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I am considering staying in Monaco, San Marino, or Vatican City before I can enter the Schengen area again.

According to this answer, it is valid to stay in these three micro-states in order to stop the Schengen clock.

However, also according to the answer:

Problems will arise when the visitor ultimately leaves the zone and must undergo a Schengen exit inspection. At this point the person may be asked to prove that they are not an overstayer and the border guard will be entitled to see hard evidence in the form of official documentation. There was a case where an individual attempted to show that his mobile phone registered to a tower outside of the zone and this failed obviously: radio waves have no respect for nation borders but also one could mail the SIM card to a friend in a far away land, put in a phone where it registers to the tower and then mail it back. Apparently hotel receipts can be too easily forged to be successful as evidence.

What the border guard will want to see is a passport stamp from the local constabulary. But the constabulary is under no obligation to issue one, so success is down to personal impact and articulation skills.

I'm not sure if I could get a stamp from the local constabulary. However, I always use AirBnB to stay, and the reservation email and the mobile app might be far more reliable than a random hotel reservation document.

So, does the AirBnB reservation email work as a proof of staying there? Or is there any better document as a proof of staying ("better", in terms of ensuring that I don't pay the overstaying penalty)?

I will likely leave the Schengen area ultimately from Frankfurt International Airport.

Community
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Blaszard
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    Does Vatican City even have hotels that are open to the general public? (Well, I guess that would be a separate question …) – chirlu Oct 08 '17 at 12:09
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    In San Marino you can have your passport stamped, but it only provides the date when you got it stamped, not the duration of your stay. So even if this stamp is accepted, it will at best subtract one day from your clock. However, the stamp in combination with a hotel receipt might (might!) be accepted. As for the Vatican, they have no hotels or accommodations, so although you technically can stop the clock by going to the Vatican I doubt it is possible in reality. – Jorn Oct 08 '17 at 12:24
  • I am not an expert, but can you use your credit card each day so you can show your bill that you were spending money in San Marino each day? – Azor Ahai -him- Nov 15 '17 at 20:08
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    @Azor-Ahai being in San Marino at one point on a given day does not prove that you were not also in Italy for some part of the same day. – phoog Nov 15 '17 at 20:36
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    @chirlu There already is. – choster Nov 15 '17 at 20:38
  • @phoog Good point, but you could also say that about having a hotel reservation. – Azor Ahai -him- Nov 15 '17 at 23:44
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    @Azor-Ahai indeed. I suspect that it would be nearly impossible to prove that one had spent an entire calendar day in San Marino or Monaco, so I don't think it's practically possible to use San Marino or Monaco to avoid accruing Schengen days. Andorra might be a better bet. – phoog Nov 16 '17 at 02:15
  • @phoog But then isn't it the same for other countries as well? It is nearly impossible to prove that you spend an entire day in France, etc... These kind of cases could happen if you have a valid visa on one Schengen country but not on other countries, and you travel to one of such countries exceeding 90/180 rule. I agree that the immigrant officer would be far more suspicious with the micro-states cases, though. – Blaszard Nov 16 '17 at 02:21
  • @Blaszard A passport check wouldn't normally lead to suspicion of a D visa or residence permit holder because the passport stamps would not by themselves imply a violation. But I don't think the burden of proof would be on the traveler in such a case, either, whereas I think it would be if someone's passport stamps imply more than 90 days in the Schengen area. This is no doubt one reason why the 90/180 rule isn't systematically enforced for such people (the other being that such enforcement would require internal border checkpoints). – phoog Nov 16 '17 at 02:29

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I used London ATM records as evidence that I had left Schengen when accused of overstay. Slips from the ATM often say the location. My bank records always do.

But I don't know whether that would work for the places you mention.

Proof that you entered doesn't prove you stayed there.

Andorra has signed agreements with Spain and France to not admit anyone who can't legally enter Spain or France. I don't know whether any of the others have done something similar. But there were no border checks any of the times I entered or left Andorra, Vatican, or San Marino, so obviously Andorra is not honoring that agreement.

Also, if you cross the border for ten seconds, that counts as a day. So even if you could prove you slept there every night and had lunch there every day, it’s not proof you didn't leave. If it were London, they might be inclined to take your word for it, but considering the size of San Marino, I’d be very skeptical of a claim you didn’t leave for ninety whole days.

To stay in San Marino more than thirty days, a permit is required.  Whether they are capable of enforcing that, I do not know.  but having such a permit is also not very good proof you didn't leave.

And finally, a receipt from AirBNB is no proof you actually went to the same country the place is in. I've lost a lot of money by not staying in AirBNB places due to missed connections or illness.

WGroleau
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  • Liechtenstein is officially part of Schengen. There was a short period between Switzerland joining and Liechtenstein joining that resulted in some confusion though... – Krist van Besien Apr 25 '23 at 11:51
  • Yeah, I should have given the same list OP gave. Fixed. – WGroleau Apr 26 '23 at 16:51
  • The day you enter and the day you leave count each as a full day (Schengen Border Code Article 6(2)). So if you cross the border for ten seconds, that counts as if you haven't left at all. If you exit on Monday and return on Wednesday, then it counts as one day (for Tuesday). – Mark Johnson Apr 26 '23 at 17:14
  • @MarkJohnson, true, but I said that in the answer.  And it's irrelevant, because the hypothetical violator is trying to give the appearance of having stayed out for 90/91 days—by not getting an exit stamp until 90/91 days later. – WGroleau Apr 26 '23 at 18:14
  • You wrote ', that counts as a day.' Correct would be: ', that does not count as a day.' – Mark Johnson Apr 26 '23 at 18:21
  • It counts as a day for each side. Which is the reason for the following sentence. – WGroleau Apr 26 '23 at 21:09