Extend your stay in Europe

Dancing the Schengen Shuffle' is a new challenge for British sailors in the Mediterranean and elsewhere in Europe. Mike Morgan looks at how to keep sailing beyond 90 days

- Mike Morgan

Spending more than three months sailing in the Mediterranean, as a UK citizen, and remaining within the confines of the EU visa rules can be challenging. With the addition of Croatia to the Schengen area in January this year (2023), now all EU countries are included except for Ireland. Schengen is an agreement between EU countries that allows their citizens unlimited visa-free travel across all member states. Since Brexit, however, the rules have changed for UK citizens on how much time we can spend in the EU. Put simply, the Brexit agreement allows a visa-free stay for a period of no longer than 90 days in any 180 days. This is a rolling 180 days, so you just can’t stay for 6 months in the summer.

This is especially challenging for those of us who own boats or property in EU countries. Ironically when the UK Government negotiated the terms of Brexit, they allowed EU citizens to have visa-free travel in the UK for 180 days.

It now means that in the 27 EU countries with coastlines on the Med you are hugely restricted on where and how long you can stay if, like me, you want to cruise for six months or more. It is possible, but you need to plan carefully. This article covers the person, and not the boat, which has its own set of conditions to stay in the EU, mostly around VAT implications.

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