Schengen restrictions for UK citizens

[jjpeterberger]

Hello from across the pond!
My wife (UK) and I (US) will soon be starting a year-long trip. Our plan is to start in Scandanavia, head southeast through Europe and then fly to SE Asia.

We've both been doing a bit of research regarding limitations of duration in countries that are signatories to the Schengen Agreement. While it seems apparent (to me anyway) that we are both limited to traveling in these countries for a total of 90 days in a 180 day period, my wife has been told that, as a UK citizen, she is able to spend as much time as she likes and I, as her spouse, am able to accompany her.

Obviously this will have a major impact on our plans as our initial routing has us riding for nearly 100 days before leaving the Schengen Zone. We've been searching for any "official" guidance from different government sites with no responses yet.

Anyone have pertinent experience using a UK passport and a Schengen visa exemption?

Thanks and enjoy the ride,
Jay

[jamesgilbert]

I think you might be confusing Schengen with the EU.

As the UK is (at the moment) still in the EU, UK citizens can travel and work completely freely anywhere in any other EU country for any length of time. I'm British and I've been living and working in France full-time since 2008 with zero administrative paperwork.

Schengen is just to do with border checks, although it is now incorporated in EU law (UK and Ireland being exempt). Croatia, for example, joined the EU in July 2013 and isn't yet in the Schengen area but is legally bound to do so in the near future. So if a EU citizen goes to Croatia next week, there will be a border passport control but no visa requirement or other entry limitations.

However, I don't know how all this applies to married couples where one is non-EU - someone else will have to answer that...

[Psamathe]

I can only speak of UK passport which does not restrict you. Quite a few years ago I (a UK passport holder), sold my UK house, purchased a house in France and moved there - without ever contacting anybody about passports and visas. Lived there for 4 years and sold-up and moved back to UK. Not an issue. Registered under the French Health Cover (government run) and registered and paid the many French taxes, etc.

However, that was just me. I have no idea how an accompanying non-EU partner would stand in this regard. And I would expect that if you cannot find the answer on the various EU/Schengen official web sites you contact the relevant authorities directly. I would only bother checking with the authorities as there are probably loads of companies happy to take your money to "help".

From my limited knowledge, I don't see any problem with your getting a Schengen visa - but that is not what you want as you want to exceed the Schengen time limits. So it would come down to what rights you may have as the spouse of a UK citizen or from any visas might you already have for the UK. I would expect that having a visa to visit/live in the UK does not automatically grant you the rights for free travel/work of an EU citizen but just certain rights for the UK. UK citizens travelling to the Schengen area do so on the basis of their EU membership. However, there may be/probably are other considerations that I am not aware of.

Sorry but it's probably not any help.

Ian

[JamesE]

I asked a friend who is a US citizen married to a UK citizen. Their response: "nope, you get 90 days, no extra rights as the spouse of a UK citizen". Googling suggests you can extend your stay beyond 90 days in a specific country but the rules for this (and cost) vary country-to-country.

I suspect that if you overstayed your 90 days by a day or two then you'd get nothing more than a mild ticking-off when you left the Schengen area. Up to you whether to take the risk though.