Skip to main content

How to Stay Longer in the Schengen Area in 2024


The Schengen Agreement abolishes border controls when traveling between countries in the Schengen area. This means once you enter the Schengen area you are unlikely to need your passport as you cross over into another Schengen area country. This lack of border controls is great for Schengen area locals but includes a limitation for visitors: a three month (90 days) maximum stay in a six month (180 days) period. For an American nomad who wishes to travel for longer terms, this presents the problem of wanting to stay in the Schengen area but being limited to only three months. For example, if you spent two consecutive months in Germany and wanted to spend another two months in France, you wouldn't legally be allowed. If you had already spent two in Germany, you'd only have one month left for France.


So how can you get around the three month limitation if you wanted to stay longer in Schengen countries? You can get a visa from a specific country, some of them do offer nomad visas. But for those who don't want to go through all that trouble there is an easier way to travel long term and enjoy Schengen.


Three In, Three Out (The Easy Solution)

  1. Choose your desired Schengen country from the list below.
  2. Stay for three consecutive months.
  3. Exit the Schengen countries and visit a nearby country for three months.
  4. You can now return to the Schengen area countries.
  5. Repeat steps 1 - 4 as many times as you want.


Since the three month limit must exist within a six month period, it's necessary to leave for a whole three months before you return. Your first three months in Schengen plus the three months outside of Schengen add up to six months. This is truly the easiest way to handle the Schengen limitations. Once we got into this rhythm, we barely thought about beyond merely figuring out our entry and exit dates.


For Example

One of our trips involved staying for three months in Italy. After our time ran out in the Schengen area, we spent a month in Romania, a second month in Turkiye, and the third month in Egypt. We were then allowed to return to Schengen so we entered the area through Greece.


American citizens can stay up to six months in the United Kingdom, as a result we've spent months in Paris, and then hopped over to London to wait out our time before we returned to the Schengen area.


A Bad Alternative

Alternatively, you can stay for 30 consecutive days in Schengen then leave for 30 consecutive days. You can alternate in this way infinitely without breaking the 90/180 rule. I wouldn't recommend this, however, as it presents a lot of impracticalities: such as increasing travel, increasing travel costs, creating awkward travel plans instead of following the natural geographical flow of nearby countries.


Tools and Other Considerations

If you want to plan out you time in Schengen you can use this Schengen calculator, but honestly, once you get into the rhythm of three months in, three months out, there's no reason to bother with a tool like this.


One Last Thing

It's very important you don't overstay in the Schengen area as you may be blocked from ever entering again. While it may seem tempting to stay another week or two, is it worth it if you're then blocked from ever returning?


2024 List of Schengen Countries

Listed in the order of joining the area.

  • Belgium
  • France
  • Germany
  • Luxemburg
  • Netherlands
  • Italy
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Greece
  • Austria
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • Sweden
  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Czech Republic
  • Estonia
  • Hungary
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Malta
  • Poland
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Switzerland
  • Liechtenstein
  • Croatia


States with open borders to the Schengen Area but are not members:

  • Monaco
  • San Marino
  • Vatican City


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to use Macros on the Best Travel Controller for PC and Switch

The 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth controller is one of the best travel controllers because it doubles as Nintendo Switch controller and a PC controller. It's relatively small with snappy buttons. The only downside is the unclear but powerful Ultimate software. While it is easy to use, it is unclear in how your settings will affect your controller and lacks any real in-depth documentation. Read on to learn how to best take advantage of 8BitDo's Ultimate software. The controller feels like a cross between a Switch and Xbox Series X controller.  Check out the controller on Amazon:  8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller Important Details about the 8BitDo Bluetooth Controller: You only have a total of 3 profiles , regardless of whether you're using PC or Switch. The Ultimate software creates the impression that you can configure your buttons and macros for PC and then also configure them differently for Switch. This is not the case, if you configure your buttons/macros for Switch and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lisbon One-Week Itinerary; 7 days in Lisbon, Portugal. A Perfect Week in the Portuguese Capital!

  As mentioned in an earlier article, we believe as a digital nomad, one should spend no less than one month wherever they choose to stay. However, my partner and I arrived in Portugal and chose to divide our time spending 2 weeks in Lisbon and 2 weeks in Porto. Portugal is probably one of the most underrated countries in Europe. It’s beautiful scenery, delicious pastries, amazing wine culture, and pleasant climate make it an ideal place for your nomading adventures. Portugal even has a Digital Nomad Visa (which you can learn more about in an upcoming article).  Whether you plan to spend 1 year, 1 month, or even 1 week in this wonderful country, we have our ideal itineraries to help you in your planning. Day 1 Explore your neighborhood and settle in. Travel days are hard. Don’t try to do too much. Enjoy your time, take in the neighborhood and look forward to an awesome week in this bewitching city. Day 2 Don’t worry about waking up too early. The European lifestyle is a laidba...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Work from Anywhere in the World

Over the past two years, my partner and I have been traveling the world, exploring new cities, cuisine, cultures, and more. She and I have learned a lot throughout our adventures. These learnings have in some cases been difficult, things we wished we had known before traveling, and others we had strategically planned far in advance. All of them, I think, are useful for travelers, new or seasoned. I hope to share our learnings with you! Remote work has become commonplace over the past decade, so why not work from halfway across the world? Why not work from the cafe across town or in your favorite library surrounded by books? Even if you can’t travel for years on end; you can likely travel for days, weeks, or even a few months. So why not spend one month in Paris or three weeks in Tokyo? After all, you’ll be working for most of it. This isn’t a to-do list of what needs to be done before you can live abroad for months at a time but is instead a proof of concept. If you meet these requirem...
Post a Comment
Read more