Long-stay visa expired; how can I defend myself legally?

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While the regulation says your period of residence isn't counted against the 90/180 day limit, this question's answers indicate that the interpretation and enforcement vary from one country to another as to the acceptability of simply staying in Schengen when a long-term visa expires. (The top voted answer suggests leaving and reentering instead.) The equivocal answer you got from Germany reaffirms this as a gray area. Of course you can risk it, but it sounds like you're trying to avoid any such risk.

Therefore, if your Czech visa already expired, and Czech Republic has confirmed that your continued stay is fine, your safest move would be to go through Schengen exit control run by officers of Czech Republic. The practical way to do this is by flying directly from Czech Republic to a non-Schengen country such as the UK, then changing planes to the US.

In my travels, Schengen border officers have studied my Schengen entry/exit dates carefully, but the UK border force has never done so. The UK border force only asks about the purpose of my travel and the length of my intended stay in the UK.

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