Staying in Europe (Schengen and non-Schengen) for one year
I am an Indonesian passport holder. I have a multiple entry Schengen visa, duration of stay: 90 days, valid for 2 years, issued by the Dutch embassy on November 2014 (valid until November 2016). I will be staying in the Netherlands for 90 days starting on 1 January 2015 and ending on 31 March 2015.
My question is: can I spend 90 days in Romania/Croatia/Serbia/Bulgaria for 90 days starting from 1 April 2015 until 30 June 2015 using my existing Schengen visa? I will then fly back to the Netherlands on 1 July 2015 until 30 September 2015.
My aim is to stay in Europe for one whole year in 2015:
- 90 days in the Netherlands (January, February and March)
- 90 days in either Romania or Croatia (April, May and June)
- 90 days in the Netherlands again (July, August and September)
- 90 days in either Serbia or Bulgaria (October, November and December)
Best Answer
You could probably do something like that without falling foul of the 90-day maximum stay rule but there are two problems, a small one and a big one:
- The small one: The day you go from the Netherlands to, say, Romania counts in both countries (except if you fly around midnight?). By my count, if you stay exactly 90 days in the Netherland and then another 90 days in Romania, you will miss one day when coming back to the Schengen area and possibly have some trouble entering Romania (see comments). You need to stay at most 89 days during the first stay in the Netherlands or spend a few days in a third country for this to work, on a purely arithmetic level.
- The big one: You are kind of bending the rules, Schengen visas are intended for short stays and visits. What you are considering is awfully close to living in the Netherlands for half a year with some trips in-between, which is not what your visa is for. Did you submit this itinerary when applying for it?
Remember that border guards can always ask about the purpose of your stay, refuse entry or even cancel your visa if they believe you will do something else than what you claimed you would do or have obtained the visa fraudulently. They have some discretion there, it's not enough to be clever and to fulfill the maximum stay requirement.
My guess is that it might work, at least once, but I don't really know. It's possible that going to other Schengen countries, travelling in and out the Schengen area more frequently and cutting a month or two here and there to avoid the impression that you are misusing the visa to stay in the Netherlands could help too.
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