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A Proposal for a Solution to the Post Brexit Touring Schengen Area 90/180 Issue

A Proposal for a Solution to the Post Brexit Touring Crisis

The 90/180 rule for accessing the Schengen area is a massive problem for creative touring professionals and for other workers that used to work in the EU prior to the UK leaving in 2020.

Since leaving the EU, British passport holders have become whats classed as 3rd country nationals, as such we have to abide by the Schengen area access rules, this means that we are only allowed into the Schengen area for a maximum of 90 days in 180.

Here's a quick explanation I found on the web:

There are two main components to this rule; the 90 days and the 180-day period— both represent different calculations as follows:

  • Staying for 90 days— means that as soon as you enter any country within the Schengen area, your 90-days clock starts. This counts every country in the zone. For example, let’s say you spend 30 days in Germany, then 30 days in France, and 30 days in Austria; you’ve spent 90 days in the Schengen zone. Your 90 days count stops the moment you leave the area. So, let’s say you spend 30 days in Germany, go back to your country for a few days, and then spend another 30 days in France; that means you only spent 60 days in the Schengen zone, and you have 30 more days left.
  • Spending your 90 days within a 180-day period— The 90 days you are allowed to spend in the Schengen zone are eligible for a 180-day period. This period is commonly referred to as a “rolling timeframe” because it’s constantly moving— each day you spend in Schengen advances your 180-day period. This period is counted backwards from your most recent entry or exit dates. So, let’s say you enter the Schengen area on July 1, 2022; you count backwards for 180 days from this date and calculate how many days you have spent in the Schengen area during these 180 days. If you’ve already spent 60 days, then you have another 30 days left.

    Source:  https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/visa-calculator/

This becomes a problem for artists, musicians, technicians and the like as we often would exceed 90 days prior to Brexit. 

Exceeding the 90 days now would result in a possible heavy fine, potentially being banned from reentry for 5 years & being marked as an overstayer. The latter making it more difficult to obtain visas for other markets.

So my proposal is for a Schengen area Creative Worker visa waiver in the form of a licence, much like a drivers licence, a small credit card sized identification card that you would have to apply for, that would be valid for a period of between 2-5 years.

As a Creative Worker you would need to show that you have been working within the creative industries for a period of time prior to your application, or if you do not have that experience then you would need to show a contract of employment, this could be from a promoter, a company that employs you etc.
but the system would have to be 100% reciprocal to allow EU based creatives the opportunity to come to the UK.

By having a strictly enforced system as above it could prevent the sort of immigration issues that caused people to vote for Brexit.

 

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