How does a Working-Holiday visa in Germany affect existing tourist 90/180 Schengen days?
I am an Australian who has spent the last 85 days in the Schengen zone. Of those 85 days, 70 were in Switzerland and 15 were in Germany.
Today I got a working holiday visa in Germany under the youth mobility program, granting me 1 year in Germany as well as 90/180 days outside of Germany in other Schengen states.
My question is, if I were to travel to Switzerland tomorrow, for how many days could I legally stay there before having to return to Germany? I've found conflicting information online and have arrived at three different conclusions:
5 days, since I've spent the last 85 days in the Schengen zone and thus have 5 left out of my 90/180 quota
20 days, since my working holiday visa grants me 90 days outside of Germany per every 180 and I've only spent 70 outside Germany so far
90 days, since apparently a change of visa status "resets the counter"
Which of those conclusions is correct?
Best Answer
My reading of the Schengen codes is that (1) is correct.
The second conclusion is clearly incorrect as the restriction is expressed in the Schengen Borders Code thus (from Article 6, section 2):
Periods of stay authorised under a residence permit or a long-stay visa shall not be taken into account in the calculation of the duration of stay on the territory of the Member States.
There's no way anyone could interpret the 15 days you've already spent in Germany as having been authorized under the visa or permit you received today.
The third conclusion is also nowhere to be found in the code itself.
The most reasonable interpretation of the quoted text is that any days you spend in Germany during the validity of your permit are excluded from the calculation, and this leads to the first conclusion.
One might argue that the phrase "periods of stay authorised under a residence permit or a long-stay visa" includes time spent in Schengen countries other than the one issuing the visa, but this leads to a result that is clearly not intended by the text of the code, namely that a residence permit from one Schengen country allows its bearer to spend the entire period of its validity in another Schengen country. This leads to the conclusion that the phrase only denotes periods of stay in the issuing country. I don't know whether any court has ruled on this question, however.
Because there is no systematic enforcement of the 90/180 rule for people with long-stay visas or residence permits, you're unlikely to have any trouble if you spend more than 5 days in other Schengen countries. Most likely, problems would arise only if you fall afoul of the police for some reason.
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What happens if you exceed 90 days in Schengen?
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. How that rule is enforced, though, varies greatly from one country to another.How does the 90 in 180 day rule work?
What is the Schengen 90/180 rule? Under the terms of Schengen, non-EEA nationals cannot spend more than a total of 90 days within a total period of 180 days without a visa. Furthermore, once you've used up your quota of 90 days, you cannot return to Schengen until 90 more days have passed.How do you get around the 90-day rule Schengen?
Well, you can tour around different Schengen member states like France, Spain, or Germany and by the time you hit your 90-day limit, go and hop over to a non-Schengen European country like Croatia, UK, North Macedonia, or Turkey to wait until you hit the 181st day so that you can come back to the Schengen Area again.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.THE SCHENGEN ZONE TRAVEL EXPLAINED - DIGITAL NOMAD TV
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