How the rolling 180-day window really works, with worked examples

The rule says you may stay up to 90 days in any period of 180 days. “Any” is the important word. It does not mean a fixed block of 180 days that starts when you first arrive.

The method

For each day of your stay, look back 180 days (that day and the 179 before it). Count the days you were in the Schengen area in that window. The count must be 90 or fewer on every day you are there. The Commission’s manual describes it as a “moving” reference period that you apply by going back from each day of the stay.

Two details matter:

• The day you enter is the first day of stay and the day you leave is the last day. Both count.
• Long-stay visa and residence-permit stays are not counted.

Worked example 1 (from the Commission manual)

A visa-exempt traveller enters on 1 January 2014 and leaves the same day. They enter again on 1 June 2014 and stay until 20 September 2014.

• On 15 June 2014 the window is 18 December 2013 to 15 June 2014. They were present for 1 day (1 January) plus 15 days (1 to 15 June): 16 days. Fine.
• On 29 August 2014 the window is 3 March to 29 August 2014. The 1 January day has dropped out. They were present from 1 June to 29 August: 90 days. That is the last permitted day.
• On 30 August the count would be 91, which is over the limit.

Worked example 2 (from the Commission manual)

A multiple-entry visa holder stays 1 to 10 January 2015 (10 days), 1 to 30 March (30 days) and 1 May to 9 June (40 days), 80 days in total.

• Entering on 20 June 2015 they could stay at most 20 days: 10 days of balance, plus 10 more because the January stay drops out of the window as they stay.
• Entering on 7 August they could again stay 20 days (the March stay does not drop out until 28 August).
• Entering on 8 August they could stay 50 days: the balance, plus the January days, plus the 30 March days once those leave the window.
• Entering on 8 September they could stay a full 90 days.

That last line shows a rule of thumb the manual states directly: an unbroken absence of 90 days always gives you a fresh 90-day stay.

Leap years and month ends

Count calendar days, not months. A 180-day window in a leap year still contains exactly 180 days, so the date it starts on shifts by one. A tool that works with plain calendar dates, not clock times, avoids the off-by-one errors that time zones can cause.

Try your own dates in the free Schengen calculator; it is tested against both examples above.

Planning aid, not legal advice. Border authorities’ records are authoritative.

Sources

• European Commission: short-stay calculator user manual (examples in section 6)
• European Commission: short-stay calculator page

Related

• Free Schengen calculator
• When can I return?

Planning aid, not legal or tax advice. Border authorities' records are authoritative.