Red Flag on Passports for Overstayed Visas

If I overstay my Schengen visa will a red flag be put on my passport?

It is true that your passport can be “red flagged” by the Schengen immigration authorities. This often happens in cases of travelers getting caught for overstaying their visas: they are processed, fined (or banned), and their passport information is entered into the Schengen Information System (SIS). These “red flags” can work against you if you ever wish to return to Shengen Europe as a tourist or apply for a longer term visa in one of the member states.

Once it is on, it is a somewhat difficult process to get the “red flag” removed, but it can be accomplished through navigating the narrow alleys and byways of European bureaucracy.

Countries of Schengen Region Map

But in your person instance, whether or not all of the immigration facilities of the Schengen region can red flag travelers electronically is rendered irrelevant by the fact that the only thing the Swedish consulate would need to do is look through your passport the old fashioned way, and they would receive the same information as through an automated “red flag.” If you are trying to apply for Swedish residency, an overstay in the Schengen region would not work to your advantage, and there is a chance that you could be rejected outright.

I understand that you are in the middle of a dive course, and your visa is about to expire, but I do believe that you are in a circumstance where you need to measure your priorities: would you rather finish your diving instruction in Spain, overstay  you visa by two months, and possible not be permitted residency in Sweden? or would you rather go to another country outside of the Schengen region to finish your diving training and play it safe?

There are no quick fixes when dealing with visa overstays. If you were just planning on leaving Spain after the two month overstay, then I would say that you probably should not have any trouble. But as you are planning on applying for Swedish residency, the overstay in Spain could have a drastic impact.  I suppose this is just a matter of your priorities: either you overstay, and face the consequences, or you travel on to a new part of the world. The world is big, there is no such thing as “having nowhere else to go.”

You could easily leave the Schengen region and resume your diving training over the waters in Egypt, or even in Croatia, Turkey, or Morocco.

My advice:

If you are serious about moving to Sweden to be with your partner, is best to play it safe and don’t overstay your visa.

Again, the world is big and full of places to go.

Walk Slow,

Wade

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Original question about overstaying Schengen visa

I am currently in spain, and am here on a dive course for 5 months. I was told at the beginning that i would be able to do a visa run to andorra and not to worry about visa issues. I have now found that you cannot do visa runs as you have to be out of the schengen states for 3 months. I would normally not have problem overstaying, but i heard that even if the country doesn’t say anything to you about the overstay, when your passport is swiped out, a red flag goes into the system. I am planning to apply for swedish residency through my partner, and I have heard all schengen countries have to check the system before they issue visas.

Is this true, i can’t risk having the mark on my visa, but i wasn’t planning to have to leave (I have nowhere to go), and my visa is up in 2 weeks.