How long until an abandoned country turns into a 3C?

Someone registered two countries next to me, and never came back to actually play. This is very inconvenient for me, since my country is by the sea, and I don't have many adjacent countries. I was hoping to conquer those two countries to establish a little empire, but now I'm locked in.
How long will I have to wait until those countries become free again?

which world are you from .

Use your Air Force & some SF.

i don't think that was the question he was asking,

i'll try to answer it better for you. . .
anybody please correct me if i'm mistaken,

as far as i know, you cannot attack protected or war level 1-3 countries

if the inactive neighbors of yours are protected or WL1-3, you will have to wait until their subscription ends, which could be up to a real earth year

sorry to be the bearer bad news. it's a big world though, see if you can be interestd in attacking other areas/regions

Thank you, John West, even though the news really are bad. :-(

"bad news" says the leader of a nation that seeks to war for the sake of war itself !!

but yes your right, the game is unfortunately a bit restrictive in several areas

if you think that's bad news, turn on the tellievision on any day and then you will probably find some worse than bad news if that's what you're looking for

So, does anyone know a definitive answer to my question? I really need to know. How many days, weeks, or months does it take for an inactive, non-premium, war level 1 country to become free and available again?

P.S.: I'm now boxed in 3 layers of countries on all sides. When I started playing, everything around me was free, except for one neighbour. It almost looks as if someone were doing it on purpose.

I don't know the answer. I think it varies which is why no one has given you an exact answer. Is there a reason you need the countries directly next to you to be open? You can take a C3 that isn't beside you fairly easily.

"Is there a reason you need the countries directly next to you"

I know it's irrational, but ruling over a contiguous territory somehow feels "right", while a collection of dispersed countries all over the map feels unsatisfying. Maybe it's my territorialist lizard brain, maybe it's a sense of aesthetics. Also, I don't really want to start messing with air transport and navies at this time.

Apparently someone is unfamiliar with the geographic history of one of the more territorialist powers in human history :P

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Acprussiamap2.gif

I see 85% contiguous territory on that map. :-p
Anyway, I get the message: Abandon all hope and move on.

Happened to me on white giant. Dreams do come true though, because they ended up becoming free countries...... After a few real earth months.