Help Understanding Schengen Travel Rules

You second statement is correct. It is 90 days out of any 180 day period. The French consulate is correct if you stayed for 90 days and then were gone for 90 days. But if you are bouncing in and out of the zone then it gets more complicated in counting. The simplest way is to count back. Somewhere there is a web site when you can plug in your dates and it tells you how many days you have left. I will see if I can find it. With what you described you are over the limit by 17 or 18 days. There is no extension available. And it can get very expensive in a hurry if you overstay. It was reported here that a girl was fined $500 for being one day over. She thought she could stay three months. There is also the possibility of being banned from returning for 1 to 10 years. The 90 days is taken very seriously. There is no way to dance around 90 in 180.

Now with computers and electronic passports it is getting much easier to track length of stays. Europe has a huge problem with illegal immigration and while you might not think of yourself as an illegal that is what you become. We just returned from France via LaRochelle. At the exit the immigration officer insisted on finding our entry stamp and the date. We had come on the Eurostar from London and for some reason, the entry stamp was placed in a corner of a back page. But he looked at every stamp until he found it. We have a lot of stamps with some on top of others so it took a little time. What may have triggered it was an entry stamp on one of the first couple pages for July, 2013.

There are several websites for calculating the Schengen Zone 90 day visa.

EDIT I deleted the link I had posted because it wasn't doing what I thought it would. Just google Schengen Zone calculator.

Maybe worth noting that the first statement by the consulate is correct as well, just that their assumption is you show up, stay for 90 days leave for 90, then when returning in July, stay for another 90. Multiple entries break down that simple assumption. If you were to ask them, what if I was in France for one day, January 14, left for 90 days, returned, then can I stay 89 days until July 14 then another 90 as my new 180 day period starts? the answer would be "no"

For Multiple entries, the "look back" method is more accurate and will keep you out of trouble.

Keep in mind too that it is days counted (not months) and any part of a day spent in the Schengen area counts as a day. In your example above, July 14th is the 182nd day from January 14.

By my count, you were there for 65 days initially, added another 11, for 76 days. That leaves 14 days available until July 12. If you arrived on June 23, you would need at least 21 days to stay within 90 in 180, at least a week you do not have. If you were to delay your trip a week or more, or spend that time in the UK or Ireland, then you could enter with plenty of days left, plus each day after July 12, one drops off from your first stay, giving you fresh days, covering you through the 21st. To be safe, I would not cut it to the day, leave yourself some pad in case your math is off,

The easiest way to figure it is to simple count back the previous 180 days and if you have been in the zone for more than 90 of those, you are in violation. The way the rules are written can be confusing and that's why the French consulate gave you a slightly confusing (though technically correct) answer. Each entry starts a new 180 day period, but the previous periods don't end until those 180 days expire. So your initial 180 days carries through until mid July. You have another 180 day period starting on March 21 that doesn't end until late September. But at least the January trip drops off after mid-July.

The others have done the math for you and unfortunately you will be in violation. And the others are right, tracking it has gotten much easier with computers and passports with chips, and if the agent sees several entry stamps in your passport (or on his computer), he/she may very well look into whether you will be in violation. They can deny you entry in that case. Or fine you on the way out.

Thank you for all your help.

We planning to try to spend most of our trip before July 14th in non-Schengen countries.

One more question: how are days spend traveling in and out of the EU counted? Ie if I arrive in Germany on July 1st and leave to the UK July 10th at 9 am, are those half-days considered days against the 90 day limit? Is it then 10 days total, or less than that?

Thanks!!

By any chance are you planning your June-July vacation in France only? We were recently told at the French consulate (San Francisco) that France allows Americans to visit as tourists for 180 days, not just 90. The way it was explained to us was that all time in any other Schengen zone countries counts in the 180 day total, but that it is legal to visit France for an additional 90 days beyond the first Schengen 90 days. We were advised to be very careful if doing this and make sure we fly in and out of France only and do not venture into any other Schengen country after the initial 90 days. Please check this out carefully before doing this, as I have not been able to find anything online that verifies this. Has anyone done this or has anyone heard this as well?

"One more question: how are days spend traveling in and out of the EU counted? Ie if I arrive in Germany on July 1st and leave to the UK July 10th at 9 am, are those half-days considered days against the 90 day limit?"

It is my understanding that any part of a day spent in Schengen zone is counted as a day for purposes of the 90 day limit.

@Barbara - I have never heard of this. I would be VERY skeptical as the Schengen zone allows for open borders with passport control only at entry and exit of the zone. If one country allows longer stays without a special visa, it would negate the whole point. And my experience is that the French are more restrictive about visas that some other European countries.

Partial days count as a full day.

Any part of a day, even as little as one minute, between one midnight and the next during which a person is on the ground in a Schengen country counts towards the Schengen day count.

One minute is one day. However, once slight exception. Say you land in Frankfurt from the U.S. and catch a connecting flight to England. That does not count if you are in transit.