Daughter studying in europe - over 90 days without Shengen visa! What next?

[ethorsen]

My daughter (US Citizen) had plans to spend 89 days in Italy studying and then travel to France for a week of tourism.

We checked with the French consulate on the Shengen visa before she left  and found that there was no need for a visa since the 90 days started over in France.

During her stay, she found an opportunity to study for three weeks in Spain, and is now finishing her course there, and will fly home in a week. We assumed that was ok since it was yet another country! We didn't even consider that she would need a visa since we didn't get one for the originally planned trip.

She will have been in Italy for 89 days, in France for 7 days, and in Spain for 17 days. How should she handle her departure in Spain? Will she be subject to a fine?

If it helps, she visited Croatia about a month ago and had her passport stamped, so technically she left the Shengen region after about 80 days, and returned to finish the itinerary listed above.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[steven]

If she leaves Spain after being 113 days within any 180 days period in the Schengen zone, she might get a fine as she will overstay the 90 days allowance. In the course of recent terrorist attacks, border controls are more invasive than years ago. If she wished to stay this long, she should have applied for a student visa, which might be relatively accessible for her as she is a US citizen. Having her studies completed now without student visa, I am afraid she needs to reconsider her plans as "tourist". An extension to tourist visa is possible, but in special circumstances only (humanitarian reasons, etc. - search this forum for more info) which is not her case.