I thought I had it all finally figured out with non-EU tourists visiting Europe but it was all wrong that I was told by officials. At least that is according to the German border control at Frankfurt/Main International Airport (FRA).

If you are looking for the solution and want to skip all details how I got it, scroll down to “Solution” at the end of this post.

Whenever I travel “internationally” (read “outside the EU”) I leave from Frankfurt/Main international airport (FRA). I took the chance to ask the border control officer the simple question of non-EU visitors while handing over my passport for inspection. I should note that I made sure there were no people waiting in line behind me.

As expected, I didn’t get much more than some random guesses and a lot of puzzled looks. The officers share one booth with 2 windows so the couple started to ponder about it. I pointed out that I ask them this question given *they* are the one checking visitors’ passports so *they* – even if nobody else – should know what the procedure is. Maybe I just expect too much in life.

I get the feeling that nobody actually checks anyone’s passport other than “passport not expired/expiring and photo match”, “passport issuing country requires visa?” and if so, then “visa valid?”…

I told them what I had been told in Luxembourg and my other experiences from Belgium to the UK and they just smiled. We all agreed on the lack of information to an obvious question we can rightly assume that many face and worry about, that the related offices from embassy to ministry aren’t helpful or care at all, and that all this immigration with Schengen and individual countries is just a mess confusing people including the frontline staff.

Unable to give me any more information than Luxembourg’s border control but with acknowledged doubts, they forwarded me to their office if I would have the time. The guys sitting there do the paper work and immigrants handling. They pointed me to a “green door” but all I saw was a door with some green dots. Not sure if that was the right door, the officer told his colleague to just bring me there. By now the conversation was going on for like 5mins and 2 lines were building up behind me. Concerned, I asked if I didn’t cause any trouble as I was, after all, using the frontline passport control as my personal consulting office. The reply was in typical fashion all Europeans are used to and love so much when it’s in their own favor: “that’s ok, they can wait”. That is a good example of general administration practice and why things are slow, yet so few complain as it comes with benefits for some and others hope to experience the same the next time they need a favor.

So off we went to the office and I explained the question again. I don’t know why everyone always assumes by default and without bad intention nor feeling bothered about it, that I would be some kind of pimp asking about how to get Eastern and Asian people into the EU…

Explaining once more that I just inquire about a tourist interested to come to the EU, then go to the UK (not European in many ways, including the border control), and back to the EU mainland, we started to break down the case step by step and I constantly had to add the line “so what do *you* do if …” to the officer. He was very helpful and patient though and I appreciate his effort.

Ten minutes later we had the case solved, at least how Frankfurt/Main would handle it. If said visitor would go to the UK from any other airport, I would have to confirm it once more as I am a bit doubtful that so many officials tell me different versions of the same answer to a simple question about their daily work routine.

Solution

A non-EU visitor who can visit the EU for 90 days and has a 180 days rule isn’t blocked out 180 days after the 90 days period as I was told in Luxembourg. Instead, the time is calculated like a Gantt chart in project management. In simple words:

  • Upon first entry to *any* country that is also a Schengen Agreement member (Switzerland is not a EU member but applies the Schengen visa), a 180 day “allowed visit” period begins.
  • During these 180 days, the visitor can “stay” a maximum of 90 days.
  • It doesn’t matter how those 90 days are counted. The visitor can stay 90 days in a row, or just some days and leave the Schengen area and return. Example:
    • Arrival day = day 1.
    • Tourist stays inside Schengen area until day 10, then leaves.
      Day 11-20 are spent in the UK (UK which is a EU member but not a Schengen member). UK issues own visa which is not related to whatever rights the visitor has in the Schengen area.
    • Tourist returns to the Schengen area on day 21.
      • Even though 10 days have been logged in the UK, the Schengen 180 days counter continues to run from the day of the 1st Schengen visit: therefore, it stands now at day 21.
      • However, the 90 days of permitted stay have been halted during the absence from the Schengen area, therefore that counter resumes at day 11.
  • Remaining “stay” days expire with the end of the last “allowed visit” period day (180th day from the 1st visit).
  • Visitor must leave the Schengen area on last “allowed visit” day; can start new “allowed visit” period with border run.
    • If the visitor from above example left the Schengen area on day 30, a total of 150 days remained on the “allowed visit” period counter and 70 on the “stay” counter.
    • If the visitor returned to the Schengen area 140 days later, 10 days of allowed visit would remain, and of course the 70 days of allowed stay.
      At this stage it would be normal to assume that 10 days later, on the 180th day of the “allowed visit” period, with 60 days left on the “stay” counter, the tourist would just stay on and not do a border run.
      While this would work if border control isn’t counting every single chop in the passport, it is illegal. The only solution to this particular issue is a  border run which is also legal and people are told about it if the border control officer notices that it’s within the visitor’s planned stay.
      A border run in this case is a visit to any country that is not a Schengen member.
  • The visit counter restarts at 1 with the 1st visit after the 180 days expiration and remaining days from the previous period are not carried over.

The many misunderstandings result from the 90 and 180 days counters and their relation with each other. Furthermore, border control officers have to manually search all chops in the passport and count the days which the fewest do if the passport is full of chops.