Extended Stays >90 days

You need to apply to the embassy of whichever country you are going to use as your "base of operation". That country is the one that issues you with a visa. Each country has a different set of rules and a different set of visas. You can then, as a resident of that country, visit all other Schengen countries whenever you want.
You need to be aware that, as a "resident" for a full year you will probably need to pay tax in that country and go through a lot of other bureaucracy. Exactly what that is varies from country to country.
First choose your country, then ask the embassy.

None of the "Eastern European" countries (Ukraine, Belarus, Russia) are in Schengen. I am going to assume you mean "Central Europe" (Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland). I would not advise trying to get visas to these countries, it's overly bureaucratic and in the Czech case, you need translations of all your documents into Czech. It also took me 55 days to receive my long stay visa from them. If you have a lot of time and money, then go right ahead. But German, italian etc. visas take like 7 business days.

I can tell you from personal experience that at least in Italy you have to do the following (and this is the abbreviated version):

• Make an appointment online at the Consulate that serves your area, no more than 90 days before you intend to travel

• Gather required paperwork including bank statements, proof of earnings, FBI Criminal History Check (which takes about 4 months), a lease for a place to live in Italy, proof of private health insurance, a 4-page application, and a few other odd bits.You need this for each of you.

• Once you make applications in person, the visa is issued quite promptly (for us it was in the mail the 3rd day after our appointment), but that only gets you in the country legally. It does not allow you to stay in the Schengen Zone.

• Within 8 days of arriving in Italy, you must apply for a Permesso di Soggiorno which requires more paperwork. You have to obtain a special packet for this, which you get at the larger Poste Italiane.

• Once you apply for the permesso you wait 3 weeks-or-so for an appointment with the police for fingerprinting and then you wait some time (I understand at least a couple of months) for the permesso.

We are just in the last two steps of this process. I am certain I would not do it just to travel. You end up having to sign a lease and intend to LIVE here. That is, you need a base. It will cost you a few hundred dollars and many many hours to obtain the permission to live. I expect other Schengen countries are similar in requirement although some may be more efficient than others in terms of bureaucracy.

Essentially you have to send away for a tourist visa. As I recall, the standard was for up to six months during a five year window. Schengen is for visa-free travel - which is nice - up to 90 days in a six month window. People traveled for years with visas before some countries adopted limited visa-free options.

You should apply directly to whichever country you plan to use as a base. You might even plan based on their visa rules - I wouldn't use Russia as my Eastern European base, they're the worst (USA is probably second worst), they'll want to know all your plans for the entire visit.

Take a look at Poland, it's pretty inexpensive (trains are dirt cheap) if a little out of the way.

Or you could alternate Schengen and non-Schengen bases for a year in up to 90-day increments, you would need almost no paperwork for that (but you would need to show stamps in your passport for the 90-days-in/90-days-out of Schengen).

About two months ago, someone here in the Italy section just moved to Italy for the year. She described her hassles - good and bad - in getting the necessary paper work completed. But I cannot find her postings. Maybe someone else will. And who do you include in "eastern" Europe?

Here is the link to the individual who is now in Italy on a one year visa, https://community.ricksteves.com/users/115354/posts Her "handle" is, txgirl620.

I knew someone would come through. Why couldn't I find it??????

I am really appreciative to Rick Steves for setting up this forum for serious communication and to all those who have so far sent me excellent advise. Probably sometime over the winter months, I will get serious about doing the leg work and posting here my efforts to maybe help someone down the road with similar questions. Meanwhile, in about 5 weeks or so, it is off to Italy and Israel for a well-deserved vacation. Thank you all.

Good luck Barry, and enjoy the vacation! Will look forward to hearing from you as you pursue extended travel. That is why we stayed. It is easier to travel around Europe from a European base than to mount the expedition from the U.S. I really love haveing my "Base Camp" to come home to between trips so that we are not constantly in travel status. You might consider that aspect. Do you want a base, or do you want to be "home free" like the Martins?

Pretty old post but I came across something that might be interesting to someone. Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Malta and Spain all have "Golden Visa" programs. For a sum of money, or an investment or a loan of some sort each will give you a lifetime Schengen Visa which you can use to enter and stay in any Schengen country. Greece and Hungary are the least expensive with Greece probably being a better deal. Of course the Schengen zone is going through some growing pains right now.

I would be interested if anyone know if that sort of Visa would qualify you as a Resident or get you health care service, etc......