I knew there would be a flood of Americans leaving the U.S. since 2001 but didn't know where they were going.
Looks like they have been behaving just like Mexicans as illegals.
Interesting
Anyone know an Expat?
12-22-2007 E.U.'s expanding borderless zone spells trouble for U.S. expats
Prague, Czech Republic - Seven years ago, Robert Hanawalt ditched a sales career in Washington to move to Prague, where he quickly realized that he could live indefinitely without official paperwork.
He taught English illegally for four years on 90-day tourist visas. The trick? Quick trips over the border, which reset the clock with a fresh passport stamp.
"I did that," Mr. Hanawalt says. "But after the first few times I thought, 'Why even bother? Nobody is checking these things.' "
But as nine countries, including the Czech Republic, join the European Union's borderless Schengen zone Friday, Brussels is now ordering member states to get tough on visa policy.
That could spell trouble for an unlikely class of illegal immigrants: American expats. Attracted by English teaching jobs, the low cost of living, and societies just waking up to the possibilities of Western tourism, thousands are estimated to be living and working illegally in central and eastern Europe.
Schengen's expansion is affecting others as well. Ukrainians, long accustomed to unfettered travel to Poland, now need a visa even for day trips. Slovenia is closing down unmanned footbridges along its border with Croatia.
Not every American in Prague is greeting Schengen coldly. "As someone living here legally, I think it's only fair that some of the permanent tourists here be made to do the same thing," says Mark Anderson, who moved here six years ago and started his own cleaning business.
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I never heard of this "Schengen zone" before.
Sounds like the old Berlin wall.
Looks like they have been behaving just like Mexicans as illegals.
Interesting
Anyone know an Expat?
12-22-2007 E.U.'s expanding borderless zone spells trouble for U.S. expats
Prague, Czech Republic - Seven years ago, Robert Hanawalt ditched a sales career in Washington to move to Prague, where he quickly realized that he could live indefinitely without official paperwork.
He taught English illegally for four years on 90-day tourist visas. The trick? Quick trips over the border, which reset the clock with a fresh passport stamp.
"I did that," Mr. Hanawalt says. "But after the first few times I thought, 'Why even bother? Nobody is checking these things.' "
But as nine countries, including the Czech Republic, join the European Union's borderless Schengen zone Friday, Brussels is now ordering member states to get tough on visa policy.
That could spell trouble for an unlikely class of illegal immigrants: American expats. Attracted by English teaching jobs, the low cost of living, and societies just waking up to the possibilities of Western tourism, thousands are estimated to be living and working illegally in central and eastern Europe.
Schengen's expansion is affecting others as well. Ukrainians, long accustomed to unfettered travel to Poland, now need a visa even for day trips. Slovenia is closing down unmanned footbridges along its border with Croatia.
Not every American in Prague is greeting Schengen coldly. "As someone living here legally, I think it's only fair that some of the permanent tourists here be made to do the same thing," says Mark Anderson, who moved here six years ago and started his own cleaning business.
===================================================
I never heard of this "Schengen zone" before.
Sounds like the old Berlin wall.