Goodbye “Morgan’s Cloud”, What a Ride

Hi Martin,
Probably more than you wished for.
(Please note that much of the following was written pre-Brexit and pre-Corona Virus, so a heightened awareness of Schengen visa regulations and their enforcement could reasonably be expected. It is also a mash-up of responses I have written in the past, so please forgive repetition and editing issues. And, also, reasonable people may take issue with some of my comments.)
Our take is that it is very hard for cruisers to reasonably cruise Europe and stay in Schengen compliance (90 days/3 months out of 180 days/6 months in Schengen countries), especially if you are live-aboard. US, NZ and Aus. cruisers (and other countries) are particularly burdened as they have a long (and expensive) way to go to get home when their Schengen visa time is gone: not to mention that 3 months is a very short season for some.
There are cruisers who have found ways to become “temporary residents” of an EU country which allows for longer visits (and perhaps other strategies). More information on this can be found at the Ocean Cruising Club’s web site in the “Cruisers Forum” area.
The following is meant to be a description of what we have found, done and learned with respect to Schengen visa rules in Europe. We would wish this to be considered information (not vetted) rather than guidance. We very much wished to follow the Schengen rules as we wish to abide by rules/regulations generally in our life. We are guests in the countries we visit and do not want to abuse this privilege nor do we wish to set a bad precedent for cruisers to follow.
We have been following this in detail since 2006 (till 2016). Our observations below are based on our actual experience as well as first hand reports. We have spent 11+ years in Europe (split between the Med and Northern Europe); the first 8 as full-time live-aboards and the last few years cruising 6-7 months and leaving the boat for the winter.
For context, we are a couple, and we are often stopped by authorities and our history has indicated that we are likely to get caught whenever we break a rule (sometimes inadvertently), which is ironic considering how we careful we generally are.
We pay attention to our world and we know a lot of cruisers. We collect information where possible and do a fair amount of networking. All foreign flagged European cruisers talk a lot about Schengen.
To our knowledge: we know of no cruiser who has been fined or sanctioned for Schengen violation (I am sure there must be examples, but in the hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand at this point, of foreign-flagged boats known and all the networking done, we do not know of any. (See below for close calls.) (Not a Schengen violation, but we know of one Australian who violated UK’s 6-month visa and was denied re-entry for 3 months. Their lesson: do not ask questions of immigration officials: just answer their questions and move on.) Some cruisers have for years been in Europe and paid no attention to Schengen rules. They tend to keep a low profile and have often made a “home” in a particular area so they do not move around or cross borders as most cruisers will do. We also know of a number, including us, who have been warned that they were about to be over their limit.
A few general notes:

1.     Schengen concerns seem twofold when specifics are mentioned “Do you intend to work for pay and/or do you intend to access medical help (or other “welfare” type generosities)?” We are very sympathetic to the need for regulations and for the necessity to ensure compliance. Very few people travel like cruisers do (slowly and with lots of time) and there are very few of us: so, it is not a surprise that there are no regulations designed with us in mind. We do not ever want to do things that harm or undermine our host country. There is a saying that we should “leave only footprints, take only pictures”: for cruisers this might be adjusted to say that we would wish to leave only money and good will and to take only memories and souvenirs (and to leave a clean wake).
2.     The UK is not a Schengen country and gives a 6-month visa to US boats. A very reasonable cruise plan could be to leave (or over-winter in) the UK and spend 3 months in Schengen countries and then return to the UK which can certainly fill up the rest of the season with terrific cruising. We did this based out of the Shetland Islands which were only an overnight from Norway and spent the next 3 months in Norway going N. The next season, we went S and around for another few months in Norway.
3.     We met a number of people living on their boat who have been in Europe for years paying no attention to Schengen rules and have had no trouble. They tend to have a low profile and often have made a “home” of a certain area and do not move around much or at all.
4.     We understand that Schengen is mainly to manage immigrant labor and local services and not to regulate the relatively few cruisers immigration has to deal with. Most officials (not airport or ferry) seem to recognize this and, in the long run, seem to cut cruisers some slack.
5.     The rule is written 3 months in and 3 months out. In practice, some cruisers leave within the 3-month period, get their passport stamped in a non-Schengen country, and then return and considering the clock to have re-started. At least one immigration official in the Med suggested this as a reasonable option and we know some cruisers who have operated in this way.
6.     Close calls we are aware of:
a.     We know one couple who returned to their boat which had been left in a Schengen country (Finland) when leaving to visit a country out of Schengen. Their being out of compliance with Schengen prior to departure was not noticed when they left, but it was noticed upon return and they were denied entry. With much angst and explanation that their home (their boat) was in Finland, they were eventually allowed into the country to get to their boat as long as they left immediately.
b.     We were caught in violation once (by a long period because of some unexpected and serious health issues that kept us in port for months) and threatened with fines approaching 1,000 euro each. Although we learned later that it was known as a “tough” port (Rhodes in Greece), they finally let us leave with no fine after a couple days of consideration. It appeared to us that they did not want really to fine/sanction us. We think it was also clear that, in general, our working hard in good faith to comply with regulations, even if not done perfectly, makes a difference and is recognized by (most) officials
It is also our experience that many immigration officials just do not know the Schengen rules very well (port and coastal authorities in particular) and most have no clue about a cruiser’s traveling style, especially how slowly we move (airport and ferry terminal officials especially in this regard), and how the Schengen rules were in no way designed to regulate us. Do not expect consistency (either in caring about the rule or in application, especially country to country), and there is no central clearing house for info. There is much mis-information among officials, and, for sure, also among cruisers. Finally, we are just too small a group for most officials to have had much contact with us, so we are an unusual anomaly and therefore worthy of official wariness, again especially from airport and ferry terminal officials.
As said, airport and major ferry terminals are much stricter/more diligent than port/coastal authorities. They (seem to) assume everyone is illegal till proved different while coastal officials (seem to) assume you are likely ok. Coastal officials often have a more intimate knowledge of you as they may be on your boat etc. and have dealt with occasional cruisers before. Both airports and ferry terminals have given us a hard time (usually just warning lectures), while port authorities give us a pass if they pay attention at all; they seem to recognize that we are in an awkward place, and that the rules were generated to control populations other than the cruising community (major concerns seem to be abusing work rules and medical availability). This recognition is much harder for officials in airports and ferry terminals where they are dealing with multitudes and rarely if ever see cruisers. Finally, luck plays a part: anybody, even a squeaky-clean traveler, can meet the official who has awakened on the wrong side of his/her bed and can receive a hard time (and there is always something one can get a hard time about).
Our understanding of Schengen is that you can be in Schengen countries for 3 months out of 6, 90 days out of 180. We believe that is what is written, but a couple of immigration officials (in the Med) have suggested that they think it acceptable to leave for a few days, collect a passport stamp from a non-Schengen country and then return to Schengen visa countries and they would consider the clock started again. Turkey is not in the EU but shifted their visa policies to be in line with the EU from back when it was contemplating joining the EU. As a result, over-wintering in Turkey always entailed the hiring of a fish boat mid-winter to take us to a Greek island to get stamped out of Turkey, returning in the afternoon to check back into Turkey. This re-started Turkey’s 3-month visa clock.
It was hard (for us) not to be in violation of Schengen Visa rules occasionally. The above worked for us for more than 10 years, but clearly with effort and expense, and not without a bit of crossing our fingers and making decisions based on compliance to Schengen rather than our cruising wishes. We do not have any idea whether we have been “lucky” or not. We know some, actually quite a few, who are less diligent than we are (ie. pay little or no attention) and many who do variations on what we do. Very few full-time cruisers we know (one boat only comes to mind) follow the 3 months out of 6 religiously.
Bottom line, Europe is an amazing and wonderful area to cruise and we would not have missed it for the world. I would far rather be writing about the many joys of cruising Europe, than writing about Schengen. But it is definitely a reality that must be paid attention to.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy