Take the 2-minute tour ×

I got a multiple entry Schengen visa from 5-3-2011 to 5-9-2011 (valid for 6 months) last year during which I stayed for 42 days out of the allocated 90 days.

I again applied for a Schengen visa and I got it. I was given a Schengen visa from 17-9-2011 to 31-12-2012 for which I can stay up to 90 days.

I stayed for 82 days of the allocated 90 days for a Schengen visa and went out of the region without any question.

When I again applied for my new Schengen visa I was informed by the embassy that I overstayed during my stay in Schengen territories by 14 days.

The calculation they made was for the last 6 months. I applied on January 4th 2012 and they calculated from that day and informed me that I overstayed by 14 days and they rejected my visa.

In the last page of the passport they put some seal indicating application number for Schengen visa for which it was rejected.

Please let me know whether I will get a Schengen visa in the future as I am very much stressed about this. Also I have only a few pages left in the passport now. If I change my passport will it solve my problem?

share|improve this question
The main question here is: why did they say you overstayed your visa by 14 days? –  Ankur Banerjee Oct 29 '12 at 20:53
There is no definite answer for this. I guess the best thing you can do is to do appeal and explain your case. –  Rudy Gunawan Oct 30 '12 at 4:22
I found a couple of visa calculators that might help anybody else who has trouble figuring this stuff out. See my followup question: How to calculate stays against 90/180 visa rules? –  hippietrail Oct 30 '12 at 6:15
Please look at my reply in this post: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/13183/… –  user4165 Feb 13 '13 at 13:40
Even though your visa was valid from March 5th, if you didn't enter the region until, say, June 5th- this is when the 180 day rule is activated. So if you spent over a month on your first visa, and then another couple of months on the second visa- if it is more than 90 days since the FIRST DAY OF ENTRY (regardless of your visa dates)- you have overstayed. –  Amy Morgan Sep 24 '13 at 4:59
add comment

3 Answers

By Schengen rules according to Czech Foreign ministry or Migration Service Centers:

According to a “90/180 rule,” an alien can stay in the Schengen area for a maximum of 90 days (3 months) within a half-year, counting from the first day of entry.

This rule applies no matter whether you have one or several Schengen visas. According to it, you overstayed your visa. Next time you apply for a visa you may or may not get it. If you have a visa interview, explain to the consular officer why you stayed for more than 90 days in the Schengen area and tell him or her that you didn't know about the 90/180 rule.

If I change my passport will it solve my problem?

They have all information in their computer system, so most likely that will not help.

share|improve this answer
Any chance you can link to the source when you quote it? Much appreciated - great answer otherwise :) –  Mark Mayo Oct 30 '12 at 4:13
@MarkMayo: I added a reference. –  R-traveler Oct 30 '12 at 4:27
To be very clear 1st Schengen Visa Valid from 5-3-2011 to 5-9-2011. Max stay is 90 days. I stayed for 42 days in that. 2nd Schengen Visa Valid from 17-9-2011 to 31-12-2011. Max stay is 90 days. I stayed for 82 days in that. When I applied for third Schengen visa on 6th Jan 2012. They checked for the number of days I traveled in the last 180 days and it was more 90 days. So they rejected my Visa. I was not aware of the fact that they will check these facts. Even the travel agent dint inform me or my company about this. –  Sanju Oct 30 '12 at 7:06
@Sanju just because you didn't know this doesn't absolve you from the consequences. You might of course be able to convince an issuing agency that you were in good faith and should be allowed a new visa anyway, but that'd be up to the people you're dealing with. –  jwenting Jun 6 '13 at 6:58
add comment

I have experience in this area before with both overstayer and Schengen visa rejection. My girlfriend got her visa rejected from the French embassy before due whatever reason that the embassy didn't really clarify. But she got the stamp the same as you had. And we had to cancel the whole trip which some of the transportation costs cannot be refunded. We talked to a lot of people and people got mixed experience. Some say that she had to re-apply with the embassy that rejected the visa, because embassies don't share information, if you got rejected from French embassy, German embassy might not know why but they can only see the stamp that visa has been rejected and they will likely reject the visa.

So, what we did was to just re-apply with the French embassy. When we got inside the embassy again, she had to answer a couple of questions with the lady in the embassy and the decision took a bit long. You just need to be honest and explain everything. We explained everything and told them that we booked everything with the return ticket back home, but we didn't know why the visa got rejected the last time. In the end, they approved my girlfriend's visa and we can enter French border without any problem.

Now for overstaying, my friend got her visa rejected from the UK embassy due to the type of the visa (Short-stay) cannot be extended inside the UK (but she didn't know). That led her to be an overstayer because she applied ten days before the visa expired, and the decision took more than that. So she had to leave the country but with the record. So, the rule for overstaying is if you voluntarily leave the country. You will be banned on entry for 1-3 years. During the time you cannot apply the visa, or it will be rejected for sure. In my friend's case she waited for a year and then apply for the visa again. And she had to be interviewed for a half an hour but in the end her new visa was approved. However, if you're forced to leave the country you'll be banned on entry for 10 years. During the time, you cannot apply for any visa. In your case, I guess it should be one year same as my friend. But every time you enter the border the immigration officer will ask a lot of questions even though you have the visa, and they can reject your entry and send you back home. My friend got asked some questions, but she could return without any problem.


Hope this helps.

share|improve this answer
add comment

As this question was bumped on the homepage, I came across this old answer of mine and realized that it is not correct anymore. The rules are now different. As of October 18, 2013, the calculation described in the question is the right one. If at any time (and in particular upon leaving the Schengen area or applying for a new visa), you have been staying in the Schengen area more than three months in the last six months, you have overstayed your visa.

There are a few exceptions for citizens from specific countries, work-holiday visas and some exotic national visas but otherwise this is the rule. In any case, visa dates do not matter (a person is allowed to stay a certain number of days in a given period of time, and not a certain number of days per visa).

Other answers already covered important points but there is one thing that might need to be emphasized: @AmyMorgan's comment is exactly right, what matters is the day of first entry. So you might or might not have overstayed your visa, we can't tell without knowing that.

Therefore calculating back from January 4th (if that's really what they did) is not right. The catch is that your own calculation, per visa or starting with the first day of validity of your initial visa (5-3-2011) isn't right either.

If you did not spend any time in the Schengen area around the beginning of your first visa, you most likely did in fact overstay your visa. This rule can be difficult to understand but there is unfortunately not much that could be done about it in this situation.

share|improve this answer
add comment

protected by Mark Mayo Jan 10 at 10:09

