after German residence permit expires, can I start my tourist 90/180 days? [duplicate]

I am an American studying abroad in Germany, but I want to spend up to 90 days as a tourist in Spain following the end of my program and the expiration of my residence permit.

I entered the Schengen zone on the grounds that I have US citizenship and can therefore enter without a visa and stay in Germany for up to 90 days while applying for a residence permit. However, I do not know if the two months that it took me to officially receive my residence permit count as ~60 out of the 90 days. I do know however that time passed within the period of the res permit does not count towards the 90 days, as other posts have pointed out.

The main thing I want to know is if my residence permit retroactively covers that two-month period that passed before I officially received it (I was already applying for it upon arrival, but it got delayed and so the sticker in my passport officially says the term is March-June, even though I arrived in January). If so, I would have never started an 180 day cycle and can therefore just make a stop in the UK and get a re-entry stamp to Spain to begin my 90 days as a tourist.

Best Answer

The 180 day calculation is on the basis of a sliding window. First, ignore any days when you were in Germany on your German residence permit. Then, for each day you're in the Schengen area, look at the 179 preceding days. If you were in the Schengen area for more than 89 of those days, you've been in the Schengen area too long.

Therefore, assuming your residence permit lasted longer than 90 days, which I think it must have, you needn't worry about the time you spent in Germany before it became valid. You might have to worry about days you spent in other Schengen countries, if you did in fact do that.

Furthermore, the consensus here seems to be that you don't need to leave the Schengen area to "start" your stay as a tourist. It just starts automatically at midnight on the day after your residence permit's expiration. If I recall correctly, however, there was one person who posted saying that German authorities had said he or she would need to leave the Schengen area, so you might want to do it anyway just to be on the safe side.

A strict reading of the Schengen codes, however, supports the conclusion that you don't need to leave. The Schengen Borders Code is available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:32016R0399.

By way of illustration, assume your permit expires on June 30th, having become effective on March 31st. Assume further that you didn't go to any other Schengen states during that time. On July 1st, you will look at the 180-day period that started on January 4th. Let's say you arrived on January 2nd, so you were present without a visa or permit from that day until March 30th, or 89 days. On July 1st, your total day count is 1 (for July 1st) plus 87 (for January 4th through March 30th).

With each successive day, the counted days in your current period increase, while the counted days in your prior period decreas: 2 + 86, 3 + 85, etc. But the sum is always the same: 88.

Once you reach September 26th, the beginning of the 180-day period falls during the validity of your residence permit. At that point, you stop looking at the days before it became valid, looking only at the days after it expired. On September 28th therefore, your count will be 89, and you will need to leave by September 29th.

Your dates are probably different, of course, so you may want to use the official Schengen Short-Stay calculator: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/border-crossing/schengen_calculator_en.html

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What happens when German residence permit expires?

If your residence permit is expiring soon, you must submit an application for an extension or for a different residence permit to the immigration authority before it expires. If you miss this deadline, you no longer have a right to remain in Germany and must leave.

How many days can I stay in Germany after my visa expires?

Overstaying the Schengen Visa allowance of 90 days within 180 days is not without consequences. Remaining after the expiry period may constitute a stay without a corresponding residence permit and will be prosecuted in Germany as a criminal or administrative offence.

What happens if you exceed your 90 days in Europe?

The Schengen law states that you can't stay in the Area for more than 90 days. If you do, you're subject to a fine and possibly deportation and being banned from re-entering the Schengen Area.

What happens if I stay in Germany longer than 90 days?

If you want to stay in Germany for longer than 90 days, and your nationality requires you to obtain a Schengen visa, you will need to apply for a national visa (category D visa) before you travel. The national visa (nationales Visum) grants entry to Germany on the basis that you will be applying for a residence permit.

STAY IN EUROPE FOR MORE THAN 90 DAYS… JUST DO THIS! Schengen area and the 90 day rule for Van Life.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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