Shan and I are currently in Rhode Island planning our summer 2015 cruise on North Star to France, Spain and Portugal with the intention of arriving in Canaries in November and crossing to St. Lucia in early January. The problem is Schengen 's 90-day limits for non-EU residents.

I am currently looking into the possibility of applying for a French visitor visa for 1-yr residence (D Visa). We want to cruise leisurely south along the west coast of France, linger in the rias in Spain and Portugal and make an unhurried passage to Madeira and Canaries. The biggest issue seems to be not having a fixed residence to list on the application.

I have not heard of anyone doing this successfully. On the CA website one suggested that it was possible. Has anyone been successful in finding a way around the 90-day Schengen limits for non-EU residents?

Hi OH and David,
I was in and out of the UK for 5+ years (US flag) and used the hotline most every time. They would sometimes send someone to visit us personally, sometimes we had to request it as we preferred to get the actual stamp in our passports that we had cleared out of Schengen visa territory. (I assumed they kept records that would pop up if there was the need to track us in the future and we had finessed the actual stamp-getting.) They were always very accommodating and for the 3 years we wintered over on St. Katherine Docks, they came to us, as we called in from anchorages. As for Shetland, we did not use the hotline as the port Authorities would call immigration/customs, a very pleasant official who would come to the boat. The UK with its 6 month visa and the UK being not a part of Schengen played a huge part in allowing any reasonable cruising of Northern Europe. This is aside from being wonderful cruising grounds itself.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy