I'm planning on going to Germany. I'm in a Schengen country awaiting a residency permit which is accepted but not issued and won't be for months due to needing to apostille the background check.
If I wait for the permit to be issued, it's backdated from the time of application and therefore I have not overstayed schengen.
This country has a law allowing me to stay indefinitely while the application is in process.
But since it is in Schengen, I've been waiting for months and if I left, technically I've been in Schengen for more than 90 days, and don't have the residence permit yet.
Germany has a law that it looks like as a US citizen, I can stay visa-free up to 90 days. If this means Schengen doesn't apply, then I can go immediately.
But I have to get there. If I take the bus, there are no border checks within Schengen, and I will save hundreds of dollars. I'm not going to risk it if it's not technically legal though. I not going to risk a ban over a few hundred dollars.
If I fly, I will have to pay a lot of money due to my luggage and much higher cost of the flight versus a bus. My luggage is only a few dollars to take on the bus. It's hundreds on the flight and Ill have to throw away things to lighten it.
So I'm wondering if even the simple transit through another Schengen country if I took the bus would constitute overstaying since I don't have the residence permit yet, even though I'm in this country legally and still had time left on Schengen when I put my application in?