I need some information about staying in Italy for more then three months without the extended visa. I am an?

Question

American citizen and what I want to know is if I cross the border from Italy into Switzerland after two months and 28 days, can I just return to Italy and have another three months allowed to stay? And if so, how long would I have to be out of the country (Italy)? And would Switzerland be okay since it is not part of the EU? I'd appreciate as much information and details as you know. Grazie

Answer 1

You can fly to any other country to extend your stay. If you drive and even fly within the EU they dont stamp your passport so the Italians really will not know if you left or not. I dont think anything will happen when you leave if you stay for more than 90 days unless you are causing trouble because I know people that stayed longer than 90days and didnt get into trouble when they left and they didnt have a visa. But Switzerland should be ok you only have to get the passport stamped so you can go there and then leave again but I would stay a day if possible. I know many people that do this.

Answer 2

You need to be away for 90 days out of the Schengen area in order to get another 90 days. If you want to stay for longer than 90 days in Italy, apply for a D-type Italian national Schengen visa at the Italian embassy before you leave home (ie if you normally live in the USA, apply in the USA).

Note that Switzerland is scheduled to join the Schengen area in 2008, so the scheme "90 days Italy, 90 days Switzerland and then 90 days in Italy again" will only work in 2007. The Schengen area is also not the same as the EU, so you could easily spend your 90 days in the UK or Ireland as they are not part of Schengen either.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_tr...

http://www.travellerspoint.com/search.cf...

Answer 3

Ciao Roma - contact John Murphy at The Informer... if there is anyone who can help you it's John.