I'm an American master's student in Spain, due to insane bureaucracy mishaps my student visa was rejected, I have 10 days to leave the country for 90 days before I can re-enter and apply for my visa again. Obviously with school still going this is a huge problem. I am looking for advice on how I can enter Spain/schengen region without getting my passport stamped (lax border crossings etc)
Try Svalbard. Considered Norway but is out of schengen.
I know, that may be a harsh solution, still a solution nonetheless. : )
I am almost positive anywhere in northern europe will make it impossible. I need an schengen exit stamp as I leave spain, and I need to re-enter spain without an entry stamp
I have considered Gibraltar, but I've read elsewhere that the Spanish have upped their security for the border crossing there. Now I am looking at MonteBlack and Albania as they both border a Schengen country, i have heard that southern Italy and Greek islands are quite relaxed at the border checks, but it is a gamble whether not not they would stamp my passport upon entry
>take train to border town
>walk out of town into the woods
>cross border
>walk into town on the other side
I would go to the UK & then the island of Jersey (UK terrority). It's like 20 miles off the coast of France. I'm sure a local fisherman with a boat might help you out for a tidy sum. At least they'd speak english and might make negotiating a bit easier as opposed to Albania or some other Baltic country, plus it would be less sketchy
Another crazy option would be to sneak onto a ferry from UK/Ireland to France. The security at ferry ports is never as tight as airports.
didn't even know that island existed..i'll try reaching out to someone in the area
As another anon said the least vigorous Schengen borders are the likes of minor ferries between Greece and Turkey. Northern and Western Europe will generally follow procedure.
What was the visa wienerup. They can usually be legitimately worked around.
wrong information which lead to delays, by the time i figured out what process I really needed to do I had missed the deadline and my request was rejected. I spoke with a lawyer and they basically told me all they can do at this point is stall for time but I will eventually need to leave for 90 days to get the right visa. Think my chances would be similar for Albania and Greece?
You’re in the unfortunate position where if you get caught overstaying then your visa application is definitely getting rejected. Chancing being waved through at the more porous border crossings could easily go wrong and you end up deported with a multi year reentry ban.
I mean you saw a lawyer who knows more than anon about this. If you want a legit visa you’re going to have to leave first.
Perhaps this is a stupid question, but as you’re (presumably) a presently enrolled international student in a master’s program, doesn’t your university have some kind of international students’ office that can offer assistance? Frankly, I’m amazed to hear that they didn’t have anyone to help you apply for your student visa, or at least e-mail you appropriate links.
I’m also surprised that you need to be out for 90 days before you can reapply (or apply in the first place?); I assume this is because you have already been in the country for a full 90 days without a visa.
At any rate, rather than attempting some kind of bizarre border-dodging illegal immigration, which seems sketchy and unlikely in the best of circumstances, it seems like the sane thing to do would be to ask your advisor what he or she thinks you should do. Perhaps you can study remotely for 90 days, or, worst case scenario, defer one semester and either resume or restart when you get back? Irritating, no question, but trying to fake your way back in seems far more problematic, not least because I don’t think it’s going to work and you’re probably looking at deportation if you get caught.
>least vigorous Schengen borders are the likes of minor ferries between Greece and Turkey.
I took a tiny little ferry between Selçuk, Turkey, and Samos, Greece—had about fifteen passengers—and I was stamped on both ends, both ways. And this was long before the immigration crisis that kicked off during the Syrian war. I can only assume that things are even more stringent now.
i agree with this.
You need to provide us with more info than that OP. Did you apply for the wrong visa? Or did you not finish the studies in time? Look, whatever it may be. My main advice would be to seek legal help from your uni or outside council or just at your embassy. I would very much advise against any illegal border crossing shenanigans as you are not sure to get back in, let alone know if your new applications will be accepted.
Say you have done all this already or you're hell bent on not seeking any legal help. I am assuming you're in Spain rn. I am assuming you're enrolled for this year so you would be done in July. The problem is that it's months away. But maybe you can explain your situation to uni, and you can finish the year from home? or you can object to the ruling. I dunno what Spain's immigration services are like. But if they are anything like the ones in NL it can take quite a while before they respond. Maybe you can stall it just enough for you to finish your degree
The 90 day rule applies to most visas. It is meant to prevent people from chaining visas indefinitely. Leaving Spain for 10 days doesn't actually help you. It's gonna take 3 months minimum for you to get a new visa. Anyhow you fricked your visa application. And if you can't stall until July and you can't finish the rest of the studies from home, you might wanna just take the hit. Apply after 90 days. Finish the rest of school next year. Your study results will last for about three years.
They do, and they were quite helpful! but a deadline was missed (1 crucial document was lost in the mail for...a while) my school did everything they could, directed me towards a lawyer who pretty much told me since the deadline was missed there just isn't any appeal they could make which would be heard.
If I go to America I can technically apply immediately at a consulate, however, if you are lucky it takes a month to get an appointment there, and the cost of going there and back plus 1 month of expenses far outweighs a trip to Albania.
Regarding my illegal-only-if-im-caught idea, well yes I think the chances of it working are quite slim. I can likely finish the semester online, but this is not guaranteed-it is a rigorous stem program, it is entirely possible any one professor can say no to an online final. I come to the basket weaving forum as a last resort obviously, I have exhausted all other resources available to me
But what is your plan now exactly? pretend you left Spain but basically stay illegaly to finish your education? Won't you or your uni get into trouble because of your visa problems?
If you think you can get visum back in the US anyways maybe just go to the US embassy in Madrid. Explain the situation? or mail ahead to the US consulate of whatever non Schengen country you will go to. Perhaps you can get the visa from there. I don't see how you avoid the 90 day period that way.
So the goal is to legally leave so the Schengen papers work out, and then re-enter as an undocumented illegal, and retain that status for the entire duration of the master's program, and then sneak out undetected upon completion of the Master's?
This sounds ridiculous.
But african Black folk take little inflatable boats into spain from morocco all the time, so how difficult can it be....
>retain that status for the entire duration of the master's program
He only needs to stay in that status for 90 days. Then he either sneaks out and re-enters legally or as explained in
"re-enters" legally.
It doesn't seem that unreasonable to me. I've been living in a Schengen country in the EU for over five years now, and (aside from border crossings / dealing with immigration) I've only had my passport and residence permit checked once, when I was getting a traffic ticket. It doesn't seem to me like it would be too difficult to fly under the radar for less than 3 months.
>african Black folk take little inflatable boats into spain
If I was one it seems like I would have a much easier time than as a legal student trying to do things the right way
>But african Black folk take little inflatable boats into spain from morocco all the time, so how difficult can it be....
That's not the hard part. The issue is they don't have passports and no one can just deport them back home. Even if you know from where they are, their shithole country might not have any arrangements to take them back. So they can stay for years. If OP get's caught he will get deported and fined unless he throws away his passport. So I'm not even sure being able to stay would frick him up anyway because the school also need proof of his legit visa. Only when you live there without official registration you could get away with it.
school doesn't care about visa, not a requirement for enrollment (go figure)
Well depending on the school and course they don't really care about attendance. Lots of people only show up for exams. So it would be theoretically doable for a foreigner without a visa to just get on a plane every couple months, enter as a tourist, take his exams and leave.
There are no border checks in the Schengen area.
I flew from The Netherlands to Italy and Finland with no passport checks.
I think OP has to leave the Schengen area altogether. His predicament is getting from a Non-Schengen country into a Schengen country without going through passport control. Once he is back inside the Schengen area he can get around freely but that is not the issue he is trying to get information on.
What about embassies? Aren't those legally foreign land?
so I'm actually not allowed to camp in an embassy for 90 days
exactly
They still have some border controls in some places, like in austria, switzerland, france, germany, italy or denmark. Especially at the usual border crossings, because of the brown refugees. While everyone get's checked at airports they might just racially profile people crossing by car or train.
no, they aren't, just another simpsons joke, only thing that would protect you is the diplomatic immunity of embassies.
they definitely do, every train I took in and out of Spain was briefly looked at and handed back to me (white American) this is the only reason I even have this idea as a non-zero possibility
Buses, trains & planes will nearly always check passports if a border crossing is involved in a journey in the Schengen area. But it's typically just a glance at the passport and most wont check stamps. Once OP is inside the Schengen area he is pretty much 90% of the way there, even if he is on a Greek Island..
But @ OP, if you are worried about public transport when crossing the border into Spain, the pedestrian border crossing at Luzaide/Valcarlos is typically completely unguarded, as I presume are many others.
Only time my passport has ever been checked (very briefly) was crossing into france, id like to avoid it if possible
>They still have some border controls in some places, like in austria, switzerland, france, germany, italy or denmark. Especially at the usual border crossings, because of the brown refugees. While everyone get's checked at airports they might just racially profile people crossing by car or train.
Switzerland isn’t presently exerting any border controls, although some of our right-wing pols want to start, less because of fear of brown people and more because they’re pissed at Germany for doing it to us. I live on the CH-DE border and take trams into Germany to go shopping all the time, which have been stopped and boarded by German border cops more often than not for a few months now. Totally racially profiled, though—they only actually look at your papers closely if you’re a visible minority, and I have been cheerfully waved away when I haven’t had proper documentation on me, where someone brown would have been pulled off and interrogated.
>His predicament is getting from a Non-Schengen country into a Schengen country without going through passport control
That's illegal
No shit
troony homosexual
Fly to Gibraltar and swim to spain. At least if you fail you won't waste all the effort traveling from albania.
Does Spain not offer a temporary residence permit allowing you to remain for longer than 90 days while you have a visa application in process? I got something like this in a different Schengen country.
If that's not possible, and you need to leave, find out if you can apply for the visa at a Spanish embassy outside of Spain. That might be able to get you back in legally without spending 90 days outside of Schengen.
To answer your actual question, if I were trying to enter Schengen without going through passport control (and then leave again 90 days later also without passport control), I would do it by boat.
I'm thinking buy/rent a boat in Croatia or Greece with Croatian or Greek registry. Go through passport control at the port when you leave to get an exit stamp. Go visit Bosnia/MonteBlack/Albania getting an entry stamp at the port. Leave Bosnia/MonteBlack/Albania without getting a stamp ("Just planning a local trip") and enter Croatia/Greece without getting a stamp ("Just returning from a local trip"). After 90 days, repeat the process in reverse to legally exit Bosnia/MonteBlack/Albania and legally enter Schengen again.
Someone who has experience with passport control at small ports is welcome to shoot holes in my plan, but it seems to me like a workable plan.
Your plan (his plan) doesn't actually give him a legal visa to stay in Spain. If the idea is to stay in Spain illegally until the 90 days is up. I wouldn't leave Spain at all. Just cancel rent. Get enough cash (not all at once like a moron) to last however long you need to finish your degree. And stay with friends until the end of the year (maybe move around a bit). The problem with any of these plans I think is that you're still enlisted in Uni. And if you're still going to classes that kind of defeats the purpose of pretending you're not in Spain and haven't been for 90 days. Besides you still actually need a visa even after the 90 days. It's a bit strange to reapply from Spain after the 90 day period you were not supposed to be in the country.
No, my plan doesn't make him legal in Spain. The difference between my plan and just overstaying is that with my plan all of the passport stamps line up. There are stamps (and electronic records) for him leaving Schengen when he's supposed to and entering another country and there are stamps for leaving that country and entering Schengen when it's legal to do so again. All he needs to do is not get caught during undocumented border crossings and time in Spain, and then he's back to being legal again as if nothing happened.
If he just overstays, then he's permanently fricked.
Also, i dont even need to repeat the plan backwards, once in spain and after 90 days, i can simply buy a plane ticket from albania to spain, anyone has 3 calender days from entering the country to get their passport stamped, i can take my plane ticket, or even boat ticket (which i never boarded) to the airport and tell them no one stamped my passport when i re-entered. I talked about this plan with my lawyer, they did not tell me to do it or not to do it, they only confirmed to me that technically it would work
you get my plan exactly anon
I’m really confused as to why you need to re-enter WITHOUT getting stamped. So you do plan on leaving the country for 90 days? Doesn’t that frick with your school?
Anyway, to answer your question, as other anons said the greek islands are really easy to pass right into. As long as you come in by boat you can land pretty much anywhere in europe without interdiction. Either get your own boat or pay someone to bring you over. I like that one anon’s Jersey idea.
This is exactly the type of delusional affirmation I need thanks anon
>delusional affirmation
I own a boat and have entered european countries all the time without checking in. They are not some kind of omnipotent group. Just make sure you turn off your AIS.
Becoming an illegal immigrant is a very bad idea. Your chances of being caught are high and the consequences can be quite severe, like a ban from all of Schengen.
If like you say your uni doesn't care about the visa. Just overstay your visa. Finish your education and frick off to the USA.
I would rather eat glass then return to the united states, otherwise a good plan anon
>finish student shit
>go to leave
>get stopped
>"Oh I was suppose to do that again? I thought I did it right.... my school still let me attend and I just completed"
>CBP has better things to do and just tells you to frick off
wow so hard
I would rather eat glass then return to the united states, otherwise a good plan anon
So don’t go back then.
>your chances of being caught are high!
Lmao thats bullshit. Just dont interact with the cops and dont look brown.