Since 10 April 2026, the Entry/Exit System records each entry and exit of non-EU visitors on short stays at the external borders of the 29 countries using it, in place of passport stamps.123
Records
The system stores the data in your passport, the date and place of each entry and exit, your face and fingerprints, and whether you were refused entry.4
Records of entries, exits and refusals are kept for 3 years.6
Where
29 countries share the count: 25 EU members, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.7
Overstays
The EU says the system detects overstays automatically.2
Its count and yours
The border and you are counting the same thing. The 90 days in any 180 are one count across every country using the system, not one per country.8 The rule behind it is the one you already know. Up to 90 days in any 180-day period.9
What changed is who keeps the tally. The law that set up the system gives it an automated calculator for the maximum stay each registered traveler has left.10You have the right to hear from passport control officers how long your authorised stay can still run.11
One gap matters this year. The EU online tool that shows your remaining days leaves out any stay that began before 10 April 2026, even if it continued after that date.12 Those days still count under the rule; the tool just cannot see them.
Worked example
A spring stay the online tool cannot see
You arrive in Portugal on 1 April 2026 and leave on 15 June 2026: 76 days, with the day you arrive and the day you leave both counted.13How we count: Every calendar day from entry to exit, both included: 30 in April, 31 in May, 15 in June.
The stay began before 10 April 2026, so the EU tool's remaining days leave out all 76, the ones after 10 April too.12How we count: The EU's note on the tool, applied to this stay.
Under the 90/180 count, 15 June still sits in the look-back window of every day up to 11 December 2026. Until then, only your own record holds those days.9How we count: 15 June plus 179 days: the last day whose 180 days, that day included, still reach back to 15 June. Leaving the day itself out of its window moves this to 12 December.
What it rests on:The EU online tool that shows your remaining days leaves out any stay that began before 10 April 2026, even if it continued after that date.12Each day of your stay looks back over the 180 days before it, and the days inside that window may not pass 90.914The day you enter and the day you leave both count as days of stay.13
When the border's count differs from yours
The official guidance, in the order you would use it:
If your record or your time in the area looks wrong, the UK government advises asking border officials for a correction the next time you cross a Schengen border.15
Go ready to show supporting evidence if they ask for it.16
Questions about your remaining stay, or about the online tool's result, go to the authorities of the country where you last entered or left the Schengen area.17
You can ask for inaccurate or incomplete data to be corrected, through the data controller or data protection officer of a country using the system, preferably one you traveled to.1819
Why your own log helps
A correction at the border starts with your word against a database, and the guidance above asks for evidence. A day-by-day record of where you were, kept as you travel, is that evidence: the dates of each stay, the country, and the running count that goes with them.
It matters most before a long trip. An overstay can bring an entry ban, which in principle lasts no more than five years.20 Knowing your own number before you book is cheaper than finding out at the desk.
Exact wordsThe EES is an automated IT system for registering non-EU nationals travelling for a short stay, each time they cross the external borders of 29 European countries using the system.
Exact wordsThe EES collects, records and stores: data listed in your travel document(s) (e.g. full name, date of birth, etc.); date and place of each entry and exit; facial image and fingerprints (called ‘biometric data’); whether you were refused entry.
Exact wordsFor intended stays on the territory of the Member States of a duration of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period, which entails considering the 180-day period preceding each day of stay
Exact wordsThe EES shall include an automated calculator that indicates the maximum duration of authorised stay for third-country nationals registered in the EES.
Exact wordsPlease note that the remaining authorised stay does NOT reflect any time spent in the Schengen area that began before 10 April 2026, regardless of whether the visit ended before or continued after that date.
Exact wordsthe date of entry shall be considered as the first day of stay on the territory of the Member States and the date of exit shall be considered as the last day of stay
Exact wordsIf you believe you have been incorrectly entered into EES or your record of time spent in the Schengen area is incorrect, approach border officials when you next cross the Schengen border and request a correction.
Exact wordsIf you believe your time spent in the Schengen area has been recorded incorrectly, raise this with border officials and be prepared to provide supporting evidence if requested.
Exact wordsFor any question regarding your remaining authorised stay in the Schengen area or the result shown by the “Check how long you can stay” tool, please contact the competent authorities of the Member State where you last entered or exited the Schengen area.
Exact wordsTo exercise any of these rights, you must contact a data controller (e.g. the entity responsible for processing your data) or data protection officer in any of the European countries using the EES, preferably the ones to which you travelled.
Exact wordsThe length of the entry ban shall be determined with due regard to all relevant circumstances of the individual case and shall not in principle exceed five years.
Checked against Schengen Borders Code, Art. 6 · EES Regulation, Art. 11 on 25 Oct 2026Updated 26 Oct 2026
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