The Schengen 90/180-day rule: how the days are counted, with worked examples

💡 The Short Version: You may spend 90 days in any 180 in the Schengen area, with all its 29 countries counted together. The 180 days roll: on each day you count back 180 days, including that day, and the Schengen days in that window must total 90 or fewer. The day you enter and the day you leave both count. Days in Ireland, the UK, Turkey and Morocco do not count. The Entry/Exit System now keeps the count and lists overstayers: see EES and ETIAS. Check your days with the EU’s short-stay calculator. A stay over the limit can end in a fine, detention, removal or an entry ban.

The Moselle waterfront at Schengen, Luxembourg. Photo: Denise Hastert, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

How the count works

• A rolling window. There is no fixed 180-day block. On every day of your stay, the 180 days up to and including that day are the window, and the Schengen days inside it must not exceed 90 (European Commission).
• Entry and exit days count. The date of entry is the first day of stay and the date of exit the last (Regulation (EU) 2016/399, Article 6(2)). A trip from 1 to 10 June is 10 days.
• All countries together. The 90 days are one allowance for the whole Schengen area, not 90 per country. The area is 29 countries: 25 EU states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
• What does not count. Time in Ireland and Cyprus, which are EU members outside the Schengen area, and in countries outside the EU. Days spent on a residence permit or a long-stay visa are left out too.
• No fresh start. Leaving does not reset the count. Days drop out of the window one at a time as they pass 180 days old.

The former border crossing at Pamhagen between Austria and Hungary. Photo: Mattes, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 DE.

Worked examples

Checking your days

• The EU’s calculator. The short-stay calculator has a check mode for stays already made and a planning mode for a trip you are about to book. Enter entry dates and exit dates as dd/mm/yy, and the calculator reports your last permitted day. Do not enter stays on a residence permit or a long-stay visa.
• The EES tool. The Entry/Exit System’s online tool works from your passport type and number, the issuing country’s three-letter code (GBR, USA, CAN, AUS) and the dates of your trip. It does not reflect any Schengen stay that began before 10 April 2026, so count those trips by hand.
• At the border. Passport control officers can tell you your remaining stay.
• Your own record. The EES has replaced passport stamps. Keep a list of your entry and exit dates.
• Different passport, same record. The EES record is tied to your biometrics, not to the passport (Smartraveller).

What breaks the rule

• Overstaying. The EES identifies overstayers and adds them to a list that border, immigration and visa officials can see. What follows depends on national law: you can be removed, fined, detained or barred from coming back (EU).
• Return procedures and bans. A person found staying beyond 90 days goes through return procedures, with voluntary departure preferred. A return decision can carry an entry ban, entered in the Schengen Information System, that should not in principle exceed five years (EU FAQ).
• Arriving with no days left. Someone who has used 90 days in 180 and tries to enter is refused at the border, and the refusal is recorded in the EES.
• A wrong record. If you can show credible evidence that unforeseeable or mitigating circumstances, such as hospitalisation after a serious injury, made you exceed the stay, the record can be amended and you can be removed from the list. If you think your EES record is wrong, raise it with border officials on your next crossing (UK Foreign Office).
• The passport rule. It is separate from the day count. Your passport must have been issued within the previous 10 years and be valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (Regulation (EU) 2016/399, Article 6(1)).

For UK, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders

The 90 days in any 180 are the same for all four nationalities. What differs is what sits beside them.

• UK passport holders. Time in Ireland does not count: under the Common Travel Area you can stay in Ireland indefinitely. The EES does not apply to UK nationals who hold a Withdrawal Agreement residence document issued by their host state. EES and ETIAS has the rest.
• US passport holders. The same 90 days in any 180, with no separate allowance. Enter USA as the issuing country in the EES tool. A US citizen who also holds an EU passport should enter on it, because EU citizens are not subject to the rule.
• Canadian passport holders. Some countries let Canadians stay beyond 90 days under conditions (Travel.gc.ca). Germany allows a second 90 days if you leave the Schengen area, re-enter Germany directly from outside it with your passport stamped, travel to no other Schengen country and do not work (Travel.gc.ca on Germany). A Canadian who also holds a European passport avoids the short-stay limits by entering on it.
• Australian passport holders. Australia has visa waiver agreements with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. You can use only one, on top of the 90 days. Tell the border guard on your first entry that you plan to use it, and most countries need you to use it at the end of your Schengen travel. Each country runs its waiver in its own way (Smartraveller).

Outside these waivers, a trip over 90 days needs a visa from the country where you will stay longest, applied for before you leave.

Schengen cities on the site

Every city listed below is in the Schengen area, so one 90-day allowance covers all of them. Ireland, the UK, Turkey and Morocco, covered in EES and ETIAS, are outside it. The other planning guides are on the Plan your trip page.

The other planning guides cover cards, cash and tipping, eSIMs for Europe and where to go each month.