90 days in 180: how the count works

A short stay in Italy, and anywhere in the Schengen area, cannot exceed 90 days within any period of 180¹ days; past that you need a national long stay visa, type D, issued by a single state.

The 180 days move with you

The window of 180¹ days is a rolling one: on any given day, look back 180¹ days and add up the days you spent inside the area. There is no reset on January 1 and no reset at the border.

Days count wherever you spent them in the area, so a week in Paris and a month in Italy go into the same 90. Leaving for the United Kingdom or Croatia pauses the count; it does not clear it.

29 countries since January 1, 2025

The Schengen area now has 29 members: 25 EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Internal border controls with Bulgaria and Romania were abolished on January 1, 2025. Cyprus takes part in Schengen cooperation, but its internal border controls have not been lifted.

The area handles 3.5 million internal border crossings a day, which is why nobody stamps you when you take a train from Milan to Zurich, and why the days still count.

The Italian visa portal still says 26

Italy's own consular portal, vistoperitalia.esteri.it, still lists 26 states as fully applying the Schengen acquis, leaving out Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. That list is out of date against the January 1, 2025 change.

We are flagging it because it is an official source that will contradict this page. When two official pages disagree, use the more recent event and check with the consulate that handles your country.

The visa types, in plain terms

4 labels cover almost everything. Type C uniform Schengen visa (VSU), valid for all states that fully apply the acquis. Type C with limited territorial validity (VTL), valid only for the states written on it. Type A airport transit visa (VTA). And the national type D visa, from 91 to 365¹ days, issued by one state.

A type D holder is not confined to the issuing country: the visa still allows movement in other member states for 90 days in any 180¹.

A visa is permission to ask, not a right to enter

The 90/180¹ rule is checked at the border, and holding a visa does not oblige anyone to let you in: the border police can refuse a traveler who does not meet the conditions of the Schengen Borders Code.

How much money you may be asked to show is not a figure verified from a primary source in our fact set, so this page prints none. Ask the Italian consulate that covers your country, and note the date of the answer they give you.

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