European Visa Laws and What Happens When You Break Them

To start this post I would like to say that this is 100% from personal experience and no way will these statements help you in a court of law.

With that being said, I have been living in Italy on and off for over 4 years on a free, normal, 3 month-stamped tourist visa and I am American with an American passport. Remember, I am writing this for American passport holders only.

By Schengen law, a person from the United States can come to Europe (the Schengen countries) as a tourist with a 3 month stamp. The rules of this three-month permit are that after 90 days, you must leave the Schengen area for at least 3 months before returning back into any of these countries in the region.

When I first starting dating my Italian boyfriend, I was completely unaware of this law. Quickly through other more responsible friends and fellow travelers I learned the consequences of disobeying the visa regulations. Allegedly, if you over stay your visa, you should be fined up to $12,000 and banned from Europe for 7 years. This was what I was told and what I read on the internet.

I am writing this post to tell you it’s bullshit. After many years of stressing and counting days I decided to gamble my luck and break the rules. At first I began by staying my 90 days, traveling back to america and then returning to Europe a month or two later. I went through France, Italy and even one time through Amsterdam. They stamped my passport before they looked at my face.

Legend has it, that in the north of Europe, they will fine your and deport you on the spot. I’m not recommending to try this and you can be sure AF you will not catch me crossing a German border, but as of returning early, no one has ever batted an eye.

Now came my final dice roll. I actually overstayed my visa. For 3 months. Now grant it, once you are in Europe, you are free. No one will ever check your passport from country to country for anything other than identification. (Same goes for the USA unless you are Mexican and under a Trump raid) But exiting EU after a solid five month straight stay scared the shit out of me. When I got to the immigration in Milan airport, the Italian officer was watching a youtube video on his phone. He never looked at my face nor my passport. ‘Stamp’ and “next”. That was it.

I believe that it’s true, a quote I once read when googling the shit out of Schengen laws years ago: “Italians don’t like problems”. I believe it’s mostly because they are very lazy and couldn’t be bothered to do the extra work to find your last stamp and then deal with the issue. But then again the same goes for Spain, Greece, and Portugal.

I am writing this because I wish I could have found someone who told me the truth on the internet four years ago instead of just stating written laws. Again, I would not recommend trying your luck through Germany or Belgium but the stress of staying a little longer than allowed and exiting out of the south is definitely not a problem.

To be fair, if you want to stay in Europe for a long amount of time and don’t want to deal with this issue, my advise is to marry a European.

I hope this helps anyone that finds them self in an interesting life of travel and if you have any other former experience in this matter, please comment below.

With love and bravery, keep traveling,

Lyla