In May 2022 I set off from Southern Ireland for Northern Spain. I travelled down the Portuguese coast, to Porto Santo, Madeira and Gran Canaria. Not once was I asked to check into the Schengen area. All they wanted was my registration, insurance and passport details which were passed to the police.

Before leaving Ireland, I contacted the Vigo port authority about Schengen. This was their response.

Good morning, Mr. Mills

It does not make any difference at all. You must proceed as previously mentioned.

You should provide the data to the marina where you are calling and they will send it to the Immigration Police. It continues to be recreational navigation and therefore under the protection of what is included in the Schengen border code in section 3.2.4 of ANNEX VI

Best regards,

+x

 

adrianbiggs - 2 Dec 2022

Tunisia is another p-lace to restart the 180/90 day European rule

Hi Bill,
Smir, Morocco, is a stop that is easy and gets the boat and you out of the EU. There is easy bus service into the interior and the mountains.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy

Tunisia is another p-lace to restart the 180/90 day European rule

We're in Portugal now - where the immigration authorities has made all temporary visas good until March 31st - without need to file an extension. This is all Covid related so not a general rule. We're hoping it might get extended again in view of the recent covid increases...

Bill Balme

It turns out that the non-treaty-based national stay extension available in Spain is also available in Portugal, along similar lines. A non-OCC friend reports the following:

«We have done this in Portugal in Madeira.

Our “reason” was warranty issues with some work done in a shipyard in Lisbon. We presented the receipts of the time the boat had stayed in the yard and noted we needed to return to Lisbon to the yard for rectification of works.

No questions were asked or more details requested but we had to have flight tickets to depart Schengen to receive the visa extension.

Proof of a certain of amount of money in a bank account/ proof of income, and had to pay a fee of 1€ per day of visa.

We got 95 days, basically the date of the flight ticket.

We were informed we could not move on to any other Schengen country under that visa and that we would have to clear the passport time before re-entering Schengen

In Portugal the visa extension is requested at SEF (serviço de estrangeiros e fronteiras) counter in the Loja do Cidadão (it’s like a place that has all sorts of administrative service counters in big towns)»



So the Portuguese national extension is analogous to the Spanish one, except the officers in Rota and Cádiz realise sailors don’t fly and therefore do not request exit airplane tickets.

Dick,  100% agree with you on all points.

By the time we depart Spain in late January, we will have been 5 years 7 months in Europe, all this time as tourists.

Well, we are counting six months in Asia Minor (Turkey), three months in Israel, and two weeks in Tunisia as “Europe”, when in reality these three are not, but these were part of our Med Schengen strategy and it worked.

+x

 

Hasbun - 11/27/2020

I will re-post this here because I had forgotten all about it:

  Denmark has changed the terms of their automatic extension above and beyond Schengen for certain nationalities.

For people from NZ and US, an excellent update: days spent elsewhere in Scandinavia no are no longer deducted! One should be able to do 90 days Schengen, 90 days Norway/Sweden (combined), and 90 days Denmark, for a grand total 270 days before having to sail directly to Ireland, UK or Russia. Small new downside: any days spent in Denmark itself in the previous six months are now deducted. A big net win.

Malaysians, Chileans, Koreans, Australians, Canadians, Israelis, Japanese and Singaporeans, on the other hand, all get slightly worse terms than before. Here is the government page:


https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/Applying/Short%20stay%20visa/Visa%20free%20visits

Hi all,
This sounds like a great opportunity for those from the US and NZ wishing to cruise Europe at a more leisurely pace.
I would urge those vessels going this route to document every step of the way, both he relevant gov’t documents and the vessel documents pertaining to adhering to the rules.
My take for my 10+ years in Europe on a boat was that many officials are pretty fuzzy on the Schengen rules. Then there were the countries I experienced as aggressive in pursuit of Schengen violations and assumed guilt so you needed to document innocence. That said, most officials were just fine, but it only took one outlier to ruin your day.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy

I will re-post this here because I had forgotten all about it:

  Denmark has changed the terms of their automatic extension above and beyond Schengen for certain nationalities.

For people from NZ and US, an excellent update: days spent elsewhere in Scandinavia no are no longer deducted! One should be able to do 90 days Schengen, 90 days Norway/Sweden (combined), and 90 days Denmark, for a grand total 270 days before having to sail directly to Ireland, UK or Russia. Small new downside: any days spent in Denmark itself in the previous six months are now deducted. A big net win.

Malaysians, Chileans, Koreans, Australians, Canadians, Israelis, Japanese and Singaporeans, on the other hand, all get slightly worse terms than before. Here is the government page:


https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB/Applying/Short%20stay%20visa/Visa%20free%20visits

I would like to confirm that Spain, like Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, does issue national stay extensions beyond the 90 day Schengen limit. We had been told about this about 5 years ago from another U.S. cruiser who got it, but did not have 1st hand experience with it.

The Norwegian, Danish and Swedish stay extensions are treaty-based, so these are only available to about 20 countries, including Honduras and the U.S., for example. No justification is needed, though some paperwork may be required.

The Spanish extension is not based on any treaties, so anyone, even the British, can apply for it. However, justification is needed. In our case, we explained that because of hurricane season it was not safe to depart transatlantic on our 90-day expiry, the 3rd of November. Pleading safety and attaching documentation that proves hurricane season only ends the 1st of December, and that certain bodies advise an even later departure, we were issued extensions until the 3rd of February.

The cost was €17.50 per person, payable once the extension is approved, and €1.05 per person per day requested, payable before the extension is approved. In the Cádiz office, it appears the criteria is not too demanding, so I think if you have a half-decent excuse you will be issued.

Since this is Spain, expect no-one at the government offices to speak any foreign language. I doubt anyone with zero Spanish would succeed at navigating the procedural rigours, particularly in these times when the Cádiz office won’t give you the time of day unless you secure an online appointment weeks in advance.

The application will be summarily rejected unless on the day of application one is still within the original 90 day period.

The procedure exists, in reality, all over Spain, but issuance leniency and knowledge that it even exists will vary from city to city. The very same “Extranjería” government office in some cities issues extensions and unaccountably simply does not offer the service in others. Information on which ones do and do not is on the web but extremely difficult to find.

We’ve heard of others also getting extensions in La Coruña. If anyone has questions, feel free to reach out to me.

The RYA is conducting a survey of British citizens to see how Brexit will affect British boaters once Schengen rules kick in.  
https://marineindustrynews.co.uk/the-rya-asks-recreational-boaters-for-input-on-schengen-discussions/ 

Vice Commodore, OCC