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I'm from Tunisia and I got a Schengen visa from the Austrian Embassy for 28 days, the “duration of stay”, and the number of entries is 1 and the validity of the visa is from 02/08/2015 to 13/09/2015. So I have to stay only 28 days. I booked a fly ticket My plane is going to land in Vienna at 18h sunday the 9th of August and my departure will be at 18h30 Sunday the 6th of September.

That's mean the arrival is on Sunday the 9th of August, and the departure is Sunday the 6th of September.

It is looking like I'm going to spend 29 days that's mean one day more than “duration of stay” but I'm going to spend 28 days and 30 minutes. Is there any problem or I have to change my ticket?

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  • @HamidBessi, please don't say thanks, it's all part of the service. You have two great answers to your question. Please read stackoverflow.com/help/someone-answers
    – Gayot Fow
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 0:38
  • Departure is also from Vienna airport? It is not closed at night, but kind of deserted of passengers. Last december I asked Security to let me pass at 10pm, they agreed on one condition that I can not come back, n there are no food shops on airside. I agreed, cleared security, immigration at 11pm on last day of my visa with no issues. Flight was at 6am
    – DavChana
    Commented Apr 12, 2016 at 15:49
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    1am or 12 noon or 11:59, your day counter ticks one as per your time at immigration counter. It does not start from flight landing
    – DavChana
    Commented Apr 12, 2016 at 15:52
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    Note that what would happen when leaving is not your only problem: If the border guards ask about your plans and notice that your tickets correspond to a 29-day stay, they could in theory deny entry immediately, even before you have actually overstayed.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Apr 12, 2016 at 19:30

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You should change your ticket. Schengen officials expect the person to regulate their affairs in such a way that these types of questions are not necessary. When you applied for the visa you satisfied them that you would be out and gone by midnight on the 28th day and they expect you to be prudent enough to back off of that deadline so that the vicissitudes of travelling are accounted for. So naturally they will be disappointed, even if you are in breach for only part of a day.

It is unlikely that you will be fined on exit but you risk seeing a future Schengen application refused with the reason "The information submitted regarding justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable." They would select this reason if they thought that the information you submitted previously turned out to be unreliable.

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Gayot Fow's answer is, as usual, correct, but he has neglected to call attention to a critical flaw in your reasoning.

You are under the impression that you will be spending 28 days and 30 minutes in the Schengen area, but under the Schengen rules, that is not the case. There is no such thing as a "minute" under these rules. That is to say, a 28-day visa does not authorize a stay of 672 hours.

Rather, the stay is calculated based on calendar days. The total number of hours for a 28-day stay can therefore be anywhere between 624 hours and 672 hours.

The day on which you enter the area counts as one day, and the day on which you leave counts as one day. That is, if you arrive at 23h30 and leave 60 minutes later, that counts as a two-day stay. If you arrive at 00h30 and leave 23 hours later, that counts as a one-day stay. The stay you have outlined, therefore, counts as a 29 day stay.

The manner of counting days is important because, under your reasoning, you would be able to solve your problem by arranging to leave 30 or more minutes earlier than your current itinerary states. But, in fact, you need to leave at least 18 hours and 30 minutes earlier; that is, before midnight. (Or, you could delay your arrival by at least 6 hours, until after midnight.)

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  • @pnuts you misquote. The OP states It is looking like I'm going to spend 29 days that's mean one day more than “duration of stay” but I'm going to spend 28 days and 30 minutes. I would rephrase as it looks like I am staying 29 days, but I am actually staying 28 days and 30 minutes. Also see the title of the question ("few hours more"). I also don't see where you get your two days/three days figures. Arrival on 9 Aug and departure on 6 Sep is 29 days; arriving the following day or leaving the preceding day makes it 28 days.
    – phoog
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 4:33
  • @pnuts yeah, I thought about suggesting staying in the international zone until after midnight or trying to go through passport control before midnight, but it just seems too risky. Security might not let you through the night before your flight departs, and even if they do, the border guards will quite possibly look at the traveler's ticket and see the actual dates of arrival and departure.
    – phoog
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 4:51
  • @pnuts yet certain countries' citizens need visas even for airside transit. I would not risk it without very good evidence that Austria officially recognizes the time one presents oneself at passport control rather than the time of arrival or departure. The costs of being wrong are too high.
    – phoog
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 5:12
  • By the way the flight with Tunisair from Tunis to Vienna is a direct flights ana it takes only 2h15min.
    – Hamid Bessi
    Commented Aug 1, 2015 at 3:57
  • @pnuts I realize there's no transit; I was using that as an example to show that a country's immigration laws do not necessarily ignore a person's presence in the airside area of the airport. People sometimes claim that such areas are "no country at all," which is, of course, completely wrong.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 24, 2015 at 23:00

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