90/180 or a long-stay visa: which days stop counting

The Schengen 90/180 rule is written for visitors. The moment you hold a national long-stay visa or a residence permit — a work permit, a student visa, one of the new digital nomad visas — some of your days stop counting toward the 90, and some don't. Getting that line wrong is how people with perfectly valid papers end up overstaying in the country next door.

The rule in one sentence

The Schengen Borders Code says it plainly: periods of stay authorised under a residence permit or a long-stay visa are not taken into account when your 90 days are calculated (Article 6(2)).

So the 90/180 count is only ever about short stays. Time you spend somewhere on a long-stay title isn't a short stay, and it doesn't use up your 90.

Which days stop counting

Only the days that are actually covered by your long-stay title:

• In the country that issued it — Spain for a Spanish permit, Portugal for a Portuguese D visa.

• While it is valid — from the day it starts to the day it ends.

That's all. Your days in that country before the visa started still count, if they fall in the last 180 days. So do your days after it ends.

A common case: you arrive in Spain visa-free in January, apply for a residence permit there and get it in April. January to March were short-stay days; they stay in your count until they are more than 180 days behind you. From the day the permit starts, your days in Spain stop counting.

Which days still count

Days in the other Schengen countries. A residence permit or long-stay visa from one Schengen country lets you visit the others — but as a visitor: no more than 90 days in any 180, under Article 21 of the Schengen Convention. A weekend in Paris on a Spanish permit is a short stay in France, and it comes out of your 90.

People often expect the opposite: that a permit makes the whole area "home". It doesn't. It makes one country home, and every other one is still a visit.

Two details worth knowing:

• The 90 is still shared. A month in Italy and a month in Germany on your Spanish permit add up to 60 of the same 90 days, rolling over 180 — exactly as they would without the permit.

• It only covers Schengen countries' documents. A permit from Ireland or Cyprus doesn't come with this right, because neither is in Schengen (more on that in our list of Schengen countries).

When the visa or permit ends

The days you spent in the issuing country under it never entered your count, so on paper they don't use up any of your 90. But whether you can then stay on as a visitor, and for how long, is a question for that country's immigration office, not for a day counter — some countries expect you to leave or switch to another status when your title ends. Check before you plan around it.

What does carry over are your short stays elsewhere: the trips you took to other Schengen countries during the last 180 days are still in the count.

Bilateral agreements: a few extra days in one country

Some nationalities have an older bilateral visa-waiver agreement with a single Schengen country that lets them stay there longer than 90 days. These agreements still apply where they exist, and the European Commission publishes the list. They are country-by-country and nationality-by-nationality, and they don't change the 90 for the rest of the area — so if you're relying on one, confirm it with that country's embassy before you travel.

Don't forget the tax side

A long-stay title usually means you live somewhere, and living somewhere is what tax-residency day tests count. Spain, for instance, counts more than 183 days in the calendar year; Portugal more than 183 days in any 12 months. The days that drop out of your 90 still count in full there — a permit changes your visa count, not your tax count. We've compared how countries count those 183 days.

Quick answers

I'm on a digital nomad visa in Spain. Do my days in Spain count toward the 90? Not while the visa or permit covers them. Your trips to other Schengen countries do.

Can I spend 90 days in each Schengen country on my permit? No. It's 90 days in any 180 across all the countries other than the one that issued it, combined.

My D visa is valid for a year. Can I spend it travelling around Europe? Only 90 days in any 180 outside the issuing country. A long-stay visa is for living in that country.

Does the Entry/Exit System count my days? No — the Entry/Exit System records short stays, and holders of residence permits and long-stay visas are outside it. You still go through border checks, though, so carry your permit or visa with your passport. Your 90 days elsewhere are still yours to count — nobody stamps them any more.

How to track it in Track Country Days

The app counts the Schengen area as one total, and the Schengen 90/180 rule says what the law says: days under a residence permit or long-stay visa of a Schengen country are not part of the 90.

To reflect that in your own count, go to Schengen Settings and take the country that issued your permit out of your Schengen count. Your days there then stop counting toward the 90, while every other Schengen country still counts.

One honest caveat: removing a country removes all of its days, including any short-stay days there from before your permit began. If you had those in the last 180 days, keep an eye on them — or leave the country in until they are more than 180 days back — and put it back when your permit ends.

Your days in the issuing country don't disappear from the app; they still count for everything else, including the tax-residency rules for that country. And if you'd rather check everything at once, Visa & Tax Check compares your recorded days with more than 120 ready-made visa and tax rules for the places you've been in the last three years.

As always: this is day tracking, not legal advice. We count the days. Which title you hold, what it allows and when it ends are questions for the immigration authorities of the country that issued it.