuals who embark on long-term travel, own secondary residences in Europe, or maintain long-distance relationships, it can be quite challenging when they wish to extend their stay beyond the typical 90-day limit. Regrettably, there are currently no practical means to prolong this duration, especially for reasons related to business or tourism.
This applies to all travellers wishing to travel Europe long-term – whether they are Visa exempt or have a Type C visa.
Touring visa
A 12 month touring visa for travellers was proposed by the EU commission but said proposal was rejected and there are currently no known plans to supply it to tourists.
Application for an extension after the 90days
When it comes to extending your legal stay in Europe beyond the permitted 90 days, there are specific circumstances where it is possible, although they are typically limited in nature and not ideal. These reasons are usually associated with certain critical situations that may require additional time to address and resolve.
However, it is important to note that these extensions are subject to strict time constraints and are intended for genuine and urgent matters. It is always advisable to consult with the appropriate authorities regarding your specific situation to ensure compliance with immigration regulations. In all events, an extension must be applied for before the initial 90 days are up..
So how can you stay longer than 90 days in Europe?
A stern look and a wave through. Hefty fines. Being banned from re-entry. Going beyond the 90 day limit can lead to a variety of consequences. I know it can be disappointing when you’d like to spend more time exploring Europe, but it’s important to respect the regulations in place. Find below the possible routes to take to stay legally longer than 90 days in Europe.
Overstay your welcome (illegally) – all travellers
It goes without saying but we can not recommend this. We heard of plenty travellers making genuine mistakes when calculating their Schengen days (see also: Common errors when calculating your Schengen stay). The type and severity of punishment they receive, seem to be heavily influenced by the amount of days they overstayed and partially also which country they exited from. Germany, Switzerland, France and Denmark are supposedly the strictest while Spain and Greece possibly show more leniency. With the expected rollout of EES in Schengen, the automated Entry/Exit System, the leniency some relied upon will disappear as the system will flag individual travellers automatically as overstayers.
Enter with different passports – tourists with dual citizenships
If you hold two or more passports from non Schengen states you can choose which one to use but be aware that the Schengen policy dictates that the 90/180 days are per person not per passport, you can not reset your counter by leaving then re-entering with a different passport.
Schengen Shuffle aka stay inside Europe but leave Schengen – all travellers
In the Digital Nomad (DN) and long-term travelling community, we often refer to the Schengen shuffle. Some might call it instead “hop in and hop out”. The Schengen Shuffle is the only legal way for everyone to stay longer than 90 days inside Europe. The way to do this is quite simple: staying 90 days inside followed by 90 days outside the Schengen Area. Most do this without going all that far to save cost.
EU countries that are not part of Schengen
The only EU countries not part of Schengen are Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania.
European countries that are not part of Schengen or the EU
Europe as a continent goes beyond the EU and even crossing over to Northern Africa is easy enough! Favourite countries depending on season and budget to be outside of the Schengen area are Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Albania, the UK and Macedonia. Some of these countries will allow entry with a valid Schengen visa but staying in the country won’t count towards your 90 days, how convenient! We absolutely loved our stay in Morocco!
Globetrotters made Croatia their preferred choice for the Schengen shuffle due to its proximity to Italy and you will find such a trip recommended in many blogs, youtube videos etc. This is no longer an option since Croatia joined the Schengen territory in January 2023. The same could soon be true for Bulgaria and Rumania as they have applied already. The EU is also about to admit Albania into the union, so do keep a close eye. We will keep this page up to date to the best of our knowledge, too.
You don’t need to do exactly 90 days in then out but many travellers do this due to the complexity of the calculation of the 180 days.
Bilateral Visa Waiver Agreements, a not so well known “hack” to travel Europe long-term – for travellers from certain countries
These agreements are between individual Schengen member states and a third country. The Schengen Area visa waiver agreement is different from this.
The nationals of some countries (Australia, United States, New Zealand, Malaysia, Canada and Singapore to name a few, see below for a full list) can consider themselves lucky as they can legally stay longer than 90 days inside Schengen. There is even the possibility to be able to stay years if well planned.
Background of these bilateral visa waiver agreements:
Following World War II, numerous individual countries established bilateral visa waiver agreements between each other, promoting easier travel. Despite the implementation of the Schengen Agreement, many EU countries have continued to honour these historic bilateral agreements.
And that is good news for travellers: this provides an opportunity to legally stay longer than 90 days inside the Schengen area!
Why is this option to visit the Schengen Area beyond the standard 90 days not better known?
Your guess is as good as mine why jet-setters are not all over this “travel hack”. If you follow publications of the EU Council then you will be aware that there had been plenty of discussions around these agreements and how to make it easier for the authorities as well as travellers to track extended stays, especially in light of ETIAS and a EES.
After reading specifically about the rules for New Zealanders (which affects some of our family personally) in Bren’s blog, which has in depth research and emails to consulates and embassies attached, we started digging deeper ourselves.
Do these bilateral visa waiver agreements really exist and are they legally binding?
We can’t say that it was easy to find the information but the Official Journal of the European Union provides the following list for download in several languages: List of Member States’ bilateral visa waiver agreements with third countries allowing for an extension of the period of stay in accordance with Article 20(2), point (b), of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement (OJ C, C/130, 08.04.2019, p. 17, CELEX ). The list was created in anticipation of the rollout of EES.
For ease of reading we included the English version for you here:
Which Schengen and Schengen associated countries have such bilateral agreements?
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovakia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- The Netherlands
How can travellers benefit from the bilateral visa waiver agreements?
Although the agreements are several decades old, the way third country travellers can benefit from these agreements changed recently due to the imminent rollout of ETIAS and a EES. It is still possible however, to use these agreements for extended stays even beyond 180 days.
Bear with me as this is not as straight forward as we all wish it would be. The reason for this lays in the past: the individual countries made a wide variety of agreements with third countries. In the present, those policies will have to fit alongside the Schengen Agreements.
You won’t need to bribe anyone and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg but you will need to carefully assemble the information for your specific travel plans as the duration of additional stay as well as the conditions for the extension vary by country.
Checklist before you can benefit from bilateral agreements
The following list represents the steps to take under the assumption that your goal is to be able to slow travel certain countries, not just to maximise the time spent inside Europe.
- Gather a list of the countries you would like to visit
- Identify which are inside Schengen and which are not
- Based on 2. identify if the Schengen Shuffle would be a possible solution for you (it will potentially save a bit of hassle)
- Download the list of countries which have from the EU website or our blog above
- Familiarise yourself with the different types of passports – if you read this I am assuming yours to be an ordinary passport.
- Based on your citizenship and type of passport verify if any of the destinations you wish to visit had signed a bilateral agreement.
If the answer is no then you sadly can not extend your travel in Europe via this option. If you find a valid agreement continue below: - Research official government websites or contact a consulate or embassy to verify the latest update on the specific agreement. They will be able to tell you the requirements you need to fulfil to gain the extension, when and where to apply for it, how much it will cost (if anything) and the maximum duration possible for you.
Having a response in written form will also help you should there be any issues down the line during your stay. - Gather all the necessary application forms and necessary supporting documents so you have them on you during your travel.
- Some countries do not require any application process. You will need to find out how they will report your stay into EES once that is live as you will otherwise be flagged as overstayer.
- Finalise your travel plans based on the answers of the different embassies.
- Enjoy an extended travel across Schengen countries – depending on your origin and travel plans this could be way longer than 180 days.
Other things to keep on mind when planning a stay beyond 90 days inside Schengen based on bilateral visa waiver agreements
- Your passport will need to be valid for at least the entire stay so ensure this is done before you travel.
- If you are from a Schengen visas excempt country you will additionally need to apply for ETIAS.
- You can not travel to other Schengen countries during your permitted extension.
- While most nationals are allowed to work remotely in the 90day short-stay period inside Schengen, your extension might not legally give you that right.
- You might need to prove that you have booked onward travel or a journey home and that you have the means to support yourself during your whole stay.
- If there are any countries on your bucket list which do not offer you an extended stay ensure to visit these countries first.
- Your extended stay does not count as being outside Schengen so the only onward travel possible to another Schengen country would be to other countries providing bilateral visa waiver agreements.
- I recommend to keep proof of when you were in which country. Receipts of food or other purchases, public transport tickets, an overview of where you stayed etc will help you in case of issues down the line since you won’t get any stamps to prove where you were.
Where to apply for an extended stay based on the bilateral agreements
- Germany – the general information can be found on this website and the individual embassies will have the info per country here.
- Poland – all information about the agreement and how to apply can be found on this website.
Please let us know via the comments if you found the specific places to apply for the extension for specific countries. With your help, we can complete the section above to be helpful for everyone.
Bilateral Visa Waiver Agreement – an example
Assuming you are from Canada and you want to visit Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Spain. You have 6 months for this trip. Out of these countries, only Spain has a bilateral agreement with Canada. Reading the details, you learn that this agreement is in place since 25.1.1960, applies to all ordinary Canadian passports and grants you an extra 90-day stay in Spain.
Equipped with this knowledge, you now have a variety of options to travel Europe long-term:
- Stay outside of the Schengen Zone altogether and enjoy a long-term stay in Europe without the hassle, simply following the individual country’s visa limits (ignoring your bucket list).
- Stay inside Schengen for 90/180 and leave afterwards like everyone else. You can of course visit Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Spain inside that timeframe among any other countries on the way.
- Perform the Schengen Shuffle like everyone else.
- You enter Spain, stay 90 days and then leave Schengen. (Most agreements are only valid if you first used up your “standard” maximum 90 day stay inside Schengen.) This would mean you are not able to travel through Latvia, Lithuania or Finland at all though.
- Stay anywhere but Spain inside Schengen for 90/180. After this travel through Europe, where you can definitely journey through Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, you may immediately go to Spain, where you can spend an additional 90 days. Yes, that would mean you are staying legally long-term (up to 180 days) inside Europe and even the Schengen area.
Note that this does not provide you freedom of movement to visit other countries, eg. Portugal in that second period. At the end of your extended stay you must depart Schengen directly. This is possible by means of flight or ferry from Spain. You can not travel from Spain to France. Not even solely for transit to then leave via Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. The reason for this is that your 90/180 has not reset.
Travel long-term inside the European Union (EU) – for non-EU Family members of EU citizens
There is a lot of confusion about the legality of this option, but it must not remain that way. If you travel as a family and at least one of you is in possession of a valid EU passport, the 90/180 rule does not apply for any of you, it is as simple as that.
I have explained the basics about this in our previous article, but will summarise here with the special focus on extended/ open-ended travel.
“Economically inactive EU citizens” can legally move to any member state for up to 3 months. Some states might need you to report your presence from the first night onwards but this is not equal to residency. EU citizen will need a valid identity card or passport, have health insurance and mjust be able to prove that they can support themselves. There are no limits, they may continue doing 90 days in the next state after that and after that with no end.
Family members who can prove the relationship and have a valid passport can join their EU citizen.
If your non-EU family members have the required documents, they are entitled to accompany or join you without any conditions or formalities for consecutive periods of up to 3 months per EU country visited. They are not subject to the overall limitation of up to 90 days in a 180-day period that applies in the Schengen area. You can combine stays in different EU countries without an overall time-limit.
Your Europe, an official site of the EU
This option is by far the easiest, cheapest (as there are not even visa costs charged to enter the zone)and least complicated to travel the Schengen Zone long-term. If you have questions about your personal situation you can ask Your Europe for advice, see here.
Other options to travel through Schengen Area long-term
The following options might provide you an idea on how you personally can extend your long-term journey through the Schengen Zone legally. However, I do not believe that they are suitable for long-term travellers. As such most readers will probably not find them applicable.
Digital Nomad Visas – all travellers
Several EU countries now provide a DN visa. Whether these apply to you will depend on your income and other factors but they usually provide a1 year temporary residency inside that country. Changing residency will not only have tax implications. Most EU countries do not allow alternative paths of education such as homeschooling, worldschooling or unschooling. Consequently, worldschoolers would need to attend local schools, a factor which makes this option to stay legally in Europe a non attractive one.
Type D Visa – all travellers
These are long-term stay visas for extended visits beyond the 90 days stay. Usually issued by embassies, they follow national immigration rules and provide residence permit. Type D visas are issued for academic or employment purposes as well as to join family. They usually cost around €75, although the fee is not due under certain circumstances.
Important for travellers: Type D visa allows you to stay in a specific Schengen country for usually up to 1 year. Should you wish to travel to other Schengen countries during this period, the 90 out of 180 days rule will still limit your plans.
Similar to the DN visa above, complications arising from residency make this type of visa not always a valid option for those who wish to travel through Europe beyond the usual 90 days.
Student visa – more suited for single travellers
Most European countries have low tuition fees in universities which makes studying there a not just financially attractive. Admission into a university in Europe is based on several factors and limitations. While these limits depend on the country you want to study in, the course you apply for, your language skills and more, the visa itself would also be a Type D visa. For problems resulting from this see above. In addition to that I would say that the time you will realistically have to travel while studying full-time will be quite restricted.
Working holiday visa – usually aimed at people below 30
Several articles out there will refer to “working holiday visa” – such a thing does not actually exist within Schengen. These all refer to the Type D Visa.
For problems resulting from this see above.
Long term visitor’s visa – all travellers
Several countries (Spain, France, Portugal, Sweden) offer a long-term stay visa. What most have in common is that you can neither travel within Schengen nor work during your time. You might have to prove that you booked accommodation and have the means to support yourself. For obvious reasons these are not really of interest to those wanting to explore multiple European countries long-term.
Obtain European Citizenship – those with European roots
It might just be worth it to dig if you have the possibility of gaining a EU passport. Descendants of migrants seem to struggle least with obtaining an Italian or Irish passports. Although the process can be lengthy, we have heard of many globetrotters who fell in love with Europe and once they set their mind to it found a way. Not to forget that a single EU passport in the family is enough to allow unlimited travel inside Schengen for the whole family. We have no personal experience with this application process though.
Final thoughts:
My prompt to write this article were the many questions in worldschooling groups on how to extend stays inside Europe. Often their personal circumstances were mentioned and one of the ways above could work for that family. The research and write up took far longer than expected.
If you read through to the end I applaud you for your attention and thank you for reading. In recognition of there being a lot of information to take in, I have included many links to the official sites of the EU, to make additional research easier. I truly hope that you learnt something new or, even better, will now embark on further research to make your travel dreams reality, because there are indeed several ways to extend your stay inside Schengen without (illegally) overstaying.
I would be grateful if you shared this blog with other travellers planning a trip to Europe to allow them to maximise their time and enjoyment.
Thank you.
While best efforts are made to keep this post accurate and up to date, it is not a legal document. If you know of information that is missing or spot something that needs to be updated, please let me know in the comments and I will aim to address it as soon possible.
Share your thoughts and feedback with us, we would love to hear from you!