Schengen visa rules

[tommy tunstall]

Speaking to a friend yesterday who is a Spanish resident, she told me come 2021 she would only be able to spend 90 days in Spain, and would then be unable to return for 180 days. Spain and Portugal are both Schengen members, the UK is not. Whether Brexit has caused this I do not know. The only way round it as I see it is to obtain Residency or Visa. Can anyone shed any light on this.

[cnljscott]

Hi, this has nothing to do whatsoever with Brexit as the 90 day max stay has always been in place. More information can be found here https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/

A Schengen visa is a short-stay visa that allows a person to travel to any members of the Schengen Area, per stays up to 90 days for tourism or business purposes.
The Schengen visa is the most common visa for Europe. It enables its holder to enter, freely travel within, and leave the Schengen zone from any of the Schengen member countries. There are no border controls within the Schengen Zone.
However, if you are planning to study, work, or live in one of the Schengen countries for more than 90 days, then you must apply for a national visa of that European country and not a Schengen Visa.

[tommy tunstall]

Thanks for your response. Just to clarify are you saying that there is no change for any Brit who wants to spend the winter in Spain/Portugal?

[cnljscott]

Hi, Up to the end Dec this year there will be no change. Issues such as these are being discussed and will hopefully be resolved before the end of the transition period. Portugal has passed a number of laws already associated with UK visitors as they recognise the importance of them to their economy and I would be surprised if you were not able to continue to visit as you do now. That said there is no agreement in place as yet that I’m aware of so I guess no guarantees at this stage.

I hope that is helpful - sorry I can’t be more helpful. Perhaps another forum member may be able to add to this?

[Geoff]

she told me come 2021 she would only be able to spend 90 days in Spain, and would then be unable to return for 180 days.

Not quite right.....UK passport holders are now limited to a max of 90 days out of 180 in any EU country. This is a rolling 180 days, so the next period will commence 90 days after the last one finished......so a max of 180 days pa , but split into 6 month periods. So you could visit an EU country , for example, Jan/Feb,March and then July,August,September.....but you can't do a 6 month winter sun holiday. Hopefully, Portugal might amend this????

[PhilT]

It's a bit more sensitive than that. The rolling 180 days means that you could, for example, spend 70 days in the schengen area, leave it for 30, and then go back for 50. The start date for the 50 has rolled forward by the 30 you were away and is now 70-30=40.

[Geoff]

The rolling 180 days means that you could, for example, spend 70 days in the schengen area, leave it for 30, and then go back for 50. The start date for the 50 has rolled forward by the 30 you were away and is now 70-30=40.

Are you sure? This would mean, surely, that you would have spent 70+50=120 days in the Shengen area out of a total of 150 , hence not allowed?

The start date only effectively rolls forward after 180 days have elapsed?

[widge]

Those with second homes
At least 500,000 people have invested in buying and renovating properties in parts of Europe in anticipation of spending long periods at their ‘other’ home and perhaps retiring there. It is estimated that second home owners have property worth some £30 billion. If this was a FTSE company it would be ranked 17 on the index, just below the Prudential PLC.

The Schengen 90/180 day rule will severely limit the rights of UK citizens to access their property assets at times of their choosing. Many people spend one long period in the summer in their house in Europe and also visit at other times. The 90/180 rule will prevent this. For example, if you spend July and August in the Schengen Area, then visits will have to be limited to less than 4 weeks between March and June and less than 4 weeks between September and Christmas.

[Geoff]

Looks as if Widge agrees with my interpretation of the rolling 90/180 days rule.

Just found out about ETIAS – European Travel Information and Authorisation System, see :

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/etias/

Looks like 7€ pp , valid for 3 years, DT says it is delayed till 2023 though...

[Geoff]

There's a calculator to help work out plans for maximising the 90/180...see:

https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/conte ... culator_en

[djprescott]

There's a calculator to help work out plans for maximising the 90/180...see:

https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/conte ... culator_en

That's useful. Thanks.

[PhilT]

Surely if the date is "rolling" it moves forward day by day. So your second stay starts from the day you left, not the date you arrived.

[Geoff]

Surely if the date is "rolling" it moves forward day by day. So your second stay starts from the day you left, not the date you arrived.

Don't think so....otherwise, you could stay for 90 days, go home for a day, come back for another 90 days giving you 179 days out of 180.....this is born out if you use the calculator mentioned above, see screen print of an example.

Fullscreen capture 09012021 093020.bmp.jpg (118.69 KiB) Viewed 853 times

[PhilT]

Thanks for that too Geoff. I used to be numerate once, honest. The calculator will be most helpful.

[Geoff]

One needs to be a bit more careful than I thought, the calculator counts part days as 1.....for example, we hope to go 5-22 June, 17 nights, but the calculator says its 18 days.