As a result of my previous life as a wage slave for a large multinational, I had no shortage of opportunities to organise travel and visas. Not just for me as an individual, but for (variously) my wife and me as a couple, our family of four, and for my individual kids as they grew up and started traveling independently.
So at various times I have had to use/arrange Schengen visa waivers (of course!), bilateral visa waivers in Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, study visas in France and the Netherlands, Working Holiday visas in Belgium and the Netherlands, 3 month Schengen visa extensions in Spain, 6-month tourist visas in France, one-year long visas in Germany, Irish passports by ancestry, and EU spousal residency in Italy.
No claim to being an expert here, but I feel I know the pain of those who are trying to navigate the Schengen mess. Read More
Subscribing to several forums and Facebook groups relevant to my interests, particularly traveling around Europe and sailing in the Mediterranean, I couldn’t help but notice the number of times would-be Euro-Nomads have asked how to stay longer in Europe.
I know some hacks, but I haven’t done it all, let alone across 27 countries. But collectively, there is a community of people from similar backgrounds, with similar interests who probably have. And not just sailors. Close friends spend 9 months a year house-sitting across Europe. Same problems. Motor-homers doing on land what I do on the sea. Same problems. Travelers from other countries in the anglophone diaspora – Canadians, Kiwis, Brits and Americans. Same Problems. And so, as a labor of love and as a means to occupy myself when the weather turns inclement, I have created this community site.
Schengen-Shuffle is set up as an information resource to assist fellow Euro-Nomads in understanding the complex visa rules in Europe and find loopholes and hacks that allow them to stay in Europe for more than 90 days. It is supposed to be a collaborative tool to collect and organize knowledge, experiences, and opinions from the community of fellow Euro-nomads, which can be used as a reference and resource for others in the community.
On top of pure information on the “rules” I hope to include lots of real life experiences in dealing with the rules, from me and (fingers-crossed) many guest contributors. And perhaps most importantly for some practical outcomes, there are some intractable problems that just needs someone to engage officialdom with a legal expert to solve for the collective good of all. So, I have added a couple of crowd-funding initiatives to pool donations to do just that.
This is a not-for-profit site with just one volunteer to play Editor, Author, Graphic Designer, IT Support and chief bottle-washer, so my apologies in advance for any teething problems getting this going. Feel free to contact me with ideas and suggestions to improve or advance. Like and subscribe. Do the survey. Donate a cup of coffee. Whatever. You know the drill. Just let me know you exist and I will be happy. Contribute an article and I’ll buy drinks for all!
