Travel to rome 4 days before my visa expires

Question

I have a multiple entry Schengen visa valid until 03-07-16 duration of stay is 30 days. I've only used it once when I visited Milan for 4 days. I was invited to visit Rome from June 30 2016- July 3 2016. I would be returning back to the UK on July 3 the last day of my visa's validity. Would it be possible for me to travel with my current visa or should I apply for a new one?

Didn't mean to post the question twice. It's just that when I didn't see my first post I thought something went wrong so I tried again. Just getting the hang of how this site works.

Answer 1

Visas are valid until their expiration date (unlike passports which tend to begin to lose power up to half a year before their ostensible expiration date).

Planning to leave Schengen on the last day of your visa's validity does puts you at risk of inadvertently overstaying, for example, if you end up stuck at the airport until the 4th for reasons outside your control. However, the Schengen rules obliges the competent Italian authorities to extend your visa at no charge if and when such force majeure occurs. (Schengen Visa Code article 34).

You can't apply for a new visa whose validity would overlap with your current one.

Answer 2

A Schengen visa's start and end dates are inclusive. That means the visa does not expire until 23:59 of the end date.

Visas that have a specified day count can expire earlier if the day count is exceeded.

In your case you have a Schengen with a day count of 30, and have used 4. That gives you 26 days of unspent leave. The end date of your visa is 3 July. So you are in the clear until you have spent the remaining 26 days or until 23:59 on 3 July, whichever occurs earlier. So based upon what you wrote, you're good.