My visa expires on March 17th and my plane arrives at 9:10 PM on that day. I will then take a bus from the airport to the Schengen border, reaching the border around 2:00 AM on March 18th (so I will leave the Schengen area 2 hours past the expiry date on my visa). What kind of consequences will I face for being late?
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6Will you arrive into the Schengen area on that last day of Schengen visa validity or are you inside the Schengen area already then?– Willeke ♦Feb 27 at 18:15
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11Given the date is so far in the future, why don't you contact the immigration officials and see if you can work something out? Or perhaps reschedule your flights so that you don't overstay?– ProgrammingLlamaFeb 28 at 2:26
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19The travel times you claim only work if everything goes according to plan. Any sort of travel mess-up could delay you further, and that will be your fault for failing to account for delays. Therefore I would move the departure up a full day so you have 22 hours of recovery time for delays.– Harper - Reinstate MonicaFeb 28 at 4:10
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3@Rsf That's not what I'm talking about. I'm responding to Harper's comment about travel delays, specifically "that will be your fault for failing to account for delays".– user71659Feb 28 at 8:33
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7@user71659 COVID lockdown. Earthquake. Special Military Operation. 11/9/01 national ground stop. Those are "force majeure". Rainstorm delaying a departure for an hour causing you to miss a connection, that's just another day at the airport.– Harper - Reinstate MonicaFeb 28 at 18:48
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1 Answer
Some sort of sanction is always theoretically possible but would seem unlikely, at least if you already are on your way out. However, I think the question and earlier answer miss the main issue, which has been alluded to in several comments.
If you present yourself to a Schengen external border on the day your visa expires, you should be asked how you plan to exit the area in time not to violate the conditions of that visa. The details of your visa are also much more likely to be scrutinised when entering than when leaving. And since you are clearly planning to overstay, it seems to me that the only legal decision is to refuse entry. Unlike possible sanctions for a brief overstay, this is not a matter at the discretion of the border guards, you plainly do not fulfil the conditions for entry as laid out in the Schengen Borders code.
If the border guards do notice and act on it, it would have severe consequences. You would be detained until you can be put on a plane back to where you came from. In addition to ruining this trip, it would create a black mark on your record that you will have to report for many future visa applications, even beyond the Schengen area.
If the flight you mention in your question is indeed a flight from a place outside the Schengen area then I would strongly recommend finding a ticket allowing you to catch an earlier bus or cancelling this trip altogether, even if it's expensive.
