Wife and I are looking into this and there is a lot of mixed information on this. We don't want to stay longer than 6 months. Probably will be in Spain.

From what I have found so far we will need visas, but since we will not be working for any companies in europe we dont need working visas. There are such things as non lucrative visas, but it seems to be more for retirement.

Anyone have any experience doing this?

I would reach out to a few passport / visa services in your town to ask what may be required. In my unqualified opinion, you would not need a work permit for an extended period in the EU.

I went to Spain a couple months ago. They were real lax about letting me in. Just asked a couple questions, I told them I was there for work, they stamped my passport and that was it.

When I last entered the EU through Germany two years ago, those guys wanted to see my proof of accomodation, return airline tickets, etc.

But, yeah, the advice about staying for 90 days as a tourist, leaving and coming back is on the right track.

Well the law for EU is 90 days in a 180 day period. So if you left you would need to leave for 90 days.

EU (Shengen) goes by the 90/180 rule. You can go into an EU (non-shengen) country for 90 days and reenter EU (Shengen) for another 90 days.

For example, you could do 90 days in Spain; followed by 90 days in Croatia; followed by 90 more days in Spain; followed by 90 days in Ireland/UK, followed by another 90 in Spain and still be legal. Any mix of Shengen / non-Shengen EU but no longer than 90 days in one place (unless UK which will give you 180 days).

They'll check you going out at most major air hubs. If you overstay or violate the 90/180 rule you could catch a 5-year ban from the EU.

There are also countries like Hungary (and maybe Poland and Denmark) that have a visa-waiver exception for US citizens. Under that program you can get another 90 days tacked on for a total of 6-months, but I believe you you may technically have to stay inside the country that issued the visa waiver. However, there are no border checks traveling by land in the EU, so, as long as you get an exit stamp leaving from the original visa waiver country when you depart, you might be ok.

https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/how-to-legally-stay-in-europe-for-more-than-90-days/

You could probably register for a language course and stay longer than 3 mos.

Considering doing 90 days in Spain and another 2 months in Croatia.

That's awesome. Make sure you post about your experience. I'd love to do the same.

HBCanine08 said:

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That's awesome. Make sure you post about your experience. I'd love to do the same.

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Agreed.

Enjoy