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Yeah, yikes. Definitely don't overstay a Schengen Visa. I'm not sure where you got that from the article but you're right that it's not a good plan. Beyond t

Yeah, yikes. Definitely don't overstay a Schengen Visa. I'm not sure where you got that from the article but you're right that it's not a good plan. Beyond that, I can only speak from personal experience. 15 years and counting without running into any issue working from the road.

peterjmag 12y ago
Ah, it seems I misinterpreted that paragraph. You mean to say that you're unlikely to get caught working while you're there on an otherwise legal tourist visa, right? I agree that it's less risky, but I'm still not sure I'd recommend it. Either way, sorry to jump on you.
- jasonkester 12y ago
  Hey, do you have a link handy for that easy German freelance visa? I'd love to update the article if there has indeed been such a major change in the last couple years and it's now easy to get a visa to stay in the EU. For me back in 2007, several hours on the phone with Spanish immigrations got me no further than that I'd have to travel back to Los Angeles and deal with the embassy there for as long as it took, and that the best hope of an end result would be a visa that was valid for 6 months (instead of the 3 you get for just turning up). Anything better than that would be a really pleasant thing to know about!
mr_luc 12y ago
Yeah, I don't see where in your article you encourage overstaying visas! I spent the last 7 years living in pacific South America, during the last 4 of which I hacked remotely several months each year. In the rare event that someone is targeted for working in-country, it's almost always because they are doing local work. The infamous example are some of the hippy burnouts 'teaching English' in the cities along the coast. Sometimes those types have a) overstayed their visa, and b) are working illegally in the country in a job that lots of Ecuadoreans would prefer to have. And so they get blackmailed by the owner of the English school! (This actually happens). You would have to be pretty brazen to tempt investigation for working over the internet. Like, if you painted a giant logo on the side of your house with your business name or something. But re: the visa issue, and visa runs: Many countries that allow US citizens to come in as tourists on their passports have totally legal extensions that you can file to the automatic passport visa. In the case of Ecuador, for instance, this lets you legally spend 9 months of every year there without doing more than filing a paper and paying $180 a couple of months after coming into the country. So you take a 3-month trip each year, and otherwise have a stable home base to work out of. :)
codecamper 12y ago
Please don't be so afraid of the Schengen zone. If everyone follows this advice there will be no more US / European marriages. You can hop between Schengen and UK or Ireland, or Croatia, or Romania indefinitely. Nobody will care. The UK is the hardest of them all -- asking tons of questions. Nobody else is so tough. So go to Ireland. Nicer people and much better weather. (just one of these is true) If you want to go to the UK, go there from Ireland. Nobody will ask a single question then & there will be no stamp. 15 years ago it was much easier. I lived in the Czech Republic for > 8 years, without even bothering to get a Visa. Many people I knew did the same. Never heard of anyone having a problem except for one friend who was a little bit drug crazed and burnt out and had a bit of a spat with a border officer on the way out. Now CZ is schengen, so you need a Visa, or you need to stay just 3 months in 6.

peterjmag 12y ago

Ah, it seems I misinterpreted that paragraph. You mean to say that you're unlikely to get caught working while you're there on an otherwise legal tourist visa, right? I agree that it's less risky, but I'm still not sure I'd recommend it. Either way, sorry to jump on you.

jasonkester 12y ago
Hey, do you have a link handy for that easy German freelance visa? I'd love to update the article if there has indeed been such a major change in the last couple years and it's now easy to get a visa to stay in the EU. For me back in 2007, several hours on the phone with Spanish immigrations got me no further than that I'd have to travel back to Los Angeles and deal with the embassy there for as long as it took, and that the best hope of an end result would be a visa that was valid for 6 months (instead of the 3 you get for just turning up). Anything better than that would be a really pleasant thing to know about!

mr_luc 12y ago

Yeah, I don't see where in your article you encourage overstaying visas! I spent the last 7 years living in pacific South America, during the last 4 of which I hacked remotely several months each year. In the rare event that someone is targeted for working in-country, it's almost always because they are doing local work. The infamous example are some of the hippy burnouts 'teaching English' in the cities along the coast. Sometimes those types have a) overstayed their visa, and b) are working illegally in the country in a job that lots of Ecuadoreans would prefer to have. And so they get blackmailed by the owner of the English school! (This actually happens). You would have to be pretty brazen to tempt investigation for working over the internet. Like, if you painted a giant logo on the side of your house with your business name or something. But re: the visa issue, and visa runs: Many countries that allow US citizens to come in as tourists on their passports have totally legal extensions that you can file to the automatic passport visa. In the case of Ecuador, for instance, this lets you legally spend 9 months of every year there without doing more than filing a paper and paying $180 a couple of months after coming into the country. So you take a 3-month trip each year, and otherwise have a stable home base to work out of. :)

codecamper 12y ago

Please don't be so afraid of the Schengen zone. If everyone follows this advice there will be no more US / European marriages. You can hop between Schengen and UK or Ireland, or Croatia, or Romania indefinitely. Nobody will care. The UK is the hardest of them all -- asking tons of questions. Nobody else is so tough. So go to Ireland. Nicer people and much better weather. (just one of these is true) If you want to go to the UK, go there from Ireland. Nobody will ask a single question then & there will be no stamp. 15 years ago it was much easier. I lived in the Czech Republic for > 8 years, without even bothering to get a Visa. Many people I knew did the same. Never heard of anyone having a problem except for one friend who was a little bit drug crazed and burnt out and had a bit of a spat with a border officer on the way out. Now CZ is schengen, so you need a Visa, or you need to stay just 3 months in 6.