I have overstayed my visa and been banned from Poland. Is leaving Schengen zone and coming back a solution?

I am an Australian citizen. I was recently caught overstaying my Schengen visa. Yes I know this is illegal and my fault. If you are planning on giving me a legal/moral lecture, please save your time. The basics of the situation are as follows. I overstayed my Schengen visa by about 7 months and was caught. I have been told to leave Poland within 30 days. I have also been banned from Poland and Schengen for 6 months. But I can write an official letter to the Polish immigration authorities requesting leniency. If they approve it, they can scrap the 6 month ban. So that is an overview, but here are the details in case they are relevant:

I entered the zone in September 2013. I was just doing a standard backpacking trip. In Krakow, I met a Polish girl, so I decided to stay. When I arrived in Krakow, I was already close to the 90 day limit. I went over the 90 day limit soon after. 2 days ago, I was getting a bus from Budapest-Krakow. On the border of Slovakia and Poland, our passports were checked. I have been asked to leave Poland within 30 days. I have also been banned from Poland and Schengen for 6 months. But I can write an official letter to the Polish immigration requesting leniency. They told me I must be in my home country (Australia) when I submit this request. But I don't see what is preventing me from being in another non-Schengen country (e.g. Britain, Ukraine) when I submit this request?

If they do approve it, they can scrap the 6 month ban. But even if they do, I will still have to wait 90+ days (in order to go back under the limit). But some people, including the Polish immigration officers that detained me, said that you can simply step out of the zone then back in to reset your limit. But I have always been under the impression that with Schengen, they keep a rolling total. There are no quick resets.

I really want to return to Poland as soon as I can. I love this girl and want to be with her. I have set up a life for myself here. I am learning the language, and learning as much about the culture and history as I can.

Does anyone have any advice about the situation? Do you have any tips on writing the letter requesting leniency? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The law prevents it unfortunately. I suppose you could write the letter and get someone to mail it within Australia.

If you've been excluded, there are indeed no quick resets.


Where are you now?

With a six-month ban you're getting off pretty lightly: I know Americans who have been banned for ten years for overstaying. I'd suggest you go to the UK (you qualify for a working holiday visa, don't you) and work there for six months. Do a bit of overtime and you can easily afford to pay for a cheap airline flight to the UK once a month for your Mrs and save up a bit of cash to get yourself settled in Krakow when your ban runs out.

I would suggest you to be out of Schengen now anyway, because they must be able to find out when you leave the zone (central registry for all Schengen countries) and if you haven't left yet, then could give you a negative answer. Moreover when you will be leaving Schengen they may have in registers information that you were once caught and ordered to leave within 30 days, what you ignored, thus give you even bigger penalty.

Btw. why have you been crossing borders if you knew that your visa is expired ?

I am still in Poland (the incident only happened 2 days ago). Of course I am going to obey the order to leave the zone within 30 days.

With the letter, the immigration guards said my girlfriend can post it on my behalf (it needs to be written in Polish, after all). Which makes me wonder why I even need to be back in my home country to do this?

Because they say so would be good enough, especially as you don't have any real grounds to ask for leniency.

Merged: Leaving the Schengen Zone & Coming Back

I have a friend who would like to stay in Poland longer than the legal 90 days. Can she leave Poland for a few days (and go to say, England, which is outside of the Schengen Zone) and then come back? Would her 90 days start over? Dzieki!

No, this is not how it works, otherwise they could just abolish the rule completely. It is 90 days in any 180 day period, meaning if your friend has been in Poland for 3 months, she would have to leave Poland for 3 months and then come back.

Regarding the question as to why "I have to go home to apply for a visa or appeal against a decision".

You do not have to go home to the country you were born in, however, you have to do this in the country you are registered as a permanent resident. The reason is that for consular affairs, only the embassy in the country where you permantly reside in is responsible for you.

For example, if you are still registered in Australia, the Polish embassy / consulate in Australia would be responsible to handle your request. This means that technically you would not be able to submit a visa application or appeal against a decision from any other country than Australia, unless you can prove to have a permanent resident address and legal status in the country you are applying from.

Not as easy as that Harry. From my colleague's experience and what I found out the UK ,while not being a Schengen member, share such information and vice-versa with Schengen states.

He has visa free entry to the UK but upon arrival and noticing his schengen visa- UKBA will almost certainly check if he has any overstays.

6 months is a very light penalty indeed! Going back to Ozi and coming back might be expensive for him.
If he was in a long term relationship and his girl would support him then the application for leniency would be a good shot.
It would also mean a lot of paperwork. Other than that, if he can't come up with a good plan, it's not a good idea to overstay.

He just has to admit that he got off with a light penalty and if he makes it worse he could be banned for 10years.

Merged: I have overstayed my visa and been banned from Poland. Is there any solution to get Schengen visa again?

i was visited poland two times and in my last trip i was over stay for nearly 2 weeks and cought by polish immigration and get one year entry ban . they told me that i can cancel ban after reach my country within 30 days. but now its nearly two year finish and i wrote a mail to immigration officer she says now my ban is finished and i can apply for visa. but i want to ask is there still same that they give me tourist visa or should my girlfriend need to sponsor me . bcoz she is working but not have her own home and her mom dad also cant sponsor me . please assist.