Quote:
Originally Posted by mark manley
You can flip between Schengen and non-Schengen countries and extend your trip almost indefinitely, an American friend of mine did this a couple of years ago and spent nearly a year in Europe.
I am not sure how long you have to be out of the region before you can re-enter but as long as you have a return ticket and can explain why you want to re-enter I was told that the immigration officials were fairly flexible.
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Specifically:
https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/etias/
"How many times can I enter the EU with an ETIAS?
You can enter the Schengen member states for as many times as you want, for as long as your ETIAS is valid, and you have not stayed more than 90 days in a 180 days period."
So yes, getting out of Schengen (meaning: into the UK/Romania/Bulgaria/Croatia) does suspend your 90-day counter, but it does not reset it. If you want to spend a year in Europe, you will need to spend 90 out of each 180 days outside Schengen.
Now, since OP wants to be in Europe from May to the start of October, that's 5 months - he will need to spend a cumulative ~2 months outside of the Schengen zone. Fortunately, countries outside the Schengen zone include some really good moto travel destinations - everything between Greece and Slovenia/Hungary, Morocco, Scotland...
How much border guards will care to enforce the 90-days-out-of-180 clause is an open question. Entirely possible that they won't care, especially with a US passport holder. But don't bet your entire agenda on it.
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