The 90/180 rule in the law's own words
The rule comes from Article 6(1) of the Schengen Borders Code, Regulation (EU) 2016/399:
For intended stays on the territory of the Member States of a duration of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period, which entails considering the 180-day period preceding each day of stay...
The key words are “preceding each day of stay”. The check is not made once at the border. It is made for every day you are in the area, and you can enter legally and still overstay partway through a trip as the window rolls forward. The European Commission's own calculator puts it simply: count back 180 days from each day of your stay and make sure the total does not exceed 90.
The rule applies to visa-free visitors (US, UK, Canadian and Australian passport holders among them) and to holders of short-stay Schengen visas. Days under a national long-stay visa or residence permit are handled by that country's rules instead.
Worked examples
| Trips | What the rolling window shows |
|---|---|
| 1 March to 29 April 2026, then back on 1 June | On 1 June the window (4 December 2025 to 1 June 2026) already holds 60 days, so 30 remain. If you stay continuously, 30 June is your 90th day and you must leave by the end of it. |
| 1 January to 31 March 2026 (90 days in a row) | You are at 90/90 on 31 March. 1 January ages out on 30 June, so that is the first day you can re-enter. From then on old days drop out as fast as new ones are added, so you could stay 90 days in a row from 30 June. |
| Day trip from London to Paris | One full day used, even if you were there for six hours. |
These examples were run through the calculator above, which uses the same rolling-window logic for any set of trips.
How days are counted
Every calendar day you are inside the Schengen area counts, including the day you arrive and the day you leave, whatever the time. Overlapping trips are counted once. Moving between Schengen countries does not restart anything: a week in Spain and a week in Germany are 14 days of the same 90.
| Rule | What counts as a day |
|---|---|
| Schengen 90/180 | The day you enter and the day you leave both count as days of stay. (Schengen Borders Code, Art. 6(1) and 6(2)) |
| US Substantial Presence Test | Any part of a day in the US counts as a full day. (IRS, Substantial Presence Test) |
| US state 183-day rules (most states) | Varies by state. New York counts any part of a day; Pennsylvania counts a day as outside the state only if it is a full day, midnight to midnight; Ohio counts contact periods; many states publish no partial-day rule. (Each state's statute (see the state guide)) |
| FEIE physical presence test | Only full 24-hour days abroad, midnight to midnight, count. (IRS, Physical Presence Test) |
| UK Statutory Residence Test | A day counts if you are in the UK at midnight, subject to the transit exception and the deeming rule. (HMRC, RFIG20710) |
EES: the border now counts your days
The EU Entry/Exit System began a progressive launch on 12 October 2025 and became fully operational on 10 April 2026, when it replaced passport stamping. It records your name, travel document, fingerprints, facial image and the date and place of every entry and exit, and it enables automatic detection of overstayers. An overstay is no longer something a border guard has to spot in a passport: the record is already there.
Schengen and Europe travel guides
Schengen 90/180: common questions
- What is the 90/180 rule in the Schengen area?
- A non-EU visitor on a short stay can spend no more than 90 days in the Schengen area in any 180-day period. On every day of your stay, count back over that day and the 179 days before it: the days you were in Schengen in that window must not exceed 90. All 29 Schengen countries share one count.
- Does the 90-day rule reset after 180 days?
- No. There is no reset date, not on exit, not on 1 January and not 180 days after your first entry. The window rolls forward one day at a time, and each old day of presence drops out exactly 180 days after it happened. Your allowance comes back one day at a time, not in a block.
- When can I return to Schengen after 90 days?
- As soon as a day drops out of your 180-day window. If you stayed 1 January to 31 March 2026 (90 days), 1 January drops out on 30 June, so you can re-enter on 30 June. Because each new day you spend is then matched by an old day ageing out, you could stay up to 90 days in a row from 30 June. The calculator above gives the exact date for your own trips.
- Do the day I arrive and the day I leave count?
- Yes. Article 6(2) of the Schengen Borders Code treats the date of entry as the first day of stay and the date of exit as the last, whatever time you cross the border. A day trip counts as one day, and arriving on the 5th and leaving on the 7th is three days, not two.
- What does 90 of 180 mean in practice?
- It means you can be inside Schengen for at most half of any 180-day stretch. Someone who wants to spend as much time as possible in Europe on short stays often ends up with patterns like 90 days in, 90 days out, or shorter alternating stays that never push the rolling total past 90.
- Does the EES change the 90/180 rule?
- No, the rule is the same, but enforcement is now digital. The EU Entry/Exit System started on 12 October 2025 and became fully operational on 10 April 2026, replacing passport stamps. It records your entries and exits with fingerprints and a facial image and automatically detects overstayers.
- Is ETIAS a visa, and does it give me extra days?
- No to both. ETIAS is a travel authorisation for visa-exempt travellers, not a visa. It does not add days: the 90/180 rule still decides how long you can stay.
- Do the UK and Ireland count toward my Schengen days?
- No. The UK is not in Schengen and Ireland is in the EU but outside Schengen, so days there do not count toward the 90. They have their own visitor rules.
- Is there a Schengen calculator app that counts days automatically?
- Yes. iReside counts your Schengen days from your iPhone's location, so you do not have to type in trips. It keeps the rolling 90/180 count current every day and alerts you 30, 7 and 3 days before your limit, with the date you need to leave by.