Staying exactly the number of allowed days in the visa. Problems?

score:5

Accepted answer

Immigration officials should not really care either way, you are simply supposed not to exceed the validity of your visa. They would not care on entry, you have a visa that's valid for the trip you planned and it make little sense to require more than that. But if you don't make it in time, they won't care much that you had no buffer either, i.e. that's not an excuse and that would not necessarily protect you from negative consequences.

If you are forced to exit a day or two late, I would expect most border guards to let it slip as described by @happysathya, i.e. not bother with formally finding you in breach and imposing a fine. But you would still have an exit stamp in your passport that shows you have technically overstayed and consulates might take that into account the next time you apply for a visa.

One final tip: If something serious and unexpected happens (health issue, multi-day transportation problems because of a volcanic ash cloud), do approach the authorities yourself to request an extension of your visa. They have the power to grant one in force majeure cases and the more forthcoming and proactive you are, the less likely you are to suffer any negative consequences.

Upvote:3

Should be no problem

Some embassies give visas that are exactly valid for the duration of your submitted itinerary. Thus it is perfectly fine to stay until the last day of your visa validity. I know someone whose flight left the last day of the visas validity at 23:55 and it was no problem (he since then also received another visa, so no blacklist). Usually you will clear immigration a few hours before your scheduled flight and if your flight afterwards gets cancelled, you can stay at the airport in the international zone until your next flight.

Should your flight being cancelled be the only flight of the day, or should it be cancelled before you are at the airport, I would advise to talk to an immigration officer while your visa is still valid and accept whatever solution the officer sugests.

Upvote:7

The simple answer for your question is no problem to stay all 20 days.

Small incident that happened to me: There was one time, my schengen visa was expiring on 12AM midnight and I was travelling by bus in the afternoon. By schedule, the bus supposed to leave the schengen area well before 12AM. But unfortunately due to some incident the bus broke down and I was stranded. By the time I went to get my exit stamp while leaving schengen it was well above 12AM and the security officer told me it is illegal to stay more than the time allocated in visa. But he told me, he won't give me exit visa and I might get issues if I apply for visa next time if the border control looks for your history in terms of stamps. But he did let me go, and gave me a advice though. Always leave one day before the validity so that you can manage if something happens.

Conclusion: Give yourself a day, so that you can enjoy your 19 days peacefully :)

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