Guide to legally stay past 90 days in the Schengen area (Bilateral Agreement hack)
I am writing this guide to help any one in the future who wants to take advantage of the bilateral agreement to legally stay 90 days in the Schengen area and then 90 additional days in certain Schengen countries. When I wanted to do it personally, I couldn’t find much info online. I tried searching Reddit and there’s been a few posts asking about this but not many people who actually tried it and can share their personal experience.
I am writing this guide for other US citizens, although it may work for other countries too depending on whether they have their own bilateral agreements with the countries:
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/c067e92d-5a8b-11e9-9151-01aa75ed71a1
Not many travel blogs talk about this bilateral agreement except NoamdicMatt’s. I first heard about it on his blog:
https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/how-to-legally-stay-in-europe-for-more-than-90-days/
Countries that do it: Denmark, Poland, France
Countries that possibly do it: Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Norway, Spain, Portugal, & Netherlands
Denmark:
I was successfully able to do it with Denmark:
https://www.reddit.com/r/solotravel/comments/syw46q/i_used_a_hack_to_stay_180_days_in_the_schengen/
Denmark official website:
https://nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/You-want-to-apply/Short-stay-visa/Visa-free-visits
Besides US citizens, this works for citizens from Australia, Canada, Chile, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea.
I called the Denmark Embassy, and they told me to call immigration services instead:
+45 35 36 66 00
Press: 0 then 6
I called them to confirm that there will be no problem at the border patrol.
- Would the border control at the airport understand the bilateral agreement or do I need to show him something in addition to my passport?
- Yes, they are usually informed.
- Can I go to a non-Schengen area and re-enter Denmark (even if I’m out of my 90 Schengen days)?
- Yes, you should be able to.
- Do I have to fly to Denmark from a non-Schengen area? (to get a stamp there)
- No.
I flew into Denmark from France, and because they are both Schengen, I wasn’t able to get a stamp when I entered Denmark. I was worried since they don’t know the exact date that I got into Denmark. However, when I left Denmark, the border patrol lady took my word that I stayed 89 days in Schengen, and then another 3 months in Denmark.
Poland:
In Poland, it seems required to enter from a non-Schengen country.
Lots of people seem to have tried the Poland one and it worked for them fine.
France:
https://www.reddit.com/r/solotravel/comments/mwvqwe/has_anyone_tried_to_argue_the_90_day_usfrance/
OP here says he called the embassy and they told him not to try it. This is different from the response I got from calling Denmark immigration services and they reassured me I can try it.
Spain and Portugal:
https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/qalolt/has_anyone_used_usaeu_bilateral_visa_agreements/
OP contacted the embassies for both Spain and Portugal, they told him that it doesn’t exist there.
Entering Schengen area as transit passenger:
After doing this, you will have used up all 90 Schengen days. Can you still enter the Schengen area just as a transit passenger to get back to the US?
Flying directly from Denmark to the US was expensive. There were cheap flights to the US from Portugal, Spain, Paris, Amsterdam, etc. I could not find any info on this online because it’s such an outlier case.
I asked this question before:
Most of the responses told me it’s not worth the risk. However, when I called the Denmark immigration services, they said it should be fine, I just need to call the specific country to check if I can. I didn’t want to risk it so I flew from Copenhagen to Dublin, and then Dublin back to the US. Flights were pretty cheap. If you also travel hack, you can get flights for around 30k miles. However, it may be possible if you actually call the specific country you are flying out of as a transit passenger.
A easier way:
An easier way to get around this 90-day Schengen limit is to just spend 90 days in a Non-Schengen area and then come back. You can go to Non-Schengen areas like the UK/ Ireland, Balkans, Turkey, Georgia, Cyprus, or African countries like Morocco or Egypt. But the Bilateral Agreement hack helps you extend it further. You can spend 90 days in Schengen, then 90 days in a bilateral agreement country, and then 90 days in Non-Schengen. This way you get 180 days in Schengen, 90 days in Non-Schengen, and you can repeat.
2023 ETIAS:
In 2023, everyone from non-EU countries who now can enter Europe’s Schengen area without a visa will need to have a travel authorization called ETIAS. The good news is that they are more clear on the bilateral agreement rules:
https://www.etiasvisa.com/etias-news/eu-bilateral-visa-waiver-agreements
For US citizens specifically: https://www.etiasvisa.com/etias-requirements/americans
Bilateral agreements between the US and EU:
Belgium - 3 months
Denmark - 3 months
Spain - 90 days
France - 90 days
Italy - 3 months
Latvia - 90 days in any half-year period
Hungary - 90 days
The Netherlands - 90 days
Norway - 90 days
Portugal - 60 days
Edit:
Updated a few things
Posted Feb 22, 2022, 10:57 PM UTC · edited