Schengen 90/180 rule explained with examples (2026)
The Schengen 90/180 rule limits most visa-free and short-stay visitors to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period across the whole Schengen Area. This guide explains how the days are counted, walks through dated examples and shows how to work out when you can return.
What the rule says
A short stay in the Schengen Area is normally limited to 90 days in any 180-day period. It applies to non-EU visitors who travel visa-free or on a short-stay visa for tourism, business or visiting family. The allowance is shared by every Schengen country: 60 days in Germany followed by 30 days in Spain uses the whole 90, and each country does not get its own.
As of 8 October 2026 the area has 29 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but outside Schengen, so days there do not count. The VisaWise calculator counts Croatia from 1 January 2023 and Bulgaria and Romania from 31 March 2024.
The rule does not apply to EU, EEA and Swiss nationals exercising free movement, and time spent on a long-stay visa or residence permit is treated differently. The calculator does not evaluate those cases.
How the days are counted
Four counting rules cover almost every situation:
- Your arrival day and your departure day both count as full days.
- A same-day entry and exit counts as one day.
- Days spent outside the Schengen Area do not count.
- Overlapping trips count each calendar date once.
The window is rolling, not a calendar half-year. For any day you are in Schengen, look back across that day and the 179 days before it. That is a 180-day window. Count the Schengen days inside it. The total must never exceed 90. Tomorrow the window moves forward by one day, so the oldest day drops out and a day you spent in Schengen 180 days ago stops counting.
Example 1: one long stay and the earliest return
You stay in Schengen from 1 January to 31 March 2026. That is 31 days in January, 28 in February and 31 in March: exactly 90 days. You are allowed to be there, with nothing in hand.
On 29 June 2026 the window runs from 1 January to 29 June, so all 90 days still count and you have 0 days left. On 30 June the window starts on 2 January. Your 1 January day has dropped out, you have used 89 days and you have 1 day left. The earliest day you can enter again is therefore 30 June 2026, which is 1 January plus 180 days. Because one old day leaves the window every day, a stay beginning on 30 June can then run for the full 90 days.
Example 2: several shorter trips
Two trips in 2026: 1 to 28 February (28 days) and 10 April to 9 May (30 days). Checking on 1 July 2026, the window runs from 3 January to 1 July and contains both trips: 58 days used, 32 left.
| Check date | Days used | Days left |
|---|---|---|
| 1 July 2026 | 58 | 32 |
| 1 August 2026 | 56 | 34 |
| 27 August 2026 (February days gone) | 30 | 60 |
The days left on one date and the length of the longest stay you can start on it are different numbers. If you enter on 1 July 2026, your February days begin to leave the window at the end of July, so a continuous stay can run 60 days, to 29 August, even though only 32 days were left on 1 July. The calculator reports both figures separately for this reason.
Example 3: the first day of an overstay
A stay from 1 January to 1 April 2026 is 91 days. The 91st day, 1 April, is the first breach. The 90th day is still allowed. Border authorities decide the consequences of an overstay, and an entry date calculated from day counts does not resolve a previous overstay.
Mistakes that cause overstays
- Counting calendar months instead of days. Three months can be 89 to 92 days.
- Forgetting that arrival and departure days count.
- Treating each country as a separate 90-day allowance.
- Planning to leave on exactly day 90 with no buffer for a delayed or cancelled flight.
- Forgetting short trips earlier in the 180-day window, such as a weekend city break.
Enter every Schengen trip, past and planned, into the free Schengen calculator and read the days used and days left for the date you are checking. To test a trip you have not booked, follow the guide to planning a future trip. Border records are now kept electronically, which is covered in EES and ETIAS: what changes. Passport-specific stay rules are in the visa-free stay guides.
Frequently asked questions
Does the 90/180 rule reset every 180 days?
No. It is a rolling window. On each day you look back across that day and the previous 179 days and count your Schengen days. There is no fixed reset date.
Do arrival and departure days count?
Yes. Both calendar days count as days of presence, and a same-day entry and exit counts as one day.
Is the 90 days per country or for the whole Schengen Area?
It is one allowance for the whole area. Days in every Schengen country are added together.
When can I re-enter after using all 90 days?
On the day after the earliest day of the window drops out. If your 90 days started on 1 January, that is 1 January plus 180 days, which is 30 June in 2026.
Do days in Ireland, Cyprus or the UK count?
No. Ireland and Cyprus are outside Schengen, and the UK is outside both the EU and Schengen. Only days in Schengen countries count.
Official sources
Informational only. Check official sources before you travel or file.
