What is the Schengen 90/180-day rule?
If you are a non-EU citizen traveling on a visa-free passport or short-stay Schengen visa, you can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day rolling window. The window is not fixed to a calendar year — on any given day, authorities count backward 180 days to see how many days you spent in the Schengen area.
How does the rolling window actually work?
Think of a 180-day tape measure sliding forward one day at a time. The days you spent in Schengen are marked on it. If the count ever exceeds 90 within that moving 180-day window, you are out of compliance. You do not get a 'fresh' 90 days after leaving — days only fall off once they are more than 180 days in the past.
Do arrival and departure days count as full days?
Yes. Both the day you enter and the day you leave count as whole days, no matter what time your flight lands or departs. A weekend trip that arrives Friday and leaves Sunday uses three days, not two.
Which countries are in the Schengen area?
The Schengen area covers 29 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not in Schengen, and days spent there do not count towards your 90.
Does the UK count towards the 90 days?
No. The UK has never been part of the Schengen area, so time spent there does not use up Schengen days. Since Brexit, however, British citizens are themselves subject to the 90/180 limit as visitors — which is why so many UK travellers started needing to count.
What happens if I overstay?
Under Regulation (EU) 2016/399 (Schengen Borders Code) Article 6, staying beyond 90 days in any 180-day window constitutes an administrative non-compliance. National authorities may issue administrative fines, return decisions under Directive 2008/115/EC, or entry bans recorded in the Schengen Information System (SIS), which can affect future travel authorizations. With the Entry/Exit System (EES) registering biometric crossings electronically, stay durations are verified automatically across all 29 member states.
How do I reset my 90 days?
There is no reset button — the allowance recovers gradually. Each day you spend outside the Schengen area, the oldest day in your 180-day window ages out and becomes available again. If you use all 90 days in one continuous stay, you need roughly 90 days outside before you have a full allowance again. Atlassio shows you the exact date your allowance returns.
Is Atlassio free?
The full 90/180 calculator, unlimited trip records, and the 2D world map are free, and the calculator will always be free — it is the part people rely on. Pro is a single £9.99 one-time purchase that adds the interactive 3D WebGL globe, Travel Wrapped exports, the AI trip assistant, the risk calendar, watermark-free documents and the secure document hub. There is no subscription, and it is covered by a 14-day money-back guarantee.
