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The Schengen 90/180-day rule, with worked examples

"Ninety days in any 180-day period" is often read as three months in, three months out, or as 90 days per half of the calendar year. Both readings are wrong, and both can produce an overstay. The Schengen 90/180-day rule uses a window that moves forward one day at a time. Two worked examples below show how to count it.

Key takeaway

The Schengen 90/180-day rule looks back over a 180-day window that moves forward one day at a time, so it does not reset on 1 January or with a new visa. The day of entry and the day of exit both count. A sticker that grants fewer days does not turn into a 90-day visa, and if it shows less than 90 days the European Commission says not to use its short-stay calculator. Otherwise, confirm your plan with that calculator.

What the rule says

A Schengen short-stay visa is an authorisation for an intended stay of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period (EU Visa Code, Article 2). The Schengen Borders Code uses the same limit for entry and says how to count it (Schengen Borders Code, Article 6):

  • The limit "entails considering the 180-day period preceding each day of stay". The window is not fixed to calendar months or to the dates on your visa.
  • The date of entry is the first day of stay, and the date of exit is the last day of stay. Both count.
  • Periods of stay authorised under a residence permit or a long-stay visa are not counted.
  • The 90 days are calculated as a single period for the Member States operating the Entry/Exit System, and separately for any Member State that does not operate it.

So days spent in France, Italy and Germany on one trip all draw on the same 90. The purpose makes no difference either: a business trip and a holiday are counted together.

Your visa may allow less

For an Indian passport holder the visa comes first. The sticker states its own duration of stay, validity dates and number of entries, and you are bound by whichever limit you reach first. A visa granting 15 days does not become a 90-day visa because the general rule allows 90. Our explainer on visa validity, duration of stay and entries shows how to read those fields.

The 90/180 count matters most to travellers with a long-validity, multiple-entry visa and to those who make several trips a year. It also works at the application stage. The consulate verifies the length of previous and intended stays (Visa Code, Article 21). Having already stayed 90 days in the current 180-day period is a ground for refusal in its own right (Article 32).

How to count: the look-back test

Pick any day you plan to be in the Schengen area. Count back 180 days from that day, including the day itself. Add up every day you were, or will be, inside the area during that stretch. If the total is 90 or less, that day is within the rule. Every day of the trip has to pass, so test the last day, because that is where a plan usually fails.

Old days drop out of the window as it moves. A day you spent in the area stops counting once it is more than 179 days behind the day you are testing. This is why the rule cannot be reduced to a fixed block of months.

Example 1: one long stay

The dates here are invented to show the arithmetic, and they assume a visa that permits the stay.

  • You enter on 1 March and stay continuously. Counting 1 March as day one, day 90 is 29 May. You must leave by 29 May.
  • You want to return as soon as possible. For weeks after you leave, every look-back window still contains all 90 of your days, so you cannot enter.
  • The first day that works is 28 August. Its window runs from 2 March to 28 August. The 1 March day has dropped out, which leaves 89 old days plus the new one.
  • From then on, one old day drops out for each new day you stay.

In this simple case the popular version, 90 days in and 90 days out, gives the right answer. It stops working as soon as you make several shorter trips.

Example 2: three trips in one year

Again, invented dates.

  • Trip 1: 10 March to 29 March. That is 20 days, counting both ends.
  • Trip 2: 1 June to 30 June. That is 30 days.
  • Trip 3: you plan to enter on 1 August. How long can you stay?

On 1 August, the window reaches back to early February, so both earlier trips are inside it. You have used 50 days and 40 remain. The quick answer is 40 days, which takes you to 9 September.

The exact answer is longer. While you are there in September, the March days start to leave the window. From 25 September the whole of Trip 1 has dropped out. The last day that passes the look-back test is 29 September. Its window starts on 3 April and holds the 30 days of June plus 60 days of Trip 3, which makes 90. On 30 September the count would be 91.

The quick answer is the cautious one. If you need the exact figure, do not rely on mental arithmetic.

Confirm with the official calculator

We do not calculate permitted days for you. Confirm any plan with the European Commission's short-stay calculator, which checks whether a stay complies with the 90/180-day rule. Enter your past entry and exit dates from your own records, then the planned trip.

Two cautions come from the Commission itself. If you hold a short-stay visa, check the period of authorised stay printed on the visa sticker, and if it is shorter than 90 days, do not use the calculator. The tool also states that it is a helping tool only and does not constitute a right to stay for the period it calculates.

Mistakes to avoid

  1. Counting nights. A trip from the 1st to the 10th is ten days, not nine.
  2. Resetting on 1 January or on a new visa. The window ignores the calendar year, and a fresh visa does not wipe earlier days.
  3. Counting per country. The days are pooled across the states that apply the rule together.
  4. Forgetting short visits. If you entered the area, even for one day, that day is a day of stay.
  5. Planning to the last day. A cancelled flight on day 90 leaves no margin.
  6. Applying the rule elsewhere. It is a Schengen rule. Other countries set their own limits on stay, which you will find on their official pages.

If something stops you leaving in time

The Visa Code provides for an extension where the visa holder proves force majeure or humanitarian reasons that prevent departure before the visa's validity or duration of stay ends. A visa may also be extended for serious personal reasons. The request is made to the authority of the Member State where you are at that moment (Article 33). Contact that authority before your permitted stay runs out, not after.

The number of days you ask for also has to match the rest of the file, a point covered in mistakes in lodging a Schengen application. GoVisaX offers document checklists, online payment and application tracking for the destinations listed on our visas page, including for a business visa.

Sources

GoVisaX is a private visa facilitation service, not an embassy, consulate or government authority. Visa decisions rest solely with the issuing authority. Requirements change, so confirm the current rules with the official source before you apply.

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