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I got a multiple-entry, short-stay, category “C” Schengen States “D” visa valid for 1 year with a duration of 90 days.

a) Does the 90-day thing in a one-year period mean that I can freely spread out my travel dates throughout that one year? For example, visit Germany in January for 21 days, come back again in April for another 21 days then in August for 21 days and finally in October for the last remainder of the 90 days?

b) Or does it mean that once I enter the Schengen area, my 90 days start counting down? For example, if I enter Germany on the 1st of January then my visa expires after 90 days (in March) regardless of whether I stayed in Germany throughout those days or not?

JonathanReez
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Big tree
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1 Answers1

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The option a that you provided is closer to the correct calculation. Consider the 90 days out of 180 rule as a sliding window period, which means for every consecutive 180 days, you can spend only 90 of them in the Schengen area. In this case if you spend 21 days of August in the Schengen area, assuming your visa expires on the 31st of December, since at any window until the end of the year those 21 days of August will be present, it would imply that you can spend only 69 more days in the Schengen zone throughout that year no matter when you enter and leave.

downhand
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