5

I got a 2 year multi entry visa 18 months ago for the Schengen zone issued by Germany. It expires some time in December this year. Maximum stay is 90 days and I have already used up 80. I have not been in the Schengen zone in the last 180 days so there is no issue with the 90/180 rule. I am planning another trip to Germany soon, but this should be longer than 10 days.

So I guess I could cover the first 10 days of the stay with my old visa and would need a new visa for the remaining time. So for example lets assume our trip starts august 1. Then during our stay my old visa would be used up on august 10th, so a new one would have to start august 11th.

My question is if this is possible. My understanding is that you cannot hold two schengen visa for the same time horizon in parallel, but if they gave us a new visa starting 10 days after our intended start of the trip, this would be the case. If they give me a visa starting august 11 and for whatever reason we are not able to depart august 1 then in theory we would have two intersecting visa.

Also What would we need to put as the intended starting date of the trip on the application form? August 1 or 11? Obviously flight documents would be for august 1, but the new visa would start august 11

Improve this question
2
  • I think you're misinterpreting the visa. For each visit, you should be able to stay up to 90 days, but then stay out for at least 90 days. So you can stay ninety days over the next 6 months until the expiration date. I'm sure there must be a duplicate somewhere. Maybe this one: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/87103/…
    – mkennedy
    Commented Jun 23 at 20:29
  • 5
    Your question is slightly confusing. For clarity, you have an 18 month-old visa and have spent a total of 80 days in Schengen during those 18 months? And you’ve not entered Schengen in the last 180 days? If that’s correct, I don’t see a problem with a 10+ day visit, given the rule is no more than 90 days in any 180-day period, not no more than 90 days per visa. See How does the Schengen 90/180 day rule work
    – Traveller
    Commented Jun 23 at 21:17

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
9

I got a 2 year multi entry visa 18 months ago for the Schengen zone issued by Germany. It expires some time in December this year. Maximum stay is 90 days and I have already used up 80. I have not been in the Schengen zone in the last 180 days so there is no issue with the 90/180 rule. I am planning another trip to Germany soon, but this should be longer than 10 days.

As other already commented, this is not how your visa works. Any visa valid for more than six months ought to be valid for stays up to 90 days in any 180-day period, not 90 days total. That's what the “90” in the “Dauer des Aufenthaltes / length of stay” field means, it refers to the 90/180 rule you mentioned in your question.

It's only if the number of days is lower than 90 than it must be understood the total limit over the whole length of the visa but that's not really supposed to happen for visas valid for more than six months.

So I guess I could cover the first 10 days of the stay with my old visa and would need a new visa for the remaining time. So for example lets assume our trip starts august 1. Then during our stay my old visa would be used up on august 10th, so a new one would have to start august 11th.

My question is if this is possible. My understanding is that you cannot hold two schengen visa for the same time horizon in parallel, but if they gave us a new visa starting 10 days after our intended start of the trip, this would be the case. If they give me a visa starting august 11 and for whatever reason we are not able to depart august 1 then in theory we would have two intersecting visa.

This is mostly relevant for travel around the end of validity of your visa (and not as way to circumvent a length of stay limit) but it is perfectly possible, see Can I travel on back-to-back Schengen visas without leaving and reentering the area?

Improve this answer
7

I got a 2 year multi entry visa 18 months ago for the Schengen zone issued by Germany. It expires some time in December this year. Maximum stay is 90 days and I have already used up 80. I have not been in the Schengen zone in the last 180 days so there is no issue with the 90/180 rule.

But the 90 days is the 90/180 rule. It's confusing, but the 90-day limit expressed on your visa means "90 days within any 180-day period," not "90 days over the life of the visa." It's confusing because the visa doesn't say this explicitly, as you've noticed. To find this information, you have to look at the Schengen Visa Code.

From Annex VII:

  1. ‘DURATION OF VISIT ... DAYS’ heading:

This heading indicates the number of days during which the visa holder may stay in the territory for which the visa is valid. This stay may be continuous or, depending on the number of days authorised, spread over several periods between the dates mentioned under 2, bearing in mind the number of entries authorised under 3.

The number of days authorised is written in the blank space between ‘DURATION OF VISIT’ and ‘DAYS’, in the form of two digits, the first of which is a zero if the number of days is less than 10.

The maximum number of days that may be entered under this heading is 90.

When a visa is valid for more than six months, the duration of stays is 90 days in every six-month period.

Improve this answer
2
  • This answer could be written more explicitly. At first glance, I read the quote from the Visa Code the same way the asker did and thought you meant that the existing visa was no longer valid because the 90 days had already been used, and I couldn’t figure out why you thought that was the case. It was only after I read Relaxed’s answer that I realised you were in fact saying the opposite, that after the first 180-day period has passed, a new 90-day stay period begins.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jun 24 at 13:13
  • @JanusBahsJacquet the 90/180 rule doesn't work like that. If it did, you could stay for example for ten days in January and then return in April to combine the remaining 80 days with the first 90 days of the following period, allowing a 170-day stay from April to September. In any event, I have reworded the opening of the answer.
    – phoog
    Commented Jun 24 at 13:41

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .