Using Andorra to avoid 90/180 trouble?

Upvote:0

Although Andorra’s agreements with France and Spain make it effectively part of Schengen, this can (allegedly) be avoided by requesting entry and exit stamps at the border.  I’m skeptical, due to the near impossibility of being able to prove one spent all the claimed time (ninety days) within Andorra’s borders.  Since checks aren't generally done at Andorra's borders, it would be easy to get a stamp at the Spanish border control site, immediately leave at another site, and reverse the procedure 90+ days later.  Of course, that would be illegal and would present a (small) risk of being caught—a Spanish official might look through your passport and see that you entered Andorra but don't have an exit stamp.

Upvote:2

Would it actually be legal to alternate between Andorra and France or Spain?

Yes, on condition that when entering Andorra you have a Schengen Area exit stamp and when leaving Andorra have a Schengen Area entry stamp.

As far as the Schengen Border Code, is concerned, it is the proper entry/exit stamps that counts (assuming you don't require a visa) for short term stays.

Without the entry/exit stamps you are assumed to have overstayed (Article 12 (1,4)), unless you can prove otherwise (Article 12 (2)).

Schengen Border Code
Article 12
Presumption as regards fulfilment of conditions of duration of stay
(1) If the travel document of a third-country national does not bear an entry stamp, the competent national authorities may presume that the holder does not fulfil, or no longer fulfils, the conditions of duration of stay applicable within the Member State concerned.
(2) The presumption referred to in paragraph 1 may be rebutted where the third-country national provides, by any means, credible evidence, such as transport tickets or proof of his or her presence outside the territory of the Member States, that he or she has respected the conditions relating to the duration of a short stay.
...
(4) The relevant provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall apply mutatis mutandis in the absence of an exit stamp.

Sources:

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