Understanding the 90 day rule

Hi, 

It's a rolling 180 days. For example, you enter the EU on 1st January 2021, you are allowed 90 days from that date in as many visits as you want until 30th June. (180 days) At which time your next 90/180 starts again. 

So the first day you arrive in any EU country the clock starts. 

It is easy to calculate if its in one visit, a little more thought needed for multiple visits. There are many calculators on line where you input your dates and it gives you exact dates of permitted return to the EU. 

It's recorded on your digital footprint via passport checks. Some people are also reporting their passports being stamped. Stamping the passport isn't really of any significance however the digital check is what will be relevant. 

A quick search on line will give you many instances of where enforcement has occurred prior to us leaving the EU, with visitors from countries like America, New Zealand and Australia, where this rule has been in force for many years. People have reported overstay fines and return restrictions so unfortunately this is now the same for UK nationals visiting the EU. 

Ir certainly isn't something to be taken lightly and if you have travelled recently (I went Calais-Dover a few days ago) my experience was that border controls appeared  much more stringent, with many vehicles being checked.

Hello

 It is a rolling 180days , counting starts on the day you arrive in the Schengen zone ( i.e. France) if you are driving to Spain & of course, if you fly , counting begins the day you land. Your passport will be stamped on arrival at either port or airport & again when you leave.

   There is a calculator that you can use to keep track of your time here, so as not to overstay... https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/visa-calculator/

You will be able to spend  up to 90 days in total in  the Schengen zone and then you will have to spend  90 days in total away, before you can return....the calculator should help.

Cheers

Elinspain

Brilliant thank you! We have no intentions of staying longer than we’re allowed that’s why I’m checking. Don’t want to break any rules :)

Hi there, using the calculator is the easiest way but if you want to actually understand how it works, this article made it much clearer for me:

https://newlandchase.com/the-schengen-areas-90-180-day-rule-made-easy/ 

Hello Cheryl

 This is brilliant, I  hadn't seen this before...thanks

Cheers

Elinspain

Thanks, Cheryl, this is an excellent article.

Anything that implies the 180-day periods are fixed to a calendar year, i.e. 1 January to 30 June and 1 July to 31 December, is incorrect.  The 90-days´ count starts when someone first enters the Schengen zone and if you arrive at 11.55 pm one evening, that counts as your first day, even though you were only in Schengen for 5 minutes; likewise, when you leave again.  

It seems to be the "rolling" aspect of the 180-days period that confuses people, but if you count backwards from the final day of your final planned visit, you shouldn´t have exceeded 90 days in the preceding 180 days in order to stay within the rules.  As you add future trips, earlier trips that you´ve taken, which are more than 180 days earlier will "drop off".  That´s why I always recommend using an online calculator (or Excel spreadsheet) for those who want to make frequent shorter trips, rather than the maximum 90 days in one visit.

Kind regards,

Kim