The rule is set by Article 6 of the Schengen Borders Code: a short stay may last no more than 90 days in any 180-day period, and the 180 days are counted back from each day of the stay. It is the same for visa holders and for travellers who do not need a visa.
How the window moves
There are no fixed half-years, and nothing resets when you leave, get a new visa or change your passport. On every day of your stay, look back 180 days, that day included, and count the days you spent in the Schengen area. There must be no more than 90.
- The day of entry and the day of exit both count. Landing at 23:50 and leaving at 00:10 makes two days.
- Days from different trips add up: the 90 days do not have to be in a row.
- A day stops counting 180 days after it. Nothing else frees up days.
- Count days, not months: 1 June to 31 August is 92 days.
An example. You were in Spain from 1 to 30 June 2026 and enter again on 8 October 2026. The 180 days before that date hold 30 days of stay, yet you may stay for the full 90 days, until 5 January 2027: the June days leave the window while you are travelling. After 90 days in a row you can come back only after 90 days outside the Schengen area.
The Vizir 90/180 calculator does this count for your dates. The European Commission has its own calculator in English.
Which days count
- All 29 Schengen countries count as one: 25 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Days in France, Italy and Greece add up.
- Bulgaria and Romania have been full members since 1 January 2025: days there are part of the same 90.
- Cyprus and Ireland are in the EU but outside the Schengen area. Days there do not count, and Cyprus keeps its own 90 days in 180.
- Time spent on a residence permit or a national long-stay visa (type D) of a Schengen country does not count.
- The United Kingdom, Türkiye, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Georgia and Armenia are outside the count altogether.
On a visa: three limits at once
A visa adds two limits of its own to the rule: the dates between which it is valid and the number of days of stay printed on it. The strictest of the three applies. A single-entry visa for 15 days ends after 15 days, although it is valid 15 days longer than the trip: the extra days let you shift the dates, not stay longer.
A multiple-entry visa for one, two or five years says "90 days". That is 90 days in every 180-day window — not 90 days per trip and not 90 days for the whole visa. It does not let you live in the Schengen area.
The border now counts for you
Since 10 April 2026 the Entry/Exit System has been working at every external border of the Schengen area. It records each entry and exit instead of stamping the passport and works out the remaining days itself. The border guard sees them when you enter and leave, and a consulate sees how many days you have left for the dates of your next trip.
An overstay puts you on a list that border, migration and visa authorities of all Schengen countries can see. If you were kept by something you could not foresee, such as a hospital stay, show the proof to the authorities: the record is corrected and you are taken off the list. You can check your own balance in the official tool of the system: it asks for your passport details and travel dates.
What an overstay costs
The law gives no day or two of grace: any overstay is unlawful stay, and the record of it remains. Under EU rules the country can order you to leave and ban you from coming back for up to five years; the ban goes into the Schengen Information System and applies in every Schengen country. Fines are national, and there is no single rate per day.
| Country | What the law provides |
|---|---|
| France | No fine for the overstay itself. An order to leave, usually within 30 days; a return ban of up to 5 years is possible. |
| Italy | Expulsion with a re-entry ban of 3 to 5 years. The fine of €5,000–10,000 is not applied when the overstay is found at exit control. |
| Spain | A fine of €501 to €10,000 or, instead of it, expulsion with an entry ban of up to 5 years. |
| Greece | A fine paid on exit: €600 for an overstay of up to 30 days, €1,200 for a longer one. |
| Hungary | Expulsion and an entry ban of up to 5 years, decided case by case. |
| Germany | A fine of up to €3,000 for a negligent overstay; a deliberate one is a criminal offence. |
An overstay also works against your next visa. Every consulate sees it, and long multiple-entry visas go only to those who used their earlier visas lawfully.
If you cannot leave on time
Illness, a cancelled flight or another reason beyond your control: go to the migration authority of the country you are in before your days run out. Article 33 of the Visa Code allows a visa to be extended — free of charge for force majeure or humanitarian reasons, for €30 for serious personal reasons. Keep the medical papers and the airline notices, and always keep tickets and boarding passes: if the system has no record of your exit, they prove when you left.
If you need more than 90 days
Leaving for a day or two does not help: the days already spent stay in the window. A longer stay needs a national long-stay visa (type D) or a residence permit of the country — for study, work or family. The time you spend on it is not counted towards the 90 days. Citizens of some visa-free countries, mostly in Latin America, can ask one Schengen country for extra time under old bilateral agreements; visa holders are not covered by them.
When Vizir prepares a Schengen application, the specialist checks the dates of the trip against your earlier stays, so that the visa you ask for fits the rule.