Explaining the 90/180 Rule in the Schengen Area

Posted on May 31st, 2022

Talks aboutFluff

UK nationals can travel inside the Schengen area without a visa, as long as they do not spend more than 90 days inside the territory across any 180-day period. But what does that mean for our holidays?

Many people explain the regulation as a 'moving' or 'rolling' 180-day period, which appears to confuse people more than help. For example, I interpreted this to mean the regulation defined set 180-day periods within which you could use up the 90 day allowance. I was way off, and it's pretty simple once you understand it.

Walkthrough

To explain this as simply as possible, lets start with a clean slate and assume you've never left the UK and therefore have no days spent inside the Schengen area.

Visit 1

Imagine it's new years day and you're going away for 10 days:

• Start Date: 01/01/22
• Duration: 10 days
• End Date: 10/01/22

The 180-day window is calculated from the date of entry to the Schengen area, so the start date minus 180 days, including the start date itself:

• Start of 180-Day Window: 06/07/21
• Previously in Schengen:
  • 0 days total, with 90 days remaining

Because you're only going away for 10 days, this visit is within the regulations. If you so desired, you could stay in the Schengen area for all 90 days which would take your holiday to 31/03/2022.

Visit 2

Jump ahead to April for an easter getaway:

• Start Date: 14/04/2022
• End Date: 20/04/2022
• Duration: 7 days

As before, we calculate the 180-day period from the start of the visit but we need to include visit one in the allowance period:

• Start of 180-Day Window: 20/10/21
• Previously in Schengen:
  • 10 days (visit 1)
  • 10 days total, with 80 days remaining

Visit 3

You fancy a cheeky long-weekend:

• Start Date: 27/05/22
• End Date: 30/05/22
• Duration: 4 days

This time, you spent even more time in the Schengen area:

• Start of 180-Day Window: 29/11/21
• Previously in Schengen:
  • 10 days (visit 1)
  • 7 days (visit 2)
  • 17 days total, with 73 days remaining

Visit 4

It's the school holidays and you're taking the kids somewhere warmer:

• Start Date: 28/07/22
• End Date: 10/08/22
• Duration: 14 days

Now that the window starts at the end of January, visit 1 falls outside the 180 day window:

• Start of 180-Day Window: 30/01/22
• Previously in Schengen:
  • 10 days (visit 1)
  • 7 days (visit 2)
  • 4 days (visit 3)
  • 11 days total, with 79 days remaining

As we can see, the days from visit 1 are claimed back to reuse for future visits, plus the so-called 180-day 'moving target' through the new calculation for each visit.