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I plan to travel to Scotland, Greece, and Portugal in the spring. This year, I already made a trip to Italy in the fall. I want to confirm I will not be breaking the Schengen 90/180 day rule in my travels.

In October 2022 I entered Italy for 9 days.

This first 180 day block including Schengen travel was October 9-April 7. In it I will be in Greece from March 2-April 7.

In February, I will visit Scotland (non-Schengen) for 6 days. Is any UK-specific visa, unrelated to the Schengen 90-day allowance, required?

In March, I will travel to Greece. The next 180 day block with Schengen zone travel is March 2-August 29.

• Feb 24-March 2 in Scotland • Thursday March 2-Friday April 7 in Greece (37 days) • April 8-16 in Croatia or Ireland (out of Schengen zone) • Monday April 17-Tuesday June 6 in Greece & Portugal (51 days)

Do you need to leave the Schengen zone in order for the 180 days to reset?

2 Answers2

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In February I will visit Scotland (non-Schengen) for 6 days. Is any visa required?

Without knowing you citizenship, no answer can be given.
As a US citizen, you do not require a visa for the United Kingdom. Upon entering a leave to enter of 6 months is generally granted. This is independent of any previous stay in the Schengen Area. The time spent in the United Kingdom (or the Republic of Ireland) does not effect the time you may stay in the Schengen Area.

I’m worried you need to leave the Schengen zone in order for the 180 days to reset. Is this the case?

No, the 180 days is not reset by just leaving the Schengen Area. The full calendar days outside the Schengen Area do not count towards the 90 days allowed within the previous 180 days.

Assuming I have read your text correctly: when leaving on the 2023-06-06, you will have spent 88 days of the previous 180 days (starting 2022-12-08) in the Schengen Area. The 9 days in Italy expired on the 2023-04-16 and therefore do not count.

  • 2022-10-09/10-18: 9 days Italy
    • 2023-04-16 the 9 days will expire
  • 2023-03-02/04-07: 37 days Greece
    • the 9 days in Italy have not expired
      • 37+9=46 days that have not expired
        • 44 days left
  • 2023-04-17/06-06: 51 days Greece & Portugal
    • the 9 days in Italy have expired
    • the 37 days in Greece have not expired
      • 51+37=88 days that have not expired
        • 2 days left

Should Croatia become part of the Schengen Area on the 2023-01-01, the 9 days there must also be counted. You would then have to shorten your stay by 7 days.

Mark Johnson
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Whenever you have been outside the Schengen area for more than 90 days, you have the full 90 days available on your return. Since you will be outside the Schengen area from October to March, which is more than 90 days, you will have 90 days available when you enter in March.

phoog
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