Rules for long visits to the Schengen area

the clock never "resets". After you leave the area - arrival and departure days count, no matter how short - for every day gone the available days rises by one. For every day in the area the number of available days goes down.

It is all on a rolling 180 days. If he leaves on the 80th, he has available 10 in that 180, in the remaining 100. No more than 10 in the next 100.

Then see the number available rise as he stays away.

Nothing happens at the end of the calendar year.

If your son doesn't spend the full 90 days in Switzerland (or some other Schengen country) before heading back to school, the "unused" Schengen days (90 days minus what he has used) will be available to him even if he returns to Switzerland after only a short time in the UK.

But all the days he has spent in the Schengen Zone remain part of his tally for 180 days, then they evaporate one day at a time.

Remember that both arrival day and departure day count; it's not a matter of elapsed time in the Schengen Zone. Your son will need to be very careful if he wants to take advantage of the budget airlines (or early purchase of bargain Eurostar tickets) to take short sightseeing jaunts to the continent. Those days obviously have to come out of his 90-day allotment.

English university terms vary from 10 to 12 weeks each, depending on the particular institution, so 30 to 36 weeks per annum. The 90 day in any rolling 180 day rule has already been explained, so this will take careful planning, particularly around the long 2+ month summer holiday.

As the others say, it is "90 days in any 180", that is what it says all over the internet. The problem is many people mis-read this simple rule as something more complicated and assume there is some sort of "reset of the clock", or "following of the calendar" or something else.
He needs to re-calculate every morning "How many days, in the last 180, have I been in the Schengen Area?". If the answer is under 90, he is legal. If it is 90, he has to leave and is not allowed back until the total is less than 90.

BTW, as US citizens with Swiss "Aufenthaltsbewilligungen / Cartes de séjour", when you visit other Schengen countries you need to take both your passport and Aufenthaltsbewilligung with you. The reason is, your Aufenthaltsbewilligung explains why the arrival stamp in your passports is more than 90 days old. Otherwise you could be accused of overstaying your 90 days.
Whenever you enter or leave the Schengen Area, you need to show both. For example, if you flew out of Frankfurt, showing your Aufenthaltsbewilligung prevents you being accused of overstaying.

Even with a Swiss Aufenthaltsbewilligung, you are still theoretically limited to 90 days in any 180 in other Schengen countries, but it is difficult to enforce as there are no border checks and no records of you entering or leaving Switzerland for other Schengen countries.

The good news is, as Switzerland is not in the EU, when you visit another EU country, even if it is Germany for a few hours, you can claim back VAT on any purchases.

There are multiple apps for that.

Try one of the iPhone apps to see how you like them. There are many out there, I have never used one. They seem to do a fair job of keeping this straight.

The most important thing to remember is the 180 days is a rolling window into the calendar. It doesn't reset to zero because it is the next year or any other condition. Of course if you stay out of Schengen completely for 180 consecutive days then you will have the full 90 available to you.

This is overkill, but you might give it a try: http://adambard.github.io/schengencalc/ Put in your schedule and it will tell you if you have a problem..

Thank you all so much! Your answers have been incredibly helpful. I've already downloaded one of the Schengen apps and also plan to check on the website. It looks as though my parents will be happy to hear that we will be making a number of looooooong visits to them every summer. Thanks, also, Chris, for the heads-up about the residency card when we travel. We have lived in Prague for the past four years, so we're used to taking our biometric cards with us, but it's good to have the reminder. Thanks again, everyone. You have given me the information I need to start planning.

SCHENGEN AREA RULES DO NOT APPLY!!!!

Hi Mari,

There are a number of things that need to be corrected here.

First of all you will not be issued a long term visa. You will be issued with a visa D which allows you to enter Switzerland. Once there you will need to go to the local community office where you will be issued with a residency permit B, which must be renewed on an annual basis and is dependant on the main bread winner. The main bread winner will be issued with a work permit B, which will be restricted to their employer and again must be renewed on an annal basis.

Assuming that your permit B visa has been renewed on an annual basis for 10 years and provided you have passed the language exams and show sufficient integration into Swiss society, you will be entitled to apply for a permanent residents permit C. And there after to apply for Swiss citizenship as well. This is assuming that you don't hold an EU/EEA/CH passport, otherwise the waiting period is 5 years.

So long as your son attends college in pursuant of a primary degree he will be considered a dependant of the main bread winner in your household and as such is entitled to a dependant permit B, renewable on an annual basis. So Schengen Area rules do not apply.

Furthermore, you should be aware that you will need to pay Swiss health insurance for you son, who will be issued with a healthcare which will allow him to benefit from health services in the UK as a student.

Hi, Jim, unfortunately, our immigration minders have told us explicitly that since our son is 18 and will be at university, he can't be considered a dependent and therefore can't get a B permit. (I know: it's crazy--he's still financially dependent on us.) We had to purchase international health insurance for him because he can't get on a Swiss plan. Oh well. Incidentally, I see you're in Bern? That's where we'll be moving (well, Muri b. Bern). Maybe our paths will cross one day!

I have no idea who your ‘minders’ are, all I can tell you is my practical experience in a number of occasions in the past. Unless the authorities in the Kanton of Bern specifically refused the application, I’d doubt their advice.

Once here go to the geminde office in the in your local community and request a permit for him. I am almost certain they will issue the required permit.

Comment: there’s nothing easy about the Schengen 90 day rule at first exposure, it’s needlessly complicated. The UK’s “Leave to enter for 6 months” is self-explanatory, Schengen is hard enough to have apps.

Also, every Schengen country seems have its own student and residency visa procedures, there’s no way an outsider can know each country, eg Norway has a monstrously difficult student visa process, Germany doesn’t even require one.

My daughter studied in Germany last year and after arrival, she just went to some office and applied for and was given her visa. Took no time at all. I remember because i was worried about her going over with out a visa in hand.

James: your daughter was probably using her passport and a letter from the university to obtain a temporary residence permit, which allowed her to stay legally in Germany for the length of her study and allowed restricted employment. Then the card is used while exiting Schengen to override the 90 day restriction. There might be some virtual Schengen “visa” created at the same time (or not?) but her passport would never bear a physical visa. This appears to be how continental Europe operates. In any event Germany requires no interview in distant US cities nor a huge $500 fee prior to arrival for university study.

Tom_MN, yes all Schengen countries issue residence permits to non EU/Schengen citizens in a standard credit card format. This is what the OP will have. This also serves as a "get out of jail free card" that allows them to travel, enter and exit other Schengen countries without having 90-day stamps in their passports. It is standard format so it can be recognised in other countries regardless of language.

Photo of a German one: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Aufenthaltserlaubnis-Beschaeftigung.JPG
A French one: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/4/4d/Aufenthaltstitel-Frankreich.jpg
And lots of info about the Swiss one: https://www.sem.admin.ch/dam/data/sem/aufenthalt/flyer-biometr-ausl-ausweis-e.pdf

Here's a link to a Schengen calculator that I read on another post: http://schengen-calculator.com/visits
Perhaps it will help...

There are a lot of responses about Mari and her visa or about student visas in countries other than England. She was specifically asking about the clock for her son to visit on breaks - why confuse the issue? The answer was pretty simple along with Jim's advice about trying to get him a Swiss visa once they are all there.

@Douglas, But he (the son) can't get a Swiss residence permit as he will be living in the UK going to University there.
Even if he moved to Switzerland with his parents and registered, as soon as he left for university he would have a new address, and have to "abmelden" (de-register). By both Swiss and British law he would be a resident of the UK (and pay UK taxes),not eligible for a Swiss residence permit and therefore subject to the 90-days-in-180 rule.