Another Schengen question

You leave on day 90, can return after spending at least 90 days out of the zone. Rule is 90 days out of a 180-day period.

PHJ,

You can find more info here:https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/go/schengen-fact-sheet.html

The US government is not the authority on Schengen rules, it is not their rules. The link posted by Priscilla say "three months within each six-month period", which is wrong.
The rule is 90 days in any 180, exactly that. Re-calculated every day. So every morning, you must ask your self "Have I been in the Schengen Area for 90 days in the last 180 (whole or part days)". If the answer is yes, you must leave that day.
So, if you are "in" for days 1 to 90, "out" for days 91 to 180, on day 181 you can re-enter, because day 1 no longer counts, it is over 180 days ago, and you have one 89 in the last 180. And you can continue, as days are falling off the end as fast as you are using them. Until you reach the point where there are 90 days in the last 180, and you must leave again.
Simple?

Chris,

You're correct, I won't recommend that link in the future. Sorry.

90 days in any 180 days is different than 3 months out of 6 months.
You would think that the U. S. Department of State would give correct information to their citizens.

That sort of misinformation is appalling. I have used the "Contact Us" link on the web site to request that it be corrected. Let's hope it's done expeditiously. It's hard to believe that no one has reported the problem before.

PHJ, you are correct. If you have spent 90 days in the Schengen zone, you can come back after spending another 90 days outside of it. Note that it doesn't have to be 90 consecutive days in order to count towards that 90-day maximum, i.e. if you spend 30 days in Schengen, leave for, say, 14 days and return, you will only have 60 days to be in the Schengen area after which you have to leave. In other words, the 90-day "clock" for you to legally be within the Schengen zone does not reset until it has been 180 days since your initial entry.

Anna, the 90 day clock does not reset 180 days after your initial entry. it is 90 days in any 180.
In your example, the second visit of 60 days is still counts until they are more than 180 days in the past.
This is simple, why do people have so much problem with it?

Wishful thinking?

Wishful thinking - and way too much misinformation about this subject.
It's a shame that many posts, ex-pat blogs, etc aren't dated, so people could find more up-to-date information.
It's always best to head straight for an official government website, though often the legalese can be difficult to understand.

This calculator, on the EU's own website should be of help: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/border-crossing/schengen_calculator_en.html

Thank you all. See, it should be easy but it's reported differently all over the place. Thank you, Chris, for weighing in again. You must think we're all idiots!

Anna, the 90 day clock does not reset 180 days after your initial entry. it is 90 days in any 180.
In your example, the second visit of 60 days is still counts until they are more than 180 days in the past.
This is simple, why do people have so much problem with it?

That's exactly what I said though? By "initial entry" I mean the very first day you enter, which starts the 180-day period. In my example, if you enter for 30 days, leave for 14 and immediately come back, you have another 60 - rather than 90 - days until it's been 180 days since the initial entry (i.e. day 1 of the initial 30-day stay).

Just saying that because I've multiple posts over the years where people misconstrue the 90-day allowance as simply getting to stay up to 90 days any time they enter Schengen. Lucky for me, I don't think I will ever have the problem of being able to take a vacation in Europe for that long...

Anna, your example looks fine to me, but I think we're sort of nervous about references to "initial entry" as well as to statements about the clock "resetting". All that happens after 180 days is that one calendar day (which might or might not be Schengen) is excluded from the calculation as you move forward each day. That may not be much help if, shortly after your initial entry, you leave the Schengen area for an extended period and then return for multiple months toward the end of that initial 180-day period. If most of your allowed 90 days fall near the end of the initially-calculated block (i.e., in the recent past), they will still be with you for quite some time, and you may run out of Schengen time on Day 185 or 190 (measured from the date of initial entry). Basically, the initial entry day isn't significant, because there's a new 180-day period every day.

To me, saying something like, "You are limited to 90 days in the Schengen Area within any rolling 180-day period" is clear, but misunderstandings are possible if we diverge much from that in our explanations.