Schengen rule made easy
 

The bureaucrats finally got around to figuring out how to make the Schengen Rule easy to understand and provide a calculator anyone can use to see where they stand.

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs..._manual_en.pdf

Refer all Schengen Rule questions to that link.

Scroll down the following page and under" Harmonising rules and procedure", in the text, click on "short stay calculator" in the sentence that starts the third paragraph.

"The short-stay calculator can be used for calculating the period of allowed stay under the new rules."

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs...rder-crossing/

"Refer all Schengen Rule questions to that link."

There are at least a dozen questions about Schengen on this forum in the past two months that this calculator doesn't even try to answer.

It merely purports to clarify (if you can understand its downright appalling English) the the maths of the very simplest questions of all: how long can I stay in Schengen?

And for anyone believing the triumphalist gibberish of (on page 1) "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": the UK and Ireland will never join this xenophobic absurdity.

We're not part of Schengen now. We're not going to be. And arrogance like this makes it likelier than ever that the UK won't remain part of the EU for much longer either.

They can find someone else to subsidise them and buy their goods.

Get over yourself Flanner. Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania will be joining Schengen so the wording is accurate.

The site has been referred to before and is useful for people doing multiple trips to Europe or trips involving visits to non Schengen countries as well as Schengen countries. It is of no use for the majority of Schengen visa questions which crop up on the forum.

This is Schengen made easy? My eyes glazed over on page 1.

Made my day, the "English" is so hard to follow I thought I was back failing to learn latin for a moment :-)

Clearly, some people have a limited command of English or in one case see this as an excuse to make xenophobic rants.

The 'rule' has been "made easy", is what I wrote and what I meant. Please read this carefully. The 'rule' wording has been changed. It now reads, " "90 days in any 180-day period […]"." They made the wording easier to comprehend and less subject to uncertainties for the reader.

It now reads 90 days instead of 3 months which led to uncertainties. The words "from the date of first entry" has been dropped as it also led to uncertainties. The word "any" has been used to imply that it is a rolling/moving 180 day period.

As for those who have difficulty reading and comprehending what it says, I have to say I found it easy enough to understand. I am aware however that it is a well known fact in Marketing and Advertising companies that it pays to pitch a product using wording that the average 12 year old can comprehend.

I consider that they have now made it easy enough for MOST people to comprehend. Do they really need to dumb it down even more so that those with a reading comprehension problem can 'get it'?

"Clearly" you need to read up on your NLP about starting conversations with that word. :-)

But the link is the best available, you are right, just very poorly written

Hetismij2, what questions crop up that it is not useful for? I am at a loss to think of what you might be referring to.

Either someone understands the rule or they do not. If they do, I can think of no question that can be asked for which they could not figure out the answer.

From my experience reading questions regarding Schengen on multiple travel forums, not just Fodors, the questions all arise out of a lack of understanding of the rule.

I'm sure whomever wrote this goes by the belief that if they had had more time they would have written a shorter policy.

Well the good news is that next year a proposal goes to the European parliament to allow a touring visa, valid for two years. That should make life a lot easier on here.

Sojourntraveller - it couldn't answer the question of a residence permit over a visa. It can't answer the innumerable questions which come in from Indians regarding type of visa, requirements for getting a visa and why their visas are turned down.

AussieJon 90 days out of 180, not 3 moths out of six, and you may need that calculator to work out whether or not you can re-enter Schenegen and for how long.

"... the questions all arise out of a lack of understanding of the rule."

I don't think this User Manual and Calculator help much in that regard. As hetismij2 mentioned, there are too many policy points that are not explained. The Manual even says, "[The Calculator] does not constitute a right to stay for a period resulting from its calculation."

Here's a link to the Calculator for those who want to "play."

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs...ulator_en.html

Yes, those questions which RELATE to the visa will indeed not be answered by the link I provided.

However, what I wrote was, "Refer all Schengen Rule questions to that link." I was not referring to anything other than that alone. Any question regarding the RULE can be answered.

You're moving beyond understanding the rule hetismij2 and that is fine but not relevant to what I wrote.

When someone asks (as is common), 'can I go to the UK for 2 weeks and then return for another 90 days?' That is a question that requires understanding the rule.

If someone asks, 'If I leave and then return does the count then go from that new first day of entry?' That is about the rule, nothing else.

I didn't intend to imply that the link would answer questions about a Schengen visa vs. a residency visa, etc. Those are outside the scope of what I was providing.

I thought my title and comment was quite clear in what it referred to. It seems I should have added what it did not refer to.

hetismij2, can you tell us more out the possible touring visa? Is there a suggested website about it? thanks.

It is a proposal that has not even ben discussed, let alone been decided upon. No one knows whether it will eve become reality o be rejected in the first stages of discussion. Hence at the moment this has the value of a soap bubble.