The Schengen 90/180 Calculator for UK Citizens
Updated: 2026-07-11
Since Brexit, British passport holders are third-country nationals in Europe and can spend only 90 days in any 180 in the Schengen area. Schengo is a free calculator that counts your days precisely so a summer in France or a winter in Spain doesn't tip you into an overstay.
What actually changed for UK travellers after Brexit
Before 2021, a British passport meant freedom of movement: you could live, work and stay in the EU indefinitely with no day-counting at all. That ended when the transition period closed, and UK nationals became third-country nationals subject to the same short-stay rules as Americans or Australians. In practical terms, your effortless European access was replaced by a hard cap of 90 days in any rolling 180-day window, and there is no longer a way to simply 'stay a bit longer' without a visa or residence permit. If your mental model of Europe still dates from the pre-Brexit era, this is the single most important thing to reset.
How the 90/180 rule really works (it is not per country)
The most common and costly misunderstanding is thinking the allowance resets each time you cross a border between EU states. It does not: your 90 days are shared across the entire Schengen area, so two weeks in France plus a month in Italy plus a fortnight in Spain all draw from the same balance. The window is a rolling 180 days that moves with every date, not a fixed calendar block, and crucially both your entry day and your exit day count as full days inside. Schengo applies exactly this rolling-window arithmetic so you can see, for any planned trip, whether you'll still be compliant on the day you land.
Second-home owners in France and Spain are hit hardest
If you own a place in the Dordogne, on the Costa Blanca or in the Algarve, the 90/180 rule bites in a way it simply didn't before: you can no longer spend the whole spring-to-autumn stretch at your own property on a passport alone. Many British owners are surprised that owning European property confers no additional right to stay a single extra day. Practical responses include splitting the year so you're out of Schengen for the required stretches, or applying for a national long-stay visa or residence permit in the specific country where your home is. Because Ireland and non-Schengen European countries don't count toward the total, some owners also break up their time by spending stretches outside the zone.
The long-stay visa: the real escape hatch
The 90/180 limit only governs short stays; it is not the ceiling on how long a UK citizen can be in Europe. Every Schengen country issues its own national long-stay (type D) visa or residence permit that lets you stay beyond 90 days in that country, and France in particular runs a widely used long-stay visitor visa aimed squarely at second-home owners and retirees. These are applied for before you travel, through that country's consular process, and usually require proof of income, accommodation and health cover. If your goal is months at a time rather than short visits, this route — not day-counting — is the answer, and it sits entirely outside anything Schengo tracks.
EES and ETIAS: why day-counting is about to get automatic
Two EU systems change how your days are recorded. The Entry/Exit System (EES) replaces manual passport stamps with a digital record of every entry and exit, meaning your 90/180 usage will be logged automatically and consistently rather than depending on whether a border officer inked your passport. ETIAS is a separate pre-travel authorisation — a quick online application, not a visa — that UK citizens will need to apply for before entering. Both are being rolled out on a phased basis and exact timings have shifted more than once, so treat any date you read as provisional and confirm the current position on the official EU (travel-europe.europa.eu) and GOV.UK pages before you travel.
Frequently asked questions
Does owning a house in France or Spain let me stay longer than 90 days?
No. Owning property gives you no extra right to stay on a British passport — the 90-in-180 limit applies regardless. To stay longer at your own home you need a national long-stay visa or residence permit from that country, applied for in advance.
If I split my time between France, Spain and Portugal, do I get 90 days in each?
No. The 90 days are shared across the whole Schengen area, so days in every member state add up to the same total. This is exactly why a calculator like Schengo helps — it pools all your trips into one rolling count.
Do I need ETIAS and EES sorted before my next trip?
EES is an automated entry/exit record handled at the border, while ETIAS is a pre-travel authorisation UK citizens apply for online. Both are being introduced in phases and dates have moved, so check the official EU and GOV.UK sites for the current requirement close to your travel date.