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I searched about this a lot, I read the old discussions (including the most linked one How does the 90/18 days rule works, and what I could find about student visas), and I mailed the visa office in Malta getting no response. I'm sorry if this is a trivial question, or it's been answered but in that case I didn't see (or understood) the answer, and I'll be grateful to anybody who will help me out.

Here the matter: A Brazilian who has spent 180 days in Malta on a student Visa, how much time she has to wait to come back, and can this be done on a new 180 days student visa?

My understanding is that it should be ok to re-enter Schengen after 90 days and stay 180 days on a new student visa, but the information is quite confusing, most of it refers just to the 90/180 days rule which is not the case here.

Just to make it clear:

  • Brazilian student spends 180 days in Malta on a student visa (English school);
  • During this 180 days she does not leave the Schengen area;
  • She goes back to Brazil before the visa expires (i.e. she does not overstay her visa);

From what I read here I know that Brazil has a special waiver agreement, but in any case, no calculator I tried (well, I tried two of them), takes into account the 180 days student visa so it already spits out that there are 90 days overstayed.

Again, sorry if this is a trivial question, and thanks again for all the help.

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  • What was your student visa? And do you intend to come back as a student or a tourist? In any case I found some similar questions here, have a look: Tourism in the Schengen area either side of a student visa and linked Qs there, Re-entering the Schengen area for study after depleting 90/180 and Schengen 90 days: what's counted?
    – mts
    Sep 20 '16 at 13:33
  • Hi, thanks a lot both for finding the time to reply. pnuts: I understand but I think that 180 days is still short term, while expatriate I see as someone going to live abroad for work etc.; @mts: thank you, as I explained, I am interested in the possibility to re-enter with a new student visa, so for other 180 days, possibly after 90 days. As you can see those links don't really address my question, what they suggest is that it should be possible, after 180 days as a student, to re-enter as tourist for 90 days. Also, it's not me the Brazilian we are talking about :-) Thank you again!
    – GilGunderson
    Sep 20 '16 at 13:38
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    None of this (90/180 rule, Schengen area, visa waiver agreement with Brazil) is relevant. A 180-day visa is a long-stay visa issued under national law. Each Schengen country is still free to issue those however it sees fits. This also means that you really need to find out if the Maltese authorities are ready to issue a new visa. Alternatively, it's also possible to come under short stay rules for 90 days as the earlier 180-day stay would not count towards the maximum short stay.
    – Relaxed
    Sep 20 '16 at 13:39
  • Hi @Relaxed, thanks a lot for your reply! So you are suggesting that I should push with the visa office to get a reply for them? I wish things worked as they should here :(
    – GilGunderson
    Sep 20 '16 at 13:44
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    @GilGunderson Yes, for a 180-day stay there is no other solution than applying for a Maltese visa.
    – Relaxed
    Sep 20 '16 at 13:45
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While it might be considered like an extended trip and in fact corresponds to the maximum length of time allowed under visitors visa in the US or UK for example, a 180-day stay in the Schengen area falls under completely different rules, more akin to those for long-term residence. This means that everything you are reading about short stays (the Schengen rules, the 90/180 limit, the visa waiver agreement) does not apply here.

Until now that person had a national long-stay visa and she will need another one to come for another 180-day period. As far as the Schengen rules are concerned, Malta is completely free to issue two of those back-to-back and whether they had be willing to depends solely on Maltese law.

Interestingly, she could also come back immediately for up to 90 days under short-stay rules because time spent under a national long-stay visa does not count as far as the Schengen regulations are concerned. Those things are entirely separate.

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