Traveling on an EU student visa before acquiring a residence permit?

August 20, 2016 5:57 PM

Traveling in, out and around the EU Schengen zone on an American passport that includes an EU student visa before finishing the residence permit process?

Last week I entered the EU on my 1 year student visa a few weeks early to get a jump on this city's student apartment market. That is going very well and I've almost secured a place with a Sept. 1 move in date.

I have invitations from friends to visit Bosnia, Italy and Croatia as soon as my living situation is decided here and I plan to go to at least two of those countries in the next two weeks before school starts. I heard from another well-travelled student that it may be problematic to travel like this on a single entry student visa like what I have. I know that you are not my immigration lawyer, but I'm curious what MeFi knows about whether I really should be worried and if there is an official answer anywhere on the web. Croatia is EU but not totally up to Schengen standards yet. Obviously, Bosnia will require leaving the EU.

My thinking: On one hand, I could do all this August travel if I had no student status and I was just an American tourist since I'm not going to come close to the 90/180 days limit. That is to say, the student visa just seems superfluous until classes start. On the other hand, "single entry" seems pretty self-explanatory. But my thinking is not necessarily equal to the law's letter, so it would be good to better understand what my status as a visa holder without a residence permit really means.

If this is all doable, please let me know the gotchas (e.g. making sure to get a stamp at any particular border).

posted by Skwirl to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

I wouldn't do this. Visas aren't something to mess around with. If you entered the country on a single-entry visa, then I think it would be pretty foolish to count on the relevant authorities letting you in a second time.

It's true that as an American, you would usually have the visa-waiver thing. But the problem is, as various European bureaucrats have told me: you can't hold two different visas for the same country at the same time. In every place I've lived, you can't even apply for two different visas at the same time. You have to pick one. If you had entered the Schengen area on the visa waiver program, then you could probably enter and exit the country without a problem, because you'd still be using the visa waiver (which is, in its way, a certain type of visa). But since it sounds like you entered the country using the student single-entry visa, then I think you have to abide by those rules.

Once you get your residence permit, then go visit your friends in the Balkans.
posted by colfax at 6:27 AM on August 21, 2016

Single entry means just that. If you leave the EU now, you won't be able to come back in on your student visa. Save Croatia and Bosnia for when you have your resident permit.

Also, not totally up to Schengen standards doesn't mean anything. Croatia is just not part of the Schengen agreement.
posted by Kwadeng at 7:03 AM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

I would suggest ask at the us embassy in the ccountry you now reside. I agree with colfax that it is not worth the risk. All schengen states are currently applying the law very stringently and conservatively. Dont go without consulting your embassy.
posted by 15L06 at 7:04 AM on August 21, 2016

You will be fine. I did exactly this (but on an Australian passport). Undoubtedly your student visa is for a specific country (not the EU as a whole), so it doesn't mean anything specifically to any other EU country, other than the fact that you've been granted one being somewhat evident that you are ok to be travelling within the EU. In theory it might require you to exit and re-enter, but I couldn't see this being enforced to the point of mattering. You don't say whether or not the country you have been granted a student visa in is Schengen or not, but it probably doesn't matter anyway.
posted by ryanbryan at 8:53 PM on August 25, 2016

Also, are you sure your student visa is single entry? I cannot imagine any country ever granting a *residence permit* as single entry.
posted by ryanbryan at 8:58 PM on August 25, 2016

Also, Americans don't need a tourist visa for EU or Schengen countries, so for all intents and purposes, that distinction means nothing to you from a visa perspective. The distinction that would matter is countries Americans need tourist visas for, and ones they don't.
posted by ryanbryan at 9:09 PM on August 25, 2016

Best answer: This is a data point for anyone who finds this in the future (And not any kind of immigration advice in any way, shape or form): In addition to Asking Metafilter, I asked the Hungarian Consulate Officer that I worked with in the United States. They were kind enough to reply to my email and took the position that my travels would be fine because of the US VISA waiver. I took the trip, passed every border without a problem and I had no problem finishing my immigration process and obtaining the residence permit when I returned.

The trip was fricking amazing and totally worth it. :D
posted by Skwirl at 2:46 PM on September 22, 2016