B2: Director Hits Barrier

An admin error stops the European Business Development Director visiting Europe

Jonathan is the European Business Development Director of an expanding biotech company. Jonathan spends 2-3 days a week in Europe at business meetings with like-minded companies, networking, etc. He lives close to the airport and usually takes the last flight of the night so he can start fresh the next morning. His partner observes that he is never there! They take a skiing holiday together and at other times, she flies to meet Jonathan rather than have him fly home. Jonathan knows about Schengen limits and keeps notes. He looks back over the last 5 months and sees that he has been away at lot. He promises his partner a 3 week holiday, provided he can attend the occasional meeting when necessary.

They spend 3 enjoyable weeks together during which Jonathan attends a couple of business meetings. On leaving Germany after a short trip, the immigration officer looks up, smiles, and tells Jonathan that he has exceeded the Schengen limit. He adds "I hope you were not expecting to come back next week" Jonathan is dumbfounded. How has he exceeded the limit?. He has meetings booked the following week and in the weeks beyond. The immigration officer politely declines Jonathan's request to see the list of dates on the EES system.

Jonathan returns home and searches Google for help. There are a several newly-formed companies promising to sort out Schengen overstays. Which should he choose? He fills in the contact details on 3 company's websites and waits.

On Monday two contact him. Both tell similar stories. Yes they can help on a cost per hour basis. The likely cost will be around £400 and will take 2-3 weeks because consulates are overwhelmed at the moment. The company he chooses asks him to list all the trips he has made and to include dates. Most weeks involved travel so it takes a bit of time. He cancels future flights that he has already booked and reschedules his meetings. Not much business development was done today he muses!

After 48 hours, the company phones back. They have a copy of the EES information but they have a couple of queries. I appears that Jonathan has omitted a 4 day trip. Also, a return flight to the UK had been cancelled due to fog so Jonathan had taken an early morning flight the next day. He had mistakenly recorded the date of the cancelled flight.

The company explains that the infractions were minor ones. The German consulate will probably grant him a business visa for future trips without much fuss but it will involve paperwork and it will be quicker if he can attend the consulate in person. Jonathan agrees.

A week later he travels to London and attends a brief interview with Helmut. Helmut is satisfied that there was no intent to overstay, he says that a visa will be sent to Jonathan by registered post and he will receive it in 4-5 days. Helmut is quite chatty and Jonathan learns that his problem occurs on a regular basis. Helmut says "I don't know why the UK did not sort out the travel arrangements in the 2020 negotiations. All of this was foreseeable". Jonathan wonders the same thing!

Win-win 180/360 travel arrangements could avoid this unnecessary impact on business.