I found an explanation as to why Poland and other countries are allowed to exercise their immigration loopholes despite seemingly being in contravention of Schengen law.

Article 20(2) of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement explicitly says that member states are allowed to continue exercising bilateral visa agreements that were in place prior to said country joining Schengen:

Quote:Article 20

1. Aliens not subject to a visa requirement may move freely within the territories of the Contracting Parties for a maximum period of three months during the six months following the date of first entry, provided that they fulfil the entry conditions referred to in Article 5(1)(a), ©, (d) and (e).

2. Paragraph 1 shall not affect each Contracting Party's right to extend beyond three months an alien's stay in its territory in exceptional circumstances or in accordance with a bilateral agreement concluded before the entry into force of this Convention.

3. This Article shall apply without prejudice to Article 22.

Full text here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/E...0A0922(02)

Poland, Hungary, and other countries are legally allowed to keep exercising the bilateral visa agreements they have with the U.S. In fact, some other non-European countries have bilateral agreements with Schengen member states. For example, the French embassy in New Zealand spells out the bilateral visa agreements NZ has with France and other Schengen states on its own webpage:

http://www.ambafrance-nz.org/IMG/pdf/Bor...Europe.pdf

There's also an interesting note vis-a-vis Hungary in the above document. Given that New Zealand and the U.S. both have bilateral visa agreements with Hungary according to ElJefe1's link, this information may apply to Americans as well:

Quote:Note: Hungary has special requirements. Even if New Zealanders have already spent up to 3 months in the Schengen area, they may enter Hungary and remain there for up to a further 90 days visa-free. But they must then leave the Schengen area from Hungary, and must not go to other Schengen countries during their stay in Hungary if they have already spent 3 months elsewhere in the Schengen area.

Of course, given the lack of border controls within Schengen, if a New Zealander leaves Hungary during their "extra" three months, how are immigration officials going to know?

Hi guys, I'm going to Europe this summer. Arriving 27th June in London. Staying with friend first couple of nights, then I booked a flight to Krakow for 1 week, then planning to go to Wroclaw 1 week, before meeting up with a friend in Switzerland / Rome July 14-20. I would look for jobs in London as well as I just received a 2 year working visa there.

Here's my big problem. I've belatedly realized it's school break in most of Europe around this time so there's no one around in student cities like Krakow where I'm going to be in July.

Here are the options:
1) Stay with the original plan, a few days in UK, 2 weeks in poland, 1 week with friend... back to Poland until beginning of August then split time in London and travelling around Europe.
2) A few days in UK, leave for Krakow but stay there only for a few days, meet friends early, travel to "working" cities.
3) Abandon my ticket to Poland ($100), cancel my accommodation booked in Poland (free). Stay in London where it's not affected by the summer exodus so much and I can look for some permanent accommodation / look for a job. Replan trip to Poland and elsewhere in September / October.

As an aside - and probably off topic but getting a work permit for Portugal or Germany is a lot cheaper for an American (under under 150 USD easily) compared to the UK (10x-20x the price when you include the insurance surcharge).