As of 18 October 2013 the new concept of short-stay visits for non-EU citizens in the Schengen area comes into effect.
Since then for the citizens of non-EU member states who intend to travel to the Schengen area for a short stay the maximum duration of authorised stay is defined as 90 days in any 180-day period.
The notion of “any”, implies the application of a “moving” 180-day reference period, looking backwards at each day of the stay (be it at the entry or at the day of an actual check), into the last 180-day period, in order to verify if the 90 days/180-day requirement continues to be fulfilled.
Therefore a new method of calculation of short stays applies (in order to calculate the period of allowed stay under new rules you may use the short-stay calculator available here).
Stays in Bulgaria, Croatia, Ireland, Romania, Cyprus and the United Kingdom shall not be taken into account as they are not (yet) part of the Schengen area without internal borders. At the same time, non-EU member states Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland belong to the Schengen area; short stays in these countries count when assessing the compliance with the 90 days/180-day rule. More information
More information: information on the new rules, the use of the calculator and practical examples
Delegation of the EU to Ukraine