Schengen Tourist Visa or Visa-Free Visit: the rule, how days are counted, examples

Summary

As a visitor from outside the EU you may spend no more than 90 days in any 180-day period in the Schengen area. All 29 Schengen countries share one count, and the day you arrive and the day you leave both count as full days. Leaving does not reset anything: each day stops counting only when it is more than 180 days old. Since 10 April 2026 the Entry/Exit System records every border crossing and finds overstays automatically. Border guards of the country you enter or leave apply the rule.

Limit: 90 days
Period: Any 180 days, counted back from each day of your stay
A day counts when: You are in the area for any part of it, including arrival and departure days
Area: 29 countries with one shared count
Law: Regulation (EU) 2016/399 (Schengen Borders Code), Article 6
Run by: The border guards of each Schengen country, with the EU Entry/Exit System

Who it applies to

Visitors who do not need a visa for short stays, such as citizens of the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and Japan.
People who hold a multiple-entry Schengen visa and make several trips with it.
Remote workers and long-term travellers who move between Schengen countries and countries outside the area.
Owners of a holiday home in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal or Greece who are not EU citizens.
People who visit a partner or family in Europe often and for long periods.

The rule

Article 6(1) of the Schengen Borders Code sets the entry conditions for people who are not EU, EEA or Swiss citizens. It allows stays of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period, and it says how to test this: for each day of your stay, look at the 180 days that end on that day. If you were in the area on more than 90 of them, you have stayed too long. The period moves forward one day at a time, so it is often called a rolling period.

Article 6(2) says that the date of entry is the first day of stay and the date of exit is the last day of stay. Both count in full, even if you arrive just before midnight or leave just after it. The same article says that time you spend under a residence permit or a national long-stay visa (type D) is not counted in the 90 days.

The count is shared by the whole area. The Schengen area has 29 countries: 25 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Bulgaria and Romania became full members on 1 January 2025. Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not in the Schengen area, so days there are not counted. A week in Paris and a week in Rome are 14 days of the same 90.

Since 12 October 2025 the Entry/Exit System (EES) records the entry and exit of short-stay visitors with their passport data, face image and fingerprints. It became fully operational on 10 April 2026 and replaces passport stamps. The system calculates the days you have used, so an overstay is seen at the border without anyone reading stamps. The border guard still looks at your whole situation: the purpose of your trip, your money for the stay and your plan to leave.

Why it exists

The Schengen countries removed checks at the borders between them, so they need one common rule for how long a visitor may stay in the whole area. The 90-day limit marks the line between a visit and living there. A person who wants to stay longer must ask one country for a long-stay visa or a residence permit, and that country then checks work, income, health insurance and housing. The rolling period stops people from living in the area by leaving for one day and coming back.

Counting the days

You count days of presence in the Schengen area in the 180 days that end on the day you check. Any part of a day in the area is one day.

Write down every entry date and exit date for the Schengen area, from your passport stamps, tickets or the EES record.
Pick the day you want to test, for example the last day of the trip you plan.
Count back 179 days from that day. Those days plus the test day are your 180-day period.
Count every day inside that period on which you were in any Schengen country. Count each arrival day and each departure day.
Leave out days covered by a residence permit or a type D long-stay visa.
If the total is 90 or less on every day of your stay, you are inside the limit. If it is 91 on any day, that day is an overstay.

How Countr counts it. Countr counts any part of a day in a Schengen country as one day, so arrival and departure days both count, as in Article 6(2). It adds up the days in all 29 countries in the 180 days back from today and compares the total with 90. A day drops out of the count only when it is 180 days old. You can mark days as not counting, which is how you remove days spent on a type D visa or a residence permit. Countr works from what the phone recorded, so the border system's own record is the one that decides.

Track Schengen Tourist Visa or Visa-Free Visit on your phone.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

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Examples

Two trips that use all 90 days

Amira, a Canadian citizen, is in France and Italy from 1 March to 30 April 2026. That is 61 days, because both travel days count. She comes back to Spain on 1 June. On 29 June she has been in Spain for 29 days. The 180 days that end on 29 June start on 1 January 2026 and hold both trips: 61 plus 29 is 90 days. She must leave on 29 June. If she stays on 30 June, the count is 91 and she has overstayed.

The trap: leaving does not reset the count

Tom, a British citizen, spends 1 November 2025 to 29 January 2026 in Spain. That is exactly 90 days. He goes home for a month and flies back on 1 March 2026, believing his days started again. The 180 days that end on 1 March start on 3 September 2025, so they contain all 90 winter days plus 1 March, which makes 91. The earliest day he can enter again is 30 April 2026, when 1 November has dropped out of the period.

A short stay of 25 hours counts as three days

Lena lands in Frankfurt at 23:30 on 10 May 2026 and takes a flight out of the area at 00:30 on 12 May. She was in Germany for 25 hours. The rule counts dates and not hours: 10 May is the date of entry, 11 May is a full day and 12 May is the date of exit. Three days of her 90 are used.

Exceptions

Days spent under a residence permit or a national long-stay visa (type D) of a Schengen country are not counted in the 90 days.
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens are not under this rule, and their non-EU family members who travel with them or join them follow the EU free movement rules.
Some countries signed older visa waiver agreements with single Schengen countries before the common rule. Such an agreement can allow extra time in that one country only, and you must ask that country how it applies it.
The EU visa waiver agreement with Brazil keeps an older wording: three months during a six-month period that starts on the first entry.
For visa holders, the Visa Code lets a Schengen country extend a visa in cases of force majeure or for humanitarian reasons, for example when illness or a cancelled flight stops you from leaving.
Days in Ireland, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Türkiye and other countries outside the area are not Schengen days.

Common misconceptions

“If I leave the Schengen area for one day, my 90 days start again.”: No. Nothing resets when you leave. Each day you spent in the area stays in the count until it is more than 180 days old, so a short trip out only stops new days from being added.
“I get 90 days in each country.”: No. The 90 days are for the whole Schengen area together. Days in Germany, Greece and Norway all go into the same count.
“The 180 days are two fixed halves of the year, January to June and July to December.”: No. The 180 days are counted back from each single day of your stay. There are no fixed blocks, and a new calendar year changes nothing.
“The day I arrive and the day I leave count as half days or do not count.”: Both count as full days. Article 6(2) names the date of entry as the first day of stay and the date of exit as the last day of stay.

Questions and answers

How do I work out when I can go back to the Schengen area after using 90 days?

You can enter again on the day when the oldest day of your earlier stay is more than 180 days old. In practice, add 180 days to the first day of that stay. If you stayed 90 days without a break, you must be outside for 90 days before you can enter again.

Do days in Ireland, Cyprus or the United Kingdom count towards the 90 days?

No. These countries are not in the Schengen area and have their own rules. Time there is not added to your Schengen count, and it does not use up your 90 days.

What happens if I overstay by one day?

One day is still an overstay, and the Entry/Exit System records it. What follows is decided by the country you leave from under its national law: it can be a warning, a fine or an entry ban. The record can also make later visa applications and border checks harder.

Does a transit through a Schengen airport count as a day?

It counts when you pass border control and enter the area, for example to change to a flight inside Schengen or to leave the airport. If you stay in the international transit zone and never cross the border, you have not entered and no day is counted.

Does the 90/180 rule apply if I have a multiple-entry Schengen visa valid for several years?

Yes. A visa valid for two or five years lets you enter many times, but your total stay is still limited to 90 days in any 180-day period. The visa sticker can also set a lower number of days.

Do I need ETIAS to use the 90 days without a visa?

ETIAS is a travel authorisation that the EU has planned for visitors who do not need a visa. The European Commission describes it as a step that follows the full start of the Entry/Exit System, so check the official ETIAS website before you travel. ETIAS is a permission to travel and does not change the 90-day limit.

Sources

News about this rule

Schengen's Entry/Exit System now counts your 90 days for you

Other rules for Schengen area

Schengen Visa with Fixed Dates (Single Entry) 90 days within your visa dates

See all trackers

This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.