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Okay, before anyone judges me, please let me explain why I've overstayed my visa. If you don't care then you can skip this. I'm originally from the US, but I left as soon as I turned 18 because I am autistic, trans, and queer, and I was being emotionally abused by my family and ostracized by the small town I lived in. So I moved to Greece and I've been here for 7 months and I've never been happier.

Okay, you can tune back in now. I want to apply for residency in the Schengen area but I have no idea how, and I am pretty sure I'll be deported if I try.

So my questions are:

  1. Can I now apply for residency without being deported?
  2. Would I be deported if I took the ferry from Greece to Italy?
  3. How do I apply for a visa?
JonathanReez
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user53099
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    You will almost certainly be deported - you are an illegal ovwrstayer, and eve though your family situation is appalling, its your family situation and you cannot claim asylum or refuge status on that basis, so you fall back to being an illegal overstayer. You will almost definitely be going back to the states when you are caught. The time for visa applications was before you became an illegal overstayer. –  Oct 29 '16 at 10:51
  • We get a covey of US nationals claiming asylum every election year, regardless of who wins. – Gayot Fow Oct 29 '16 at 17:00
  • @Moo terminology issue, please read http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/60240/difference-between-deportation-and-removal – Gayot Fow Oct 29 '16 at 17:05
  • @GayotFow meh, doesnt make any difference to my point. Their current situation does not make for the strong basis of a visa application. –  Oct 29 '16 at 17:08

1 Answers1

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Edited after the comments by Relaxed and Gayot Fow:

  • The various Schengen states are taking measures to keep illegal immigrants and people who overstay their visa out. What happens in detail depends on the national laws, but it is unlikely that you will be put on a plane to the US the next morning if you are caught on a ferry. On the other hand, it might end like that if you ignore repeated orders to leave. (@Relaxed, how would you translate e.g. Abschiebung if not as deportation?)
  • The Schengen states have a common database, the Schengen Information System. A negative entry from any of the Schengen states would make future applications more difficult.
  • When you make an application for a new visa, you will be asked where you live and what your legal status is. Since you are not a legal resident where you live right now, you can't easily apply from Greece. Much easier if you were to apply from New York or San Francisco.
  • If and when you apply for new visa or residence permits, it is a very bad idea to lie about facts in the database. If you are found out, your credibility will be damaged.
  • You feel persecuted in your homeland due to your sexual identity. You could apply for political asylum in the EU, but I consider it very unlikely that you will get refugee status.

For details about long-term visa and residence permits, ask Expatriates Stack Exchange.

My advice: If you want to live much of the rest of your life in Greece, get home now and apply for a long-term visa from somewhere in the US. You might be able to overcome four months overstay as an 18-year-old if you left on your own, before you were found out.

o.m.
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    (-1) Some of the advice in this answer is reasonable but it's choke full of inaccuracies. For example, there is no such thing as a “Schengen database” containing information about overstays nor does the EU deport people. In some (but only some) countries, a removal might result in a ban, which would be recorded in the Schengen Information System for a number of years but that's something else. – Relaxed Oct 29 '16 at 16:46
  • @GayotFow, better now? – o.m. Oct 30 '16 at 11:20
  • @o.m. It's much better, thanks. Using the British terminology, an Abschiebung is more-or-less an “(administrative) removal”. One more detail: the SIS does not contain comments or “negative entries” making applications difficult, it contains (beside a few other types of entries that do not concern us here) outright bans. It's legally not possible for other countries to issue a Schengen uniform visa to someone with a ban recorded in the SIS (a LTV or national visa are theoretically possible). The only way around that is to petition the country that issued the ban to remove it. – Relaxed Oct 30 '16 at 12:05