Best country for a visa

From my examination in the past fee weeks, it appears that the proper country would be the ountry in which you will sped the majority of your time. The various sites, etc., are not clear or uniform in the process. The Spanish counselate (not embassy) advised me last week that I would need to go to Miami as I live in Georgia, making an appointment first. Nothing in the whole procedure makes much sense to the honest. Let me know how you fare in your search! Thanks

A couple of months I posted a fairly extensive review of this question. Don't know if you can find it or not via the search feature. Spain was difficult especially for the criminal background check that had to be conducted by the FBI and not the local sheriff. While I did not look at all the Schengen countries it appeared that France could be pretty easy. Start there.

I am not aware that a one year tourist visa exists, but it may do. We have residency visas for Spain, applied for in Australia. As far as I know, all long term visas for EU countries have to be applied for in your home country and you must fulfill certain conditions of the relevant country, which usually necessitates a visit to that country. All of this was spelt out on the Spanish Embassy website. Back in 2006, Spain was easier than France or Italy - for us anyway. But there is heaps of information on this board, and in other places, on this subject. I assume you know that not all of Europe is part of Schengen - e.g. the UK is not, nor are some of the former Eastern European countries.

Romania, Bulgaria, United Kingdom and Ireland are countries in EU but not Schengen space. In any case: there are no year-long tourist visas. There are long visas for work-travel (meant for people younger then 30/28/25 depending on the country), a lot of retirement visas for different countries, and some visas for activities like year-long culture and language courses (outside the scope of formal higher education track). Different countries have residency visas as well. Essentially, in a nutshell, there are no such thing as a year-long tourist visa. The "I'll backpack/travel a year in Europe" is no more. Unintended consequence of open border, semi-unified immigration procedures etc.

Year long tourist visas exist. They are, however, specific to a country. The requirements for a year longn tourist visa in France can be found on the website for the consulate that covers where you live in the US. (Requirements vary slightly from consulate to consulate.) In general, you must show that you have sufficient income to cover your stay, provide proof of insurance to cover your stay, and show that you have a place to live while you will be there. You'll also need translated copies of your birth certificate. There is a fee involved, and more steps that must be taken once you arrive in France. Whether you are free to come and go within the Schengen zone is up for debate. My husband has a 3 year resident permit that as far as we know gives him the right to travel freely within the Schengen zone, but not the right to re-locate or work in a different country. But this is a different status than a visitor.

With visas in general, what these countries want you to prove is that 1) you can afford to be there without needing to work or use benefits of any kind, and 2) you plan to leave, and you will leave. Immigration requirements can be very dynamic, so rather than relying on advise from people on the internet, I think you are better off contacting the individual countries' consulates/embassies to make sure they offer a one-year tourist visa, and if so, what their requirements are. If you are unable to obtain a long-term visa of any kind, your next solution is to spend 90 days within the Schengen zone, 90 days outside of it, and continue to alternate as such.