Both of us are Canadians. I have a work visa in Spain (1-year contract), she doesn’t. However, we want to live together in Spain. She can come easily for 3 month stays max, but is there a way for her to avoid having to leave and then re-enter EU each time the 3 months are about to expire? Any experiences with this?

Hello,

I just wanted to let you know that tourists are only authorized to stay in the entire Schengen territory for up to 90 days in any six month period, which means that leaving and re-entering Spain doesn’t work.

Since you aren’t married to each other your status here doesn’t affect hers, so unless she’s independently wealthy, she might want to look into a work visa, a student visa, or just ignoring the whole bureaucracy thing for your year in Spain.

Good luck!

She intends to take a Spanish course, but I am not sure if that would justify a student visa? And if yes, I suppose she would have to attend the course for a whole year then? Hm 😊.

Just wondering, how do Canadian backpackers stay in Europe for more than 90 days? Do they just ignore the visa restrictions?