Visas for long term travel

Italy and Czech Republic are in the Schengen Treaty Zone, so you get 90 days out of 180 days to be anywhere in the Zone (assuming you're from USA). So if you go over, and you have not been here in the previous 90 days, you can stay for 90 days. After you leave, don't come back for another 90 days.

What is the exact length of time you plan to travel? Visas are not easy to come by and you have to apply through the local consulate or embassy of the country you are request the visa from. Lot of hurdles to jump over. As stated earlier you go get 90 days out of 180 continuous days. So if your travel is less than 90, don't worry about it.

Precision is called for with visas.

How long is the Italy stay? "Over a month" is very vague. Could be 35 days or 2 years. Please help us help you.

How long is the Czech stay? "Several weeks" is equally vague. How many is several?

I have similar question. I am US citizen who just retired and want to spend about 15 months in Europe.
90 days in England, 90 in Italy, 90 in Ireland, 90 in France and then back to England for 90 days. Since the UK is not a Schengen country, I think the 90 days out of 180 days flipping back and forth works. Can anyone verify this AND let me know if there would be a problem getting back into the U.S after 15 months abroad? Would I need a visa?

(Assuming you are a US citizen) If you stick to that schedule you are fine. You can never be in a Schengen zone country for more than 90 days out of ANY 180 day period. Getting back into the US is not a problem. The US does not care how long or where (except for Cuba) you have been. The 90 days count is a concerning when leaving a Schengen country. Make sure you have very clear entry and exits stamps when entering and leaving. I was hung up at the exit immigration desk in France when the officer could not find quickly my most recent entry stamp into France. He quickly found an entry stamp in 13. In the future I am going to make sure I know the pages where my entry and exit stamps are. Great Britain allows 180 days.

Don't forget that there is also restrictions in the length of time that can be spent in the Common Travel Area (UK+Ireland etc) as a visitor without being suspected as attempting to circumvent the proper procedure to become a resident. You are proposing to spend 9 months out of 15 in the CTA which may raise the flag especially on your last planned entry.

The 90 days includes entry and exit days. So if you are travelling from a Schengen Country to the UK, your travel day counts as a day for both totals. If you leave the Schengen area before 90 days, you can use the remaining days later. For example 60 days - away 30 days + return for 20 days counts as 80 days, you still have 10 days 'in credit'.

A visa is a document issued by a country to let you in. It is therefore, by definition issued by the country you are visiting according to the immigration laws of that country. The US State Dept. issues visas for non-US citizens to enter the US, no way can it issue visas for Italy and the Czech Republic (or anywhere else).

all the paper work killed it for me

While it does seem neat and tidy that one can travel indefinitely between the Schengen Zone and the UK/Ireland, it is always at the discretion of immigration at entry. While the UK and Ireland simply point out that you might have six months at entry, Ireland for one will assign a time period at entry, and the UK may limit or deny entry if they feel you are abusing the "tourist" visa. Repeated entries may raise a flag, no return to the US in some time period, etc. For most travellers likely not a problem, but at least keep the possibility in mind and have a "plan B"

Just seconding the need to make sure you have clear entry and exit stamps -- we got held up for over an hour in Amsterdam on exit because the Rome official didn't stamp our passports. I had documentation to show when we entered. The person who was pulled over with us didn't and he missed the plane back to the US.

You could look into an extended Visa -- we did this once years ago and it is quite a hassle but can be done. The big deals are financial records to demonstrate you are not risk of being a sponger AND health insurance that equals that of the country you wish to spend time in. This is a very expensive proposition for older people and you will probably want to keep paying for medicare so you don't get penalty fees on that when you come back -- so health insurance is a major hurdle in the process.