Over the last few years like lots of people, John and I had enjoyed motorhome touring freedom across Europe, with the only restriction on our movement being the need to come back to the UK to see family, friends and of course a yearly MOT, but sadly this came to an end when the UK left the EU (Brexit) meaning our potential long trips of the continent were no more to be, and as British passport holders we can only stay for a maximum of 90 days per 180-day period without a visa in the Schengen area.
I can’t speak for John but I didn’t vote to leave the EU, so I feel strongly about other people making decisions on my behalf of when and for how long I can travel. I want to be in control of my own destiny, I don’t want to have to get permission for what I see as a ‘License to live’ and to be honest I haven’t found many people (apart from a few Brexiters ) on my travels that wanted to leave the EU either. I accept that things needed to change but leaving completely was never considered an option in my view.
I personally still can’t see ANY benefit to leaving & will always be a proud remoaner. And my sadness is for the next generations, who won’t enjoy all the privileges we have benefitted from the last 40 years.
Ironically all these months on there’s been no change to our country’s situation so I think time will tell and it will interesting to see how things pan out in years to come.
That aside John and I started looking at visas for non-EU citizens who wish to visit for longer than the maximum of 90 days, but the process of gaining permission is a minefield and can be intimidating, to say the least. With many sources of information and all of them seem to say something different it just leads you to more confusion and frustration.
With all this in mind, we decide to embark on a trip with no definite date of return knowing when our passports were stamped at Dover on the way out there were going to be consequences on the way back.
However, before we left the UK we were told that it was possible to apply for a visa in Portugal so we put the wheels in motion when we arrive there but this was short-lived when we are told we have to continue the process back in the ones home country.
Whilst we don’t recommend people staying over the 90-day limit we found there were no border checks between France, Spain and Portugal well let’s just say no one checked our passports.
Waiting to see our fate as we queue up to board the ferry in Calais I debated on whether to write this post but we have nothing to hide.
We know this is against the rules and some people will frown at our decision to go against the EU and government ruling but honestly, there are far worst problems going on in the world. And if Liz, Boris, Macron anyone of their merry men (I think they have more important things to deal with though) wants to have a chat about why we have overstayed then they are welcome to come and find us because we have a few questions for them too.
Anyway back to the French border control and we hand over our passports and wait, and after much tapping on the French policeman’s calculator, he opens the booth and says “we have a zeproblem” and by the look on his face he isn’t sure what to do with us and goes to get reinforcements. By now we should have been boarding the ferry instead we are taken to one side and wait.
The arrival of another policeman now means there are now two confused, looking policemen looking at the calculator, and their expression ranges from amazement to shock they then proceed to tell us we have “broken zelaw, you have been here 193 days”, and go on to say we must pay a fine which is what we were expecting, and once again we wait whilst that figure out what paperwork is required.
Now, this is the interesting part, first, they tell us if we had come out on the 17th March and returned home today we would have been within the time limit which doesn’t make any sense what’s so ever and then inform us that the fine will be €198 each which needs to be paid in ‘CASH’, unfortunately, we only have €40 in cash, however that is soon taken from us and is supposedly making its way to Paris!
John is then asked to make his way into the office where documents and our passports are stamped, before they send us on our way, telling us we are welcome to return tomorrow.
Boarding a later than scheduled ferry we return to the UK, we have been away like the policeman said 193 days, was it worth it, absolutely. Would we do anything differently next time, hell no……..well we might stock up on a few more bottles of salad cream and an extra large box of tea ?
The visa restrictions thing is madness , I applaud the original poster and their actions ..it’s inconvenient and costs the host countries a mint ..
Absolute madness, time consuming and costly for all, let’s hope things change in the future
I appaul the 90 day rule.. but I dont think I would take the chance of not being able to re enter the Schengen area if stamped as an overstayer.. to much to risk.
Thank you for messaging. Your absolutely right it’s such a risk, and I must say we did try for a visa before leaving for our trip. We were also told that we could apply in Portugal, which we started straight away when we arrived there, however the consulate in London failed to tell us we would have to return to the Uk to complete the process. We have no regrets because it’s given us a better insight of how complicated and how little is none by the authorities, let’s hope things change and it’s made easier in the future, Safe travels
I am a fervent remainer and have tried every angle to be able to stay in the EU for > 90 days. Like you, we are used to being able to stay longer – a year once for us. The visa route is absolutely tortuous. You have to complete it at an embassy in your country of residence which means a 10 hour round trip for us down to Edinburgh. So, as long as they make it so hugely difficult, there’s no surprise folk break the ill thought-out and badly executed rules. If we’d been brave enough we’d have done the same as you. X
Thank you for your reply, brave isn’t what I would consider ourselves. We tried the legal route applying for visas in our home country and in Europe and came up against a brick wall. A trip to speak to lawyers in Portugal and telephone calls to London still resulted us being back to square one. Law breaking isn’t something we would normally do or encourage, however, it’s proved to us that French border force aren’t fully up to speed with procedures because they were unsure of what to do with us. We now plan to try and tackle the visa route once again x
Very well done chaps! Very interesting to read your defiant story. So..did you get away with just €40 and why “cash”..I wonder? (no, I don’t)? We agree with everything you say about Brexit. Now, next time, catch the ferry from Spain and see how that goes…? Xx
Thank you. We aren’t one for breaking the law but I feel strongly about this and we did try the visa route. However, you have us thinking now with the Spainish route ?
Hope you are both well? X
Absolutely brilliant and well done. Don’t blame you one bit. Here’s to all us remainers.
Thank you, we aren’t ones to break the law but feel strongly about this situation