What is the 90-day rule?
The 90-day rule states that non-EU, non-EEA nationals who benefit from visa-free travel to the Schengen area, or holders of a multiple-entry Schengen visa, can stay for up to 90 days within any 180 days.
If they wish to stay longer than this, they need to apply for a long-term visa.
Who does the 90-day rule affect?
The 90-day rule is for visitors to the EU who are not citizens of an EU or Schengen zone country.
It applies to those who enjoy visa-free travel to the Schengen area, including American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and, since January 2021, British citizens.
It also applies to third-country nationals holding a multiple-entry Schengen visa.
It doesn’t apply to EU residents, including British people who were full-time residents of Italy before the Brexit transition period ended on December 31st, 2020 (and have the paperwork to prove it).
People who have dual nationality with an EU country – for example, UK nationals who are also citizens of Ireland – are not subject to the limit, provided they travel using their EU passport.
The main groups affected are tourists planning an extended stay and second-home owners.
How does the 90-day rule work in practice?
The 180-day window is calculated on a rolling basis. It doesn’t just cover one trip, but all entries and exits to the EU in a 180-day period.
Every time you want to enter the Schengen area, you need to look back over the last 180 days and add up the total number of days you’ve spent in the EU/EEA.
This site has a fuller explanation of how the 90-day rule works, as well as a calculator to allow you to work out your visits.
It offers the following example:
“Let’s say:
You visited France from January 10 – January 20 (11 days),
Then Italy from March 1 – March 30 (30 days),
And Spain from May 1 – June 9 (40 days).
By June 9, you’ve spent 81 days in the Schengen Area within the past 180 days. That leaves you 9 more days to stay legally. But by June 30, your earlier January visit drops off the 180-day window, giving you 20 days of stay again.”
How does EES affect the 90-day rule?
The EU’s new Entry and Exit System doesn’t alter the 90-day rule, but it allows immigration authorities to police the rule more effectively.
The EES is essentially an enhanced passport check that has two main purposes; making ID checks more secure by adding biometrics and tightening up on over-stayers.
The system does away with the manual stamping of passports, and instead introduces a digital system that automatically calculates how long the person has been in the EU based on their previous entry and exit data. It then calculates whether the person has spent more than 90 days in the bloc during the previous 180 days.
Over-staying the 90-day allowance is an immigration offence and can be punishable by fines or a ban on re-entering the EU or Schengen zone.
If you are caught over-staying your allocated 90 days you can end up with an 'over-stay' flag on your passport which can make it difficult to enter any other country, not just Italy, and is likely to make any future attempts at getting visas or residency a lot more difficult.
Are there ways around the rule?
Second-home owners, in particular, may want to spend more than 90 days at a time in their Italian property – so what are the options for them?
People in this situation will need to apply for a long-term visa.
The most popular option for retirees is Italy’s elective residency visa, while the digital nomad visa, which became available in 2024, is for remote and self-employed workers.
You can read more about some of the main Italian visas available to non-EU citizens here and some of the most popular work visas here.
In most cases, securing a long-term Italian visa will also involve taking up residency in Italy.
This entails more than simply declaring 'I'm a resident'.
All residents of Italy are required to complete an annual tax declaration, even if all their income comes from outside Italy, and in order to access healthcare you will have to either pay for private cover or register with the Italian healthcare system.
You cannot be a resident of two countries at once, so if you become an Italian resident you have to give up residency of your home country.
For this reason, many second-home owners find it simplest to just keep to the 90-day rule.
The limit still allows you to spend around six months out of every year in Italy, though you’ll have to space out your visits.
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