hi all,

i was wondering what procedure is to be followed by americans who wish to renew their 3-month holiday visa while travelling abroad. must they return to the US to renew the visa, and if so, how long does it take to issue a new one?

basically, we're looking for a way to have an american stay with us for 6 months as an au pair. if we can't get her a work visa, we might try this system. she comes for 3 months, leaves the country and returns. but i'm wondering if she has to return to the states or whether she can just go to a non-schengen zone country. for example, she spends 3 months in spain after which time her schengen visa runs out. could she then go directly to ireland for example (non-schengen country) for a week or so, before returning with a renewed holiday visa for the schengen area?

would love to hear from anyone in the know! thanks in advance
laveva

laveva, first of all, u.s. citizens do not need any visa to visit spain as tourists. they have 90 days to be here in spain and do not need to justify their being here during those 90 days but keep in mind that the 90 day visit is as a tourist and technically the person cannot work (on the books anyway).

as for leaving and re-entering, i believe the law states that u.s. citizens can only be in spain for 3 continuous months within any given 6 month period so the person would not be able to leave the schengen zone for just a day or even a week but would have to leave for 3 months and then re-enter.

no, the person needs not return to the u.s.a., going to any non-schengen country is enough but again, the law states that they would have to stay in that country for 3 full months so this is not an option for you.

to be honest with you and off the record i am not sure why you do not just have them be illegal for the last 3 months. to date i have never heard of a u.s. citizen being booted out of spain because they overstayed their welcome. if you are paying them off the books, their staying for 6 months will not be a problem.

saludos,
jer...

thanks so much for the replies! my head was about to explode trying to think of all the different possible ways of getting her here!! technically she's going to be an au pair but will also teach 10 hours of english during the week. i have no problems with her staying over the 3 month period but i wouldn't like to create any difficulties for her a)leaving spain 90 days after her official 90-day stay has run out and b)trying to get a visa for any future visits/long-term stays. although, if you say they don't need a visa to come on holidays, then her over-staying her first holiday might not be a problem for her re-entering the country at a later date on holiday again?!?!?

i read somewhere that if they outstay their 90-day holiday, then they have to go to the police to get departure permission (or something like this) and possibly pay a fine on top, which in itself probably wouldn't be too bad if it didn't effect her future possibilities of getting a visa.

anyway, it's great to have more info re. entering and exiting the schengen area, at least that rules that option out for us (unfortunately!)!

I hear that the border police is getting stricter about these things, even with US citizens and they are beginning to fine people who overstay.
One option that would be sort of legal is, once the 90 days of her initial "tourist stay" are over, she can go to the police here in Spain and request permision for extended stay. This is basically a visa for a period longer than 90 days. She should not mention that she's working as an au pair or teaching English, just that she wants to travel some more or hang out with her friends or whatever. They will probably deny her this, but they take so long to process the paperwork that until she gets a denial from the police she's still legal and it could be about 1-3 more months. Once she gets the response she will have a certain amount of time to leave the country though. But when she leaves, if she has proof that she was waiting for a response to an extended stay request then they cannot fine her or anything.
Another option that she should look at, also legal and even better, is getting in contact with the nearest Spanish embassy/consulate in the US to where she lives and finding out if she can apply for an extended stay visa, to stay in Spain as a tourist for longer than 90 days. I have heard that this can be done and again, she should not say that she's coming to work but rather something about traveling, spending time with friends or distant relatives, learning Spanish freelance, something like that.
Good luck.

quote:

they are beginning to fine people who overstay.

that's classic. if you don't have the money to pay then what do they do?

- keep your luggage and auction it off
- not let you go home? that's giving you exactly what you wanted in the first place, a longer stay

i can hardly imagine them throwing one in jail.

it is not like on the road when you get pulled over and they make you pay the ticket in the act or they can tow your car and impound it.

i like lena's idea of filing for permision for extended stay but it has it's humorous side too. can you imagine the field where it asks the reason for requesting the extension and she fills in "ir de botellón con mis amigos" (have drinking parties in the streets with my friends)

saludos,
jer...