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EU '90-day rule' forces second-home owners to choose between France and Schengen
Reader highlights how efforts to integrate into French communities can limit other travel opportunities
To the Editor,
I am a second-home owner in France and bought my house at the beginning of 1989, spending many weeks there every year since then.
I am committed to being as much part of the community as possible, and have improved and maintained my house using local tradespeople, made local friends, and established roots in the area. My children continue to spend time there too as they have become adults with their own families.
Indeed, I want to spend as much time there as possible.
Post-Brexit, I currently use as many days as I can of my 90/180-day allocation, saving 2-3 days in case I have an emergency with the house and need to travel there to manage it.
Limits on holiday travel
The consequence of using virtually all of my 90-day allowance to spend as much time as I can in the community there means that in practice I am unable to travel elsewhere in the Schengen area.
It seems grossly unfair to me that the 90/180-day travel rule applies to so many countries.
I understand the legal principle behind the ruling but there is a striking imbalance in travel access for Schengen area travellers coming to the UK and Britons travellers to Schengen area.
In effect, I am unable to travel much if at all to many other countries, even for a long weekend, because I choose to spend time in France trying to be a good second-homeowner and not just visit for the odd week here and there.
I understand that the six-month visitor visa might be solve this problem but it does seem unfair that in order to have a week’s visit to Spain, I have to apply for a six-month visa for France.
I would welcome a reciprocal agreement whereby the six-month visitor allowance to the UK that Schengen area citizens enjoy is mirrored by a six-month visitor allowance for Britons to visit Europe.
Although the current 90/180 allowance is mathematically the same the practice is quite different, not least because Shengen is a community of so many countries.
Yours sincerely,
A.P., via email
