Longterm stay in Europe for non-EU citizen is tricky, but do-able. There are a few options, emphasis on few. Europe currently has a 90-day limit, though there is quite a bit of variation in terms of specific countries in Europe. The 90-day limit applies to countries in the Schengen Zone (Austia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourn, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). Ireland, the UK and a few other countries are not on this list and have their own visa requirements.
The easy way to “live”in Europe on a tourist visa is to stay 90 days in a country in the Schengen Zone, then travel for 90 days in countries not part of the Schengen Zone and then you can head back into the zone for another 90 days. If you wish to actually stay in one place for longer than 90 days it gets a bit more complicated.
Nomadic Matt recently rewrote an excellent article detailing all the options for extended stay in Europe, including details on the Swedish and French year long tourist visas, the self-employment visas in Germany, and loopholes to the system. It’s one of the very best resources I’ve come across in terms of detailed explanation to the European extended visa problem and how you get around it. Being such a great resource I decided to share it with you, my readers. If you know of a visa or other method to stay longer please drop me an email so I can share your tip on my blog.
Nomaic Matt’s tips on How to (Legally) Stay in Europe for Longer than 90 Days