Used your 90 days? Your options

Why a quick "visa run" does not help

The 90/180 rule looks back 180 days from every day of your stay. Leaving for a day or a week only means those days are not added; it does not remove the days you already spent. To come back, you need old days to drop out of the window, and each day only drops out 180 days after you spent it.

Option 1: spend the time outside Schengen

The UK, Ireland, Cyprus, the Western Balkans (Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo), Türkiye, Georgia and others are outside the Schengen area. Long-term travellers often split their year between Schengen and these countries. Each has its own entry rules and its own limits, so check the official rules for your nationality. The full list.

Option 2: come back gradually

You do not always need to wait for all 90 days. Days come back one by one, exactly 180 days after you spent them. The calculator lists when your days come back and the earliest date a trip of a given length fits.

Option 3: a bilateral agreement (some nationalities)

Some Schengen countries have old bilateral visa-waiver agreements with certain countries. They can let you stay in that one country beyond the Schengen 90 days. They are complex and border guards do not always know them, so carry proof.

• Australians: Smartraveller lists agreements with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden. You can only use one agreement on top of the 90 days, most countries require you to use it at the end of your Schengen travel, and you should tell the border guard on your first entry. Details.
• New Zealanders: New Zealand has agreements with a number of Schengen countries; Switzerland, for example, confirms up to 90 days there regardless of time spent elsewhere in Schengen. Details.

Option 4: a long-stay visa or residence permit

If you want to live in one country for part of the year, a national long-stay (D) visa or residence permit is the proper route: retirement or non-lucrative visas, digital-nomad visas, study, work or family visas. Days spent under them are not counted towards the 90 (Schengen Borders Code, Article 6(2)). Requirements differ by country; check the official immigration website of the country concerned.