TL;DR
You may stay a maximum of 90 days within any rolling 180-day period across the entire Schengen area — not per country. The 180 days is a moving window, not a fixed calendar half-year: on any date, count back 180 days and your days present must not exceed 90. The fixed facts:
| Schengen short-stay visa (Type C) | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Visa fee (adult) | €90 |
| Visa fee (child 6–12) | €45 |
| Visa fee (child under 6) | Free |
| Maximum stay | 90 days in any rolling 180-day period |
| Standard processing | 15 calendar days (up to 45 in some cases) |
| Travel insurance — minimum cover | €30,000 |
| Passport | Issued within 10 years; valid 3+ months beyond your trip |
| Member states | 29 countries |
A 90/180-day calculator is the safest way to check — manual counting across trips is easy to get wrong.
What the 90/180-day rule actually says
The rule caps short stays at 90 days of presence in any 180-day period. Two parts trip people up:
- It's area-wide. The 90 days are shared across all 29 member states. Days in France, Spain, Italy and the rest all draw down the same allowance.
- The 180 is rolling. It isn't a fixed half-year. The window slides forward every day, so your remaining days change daily.
This applies to short stays whether you travel visa-free or on a Type C Schengen visa. A visa doesn't grant extra days — it just permits the stay your nationality otherwise couldn't.
How the rolling 180-day window works
To check whether you're compliant on any given day:
- Take the date in question (often your planned entry or exit day).
- Count back 180 days from it.
- Add up every day you were physically present in the Schengen area within that window.
- That total must be 90 or fewer.
Crucially, both your entry day and exit day count as full days of presence. A trip from the 1st to the 10th is 10 days, not 9.
Worked examples
Example 1 — one long trip. You enter on 1 March and want to stay continuously. Counting day-by-day, you hit 90 days of presence around 29 May, so you must leave on or before that date.
Example 2 — two trips. You spend 40 days in Italy in spring, leave, then plan a second trip in summer. On the day you'd re-enter, count back 180 days: if those 40 days are still inside the window, you have only 50 days left, not a fresh 90.
Example 3 — replenishment. After a long stay, as each day passes, the matching day 180 days earlier drops off the back of the window. Wait long enough and your earliest days expire, freeing up allowance again. A calculator shows exactly when.
| Scenario | Days used in window | Days remaining |
|---|---|---|
| 90 continuous days | 90 | 0 (must leave; wait for days to expire) |
| 40 days, then return same window | 40 | 50 |
| Old trips fully past the 180-day mark | 0 | 90 |
Common mistakes
- Treating it as per-country. Moving from France to Spain does not reset the 90 days. It's one shared pool.
- Treating 180 as a fixed half-year. There's no January reset. The window is rolling and personal to your travel dates.
- Forgetting entry/exit days both count. This quietly adds up across several trips.
- Ignoring earlier trips. Days from a trip months ago can still sit inside your current 180-day window.
- Assuming a visa adds days. A multiple-entry visa lets you come and go, but the 90/180 cap still applies on top of it.
What happens if you overstay
Overstaying the 90/180 limit is treated seriously across the Schengen area:
- Fines on departure or at the next entry attempt.
- Deportation in more serious cases.
- An entry ban locking you out of the whole area for months or years.
- A record that can damage future applications — including visas to other countries.
Even a short overstay counts. Always build in a buffer rather than planning to the last legal day.
How this fits your application
The 90/180 rule shapes your itinerary, which in turn supports your visa file. Your stated dates must fit within your allowance, and your bookings should match them — consistency here strengthens the application.
- Confirm your correct country and build the document set.
- Use the checklist generator, then bundle and compress your file.
- Book your appointment early, since slots are the real bottleneck.
For the full overview, see the Schengen visa from the UK hub. If you'd like a human to sanity-check your dates and itinerary before you submit, the done-for-you Schengen service can help — and if a previous application was turned down, see Schengen visa refused from the UK.
Sources
Common questions
- 01
What is the Schengen 90/180-day rule?
It limits you to a maximum of 90 days of stay within any rolling 180-day period across the entire Schengen area — not per country. On any given day, you count back 180 days; the total days you were present in that window must not exceed 90. It applies to short stays whether you're visa-exempt or hold a Type C visa.
- 02
Is the 180 days a fixed calendar period?
No — this is the most common mistake. The 180 days is a rolling window that moves with every day. It is not a fixed January–June or July–December half-year. To check any date, count back 180 days from it and add up the days you were present.
- 03
Does the 90 days reset when I move to another Schengen country?
No. The 90-day allowance is shared across the whole Schengen area. Days in France, Italy, Spain and any other member state all count toward the same 90. Crossing an internal border does not reset your counter.
- 04
How do I count my Schengen days?
Both your entry day and exit day count as full days of presence. The easiest reliable method is the official EU visa calculator or a 90/180 calculator — pick your planned date, count back 180 days, and sum your days present. Manual counting across multiple trips is error-prone.
- 05
What happens if I overstay the 90/180 rule?
Overstaying can mean fines, deportation, and an entry ban that bars you from the whole Schengen area for months or years. It is also recorded and can harm future visa applications, including to other countries. Even a short overstay is taken seriously, so always leave a buffer.
Free tools that pair with this guide