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Related: How does the Schengen 90/180 rule work?

I am in Ukraine
I have 70 days left on my shengen visa
My 180 day period ends in 40 days
I want to travel to Spain for as long as possible
If I travel to spain right now, how long can I stay there?
40 days? Or 70 days? Or Do I have to take a plane home in 40 days and then a plane to Spain the next day to enjoy 90 more days? Seems nonsensical, right?

Morocco is close and they give a 1 day visa, can I visit it in 40 days, does this count as a 180 period reset?

This answer quotes

The 6 month (or 180 days to be precise) period starts on the day of the first entry into the Schengen zone (Note that the day of first entry means the day you physically arrive in the zone and not the day the validity of the visa starts). In that 6 month period, you can only stay in the Schengen zone for a maximum of 90 days, irrespective of whether you have a new Schengen visa issued by the same or a different Schengen country that is valid beyond this 6 month period. At the end of this 6 month period, a NEW 6 month period starts and you can again spend a maximum of 90 days in the Schengen zone, provided you have a valid visa. If your stay duration overlaps two 6 month periods, then you must individually satisfy the 90 day limit in BOTH periods. All following 6 months period will be calculated back to back from the date of the first entry, until you remain outside the Schengen zone for at least 6 months. When you stay outside for at least 6 months (continuously) and THEN enter the Schengen zone, the six month period again starts from the day of the entry. It would be as if you were entering the Schengen zone for the first time.

What does the "you must individually satisfy the 90 day limit in BOTH periods" actually mean? Does it mean that I must be 90 days in one and 90 days max in other visa, or 90 days in both visas combined or what?

But the link is not clear enough for me to understand.

I even read the official doc and used it's calculator, which seems to give off random numbers.

How am I supposed to follow the rules if no one seems to know them.

Edit: There is no such thing as a period overlap, it's just that you can't stay for more than 90 days in the last 180 days, that's the only rule.

Timo Huovinen
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    That answer specifically states "This answer is invalid for most people as of November 2013". You need to go back and read the accepted answer on that question. It is now a ROLLING 180 day period. – Doc Apr 26 '18 at 19:11
  • @Doc Sorry, I'm not as tecnical or experienced as you in travel, I don't understand at all what you just said, can I stay or do I have to go back? What does rolling mean anyway? – Timo Huovinen Apr 26 '18 at 19:12
  • @Doc I quotes that answer, it's not a duplicate as it does not answer my question, I re-read it like 20 times before asking this. – Timo Huovinen Apr 26 '18 at 19:12
  • Read the top answer in the question you've linked to. It states that you must be in the Schengen region “no more than 90 days in any 180-day period”. ie, at any point, over the past 180 days, you must have been in the Schengen region no more than 90 days. – Doc Apr 26 '18 at 19:18
  • @Doc So that means that I can stay in Spain for 160 days? (70 from first 180 day period and 90 from next). – Timo Huovinen Apr 26 '18 at 19:21
  • @Doc As far as I'm aware the counter for the 180 days starts after the first visit to a Schengen country. Which was not Spain. – Timo Huovinen Apr 26 '18 at 19:29
  • Rolling means that for every 180-day period, you may not have more than 90 days of presence in the area. So you need to look at 1 March through 27 August, 2 March through 28 August, etc. This means that it's no longer possible to spend more than 90 consecutive days in the Schengen area as it used to be, and that leaving the Schengen area for one day means that the date by which you must leave is only one day later than it otherwise would have been. The counter for the 180 days starts every day, and the information you've quoted is obsolete as of about 5 years ago. – phoog Apr 26 '18 at 19:56
  • @phoog This is so daunting >.< The 180 day period ends in July 15th, but the 90 days end in August 11th, can I stay until the 90 day period ends even though the 180 day period ends earlier? (Adding emphasis to "every" does not make it clear... as it can still be interpreted both ways) – Timo Huovinen Apr 26 '18 at 20:10
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    Timo, you're not reading what is being written. The 180 day period NEVER ends. Today the period that matters is 180 days back from today. Tomorrow, it'll be 180 days back from tomorrow. It's a sliding 180 day window, not based on your visa or the date(s) you enter the region. – Doc Apr 26 '18 at 20:35
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    Which number does the calculator give you? – Relaxed Apr 26 '18 at 20:42
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    Timo: @Doc is correct. There's also another way of looking at it: there's a 180-day period that ends on July 15th. There's another one that ends on July 16th. So if, on August 11th, you've had 90 days in the Schengen area, and if all 90 of those were within the previous 178 days, then you must leave before midnight. If you had 89 days, and one of them was 179 days earlier, then you can stay until the 12th. You must check this every day. A consequence of that algorithm is that there's no way to stay for more than 90 consecutive days. – phoog Apr 26 '18 at 20:52
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    "Every 180-day period" means that every day is part of 180 180-day periods. So August 27 is the last day of the period that starts on March 1, the 179th day of the period that starts on March 2nd, etc. Perhaps the word "overlapping" is better than "rolling." "can I stay until the 90 day period ends...?" No, there's no 90-day period. The 90 days is just a quantity of days. They needn't be consecutive; they aren't a period. If you can post your dates of entry and exit, we can post an analysis showing when you must leave and how different strategies can change that date. – phoog Apr 26 '18 at 20:56
  • @phoog after understanding the concept your last comment starts to make sense, before I understood it, it didn't because I had a misconception of the start date for the 180 day period (I'm not the only one, just about anyone I asked had the same misconception) – Timo Huovinen Apr 27 '18 at 18:37
  • @phoog would you mind posting this above comment as an answer with the example of how the days pass and the days add up? You were the most helpful in understanding this, so I'd like to mark your answer as correct. – Timo Huovinen Apr 27 '18 at 18:39
  • @TimoHuovinen I can't add an answer because the question is closed as a duplicate. I will try to add an answer to the linked duplicate sometime over the weekend. But come to think of it, why don't you post the answer, since you know best which aspects of the explanation helped you to understand the rule? – phoog Apr 27 '18 at 19:59
  • @phoog I can't add an answer to that one because it does not let me. – Timo Huovinen Apr 29 '18 at 19:32
  • @TimoHuovinen I've unprotected it. Please let me know when you've added your answer so I can re-protect it. – phoog Apr 29 '18 at 20:33
  • @phoog Sorry phoog, I was using the schengen visa and was away on vacation :) – Timo Huovinen May 14 '18 at 17:13
  • @TimoHuovinen the question is still unprotected. Do you still want to add an answer? – phoog May 15 '18 at 17:47

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Do I have to take a plane home in 40 days and then a plane to Spain the next day to enjoy 90 more days? Seems nonsensical, right?

Yes, it is indeed nonsensical. That's not at all the way it works. For starters, you can never ever leave and turn around to stay more than 90 days. At the end of a 40-day stay in Spain, there is only ever 50 days left, possibly less depending on the schedule of your previous stays. It's also possible that you would not be allowed to stay for 40 days at this point, again depending on exactly when and how long you have been in the Schengen area in the past months.

From your many comments, it seems you are engaging in a bit of wishful thinking and overestimating the number of days you are allowed to stay. The rules are indeed a bit complicated but if you cannot wrap your head around the many descriptions available on this site and elsewhere, use the calculator and trust it. It's going to disappoint you and suggest much lower numbers than what you expect/wish but that's not random.

Relaxed
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  • Thank you for your answer but it somehow managed not to answer what I'm asking, I'm very sorry that I'm wording it so badly.

    Also I'd like to clarify that there is a big difference between trying to understand a concept and wishful thinking, I know that everyone uses the calculator and I can use it too, it gives me 70 days, but I'm worried that it's wrong because the 180 day period expires even though I didn't spend the 90 days.

     – Timo Huovinen Apr 27 '18 at 05:52
  • Here's an example: You enter on the 1st of Jan for 1 day, you then enter on the 29th of July. Can you stay for 89 days or 1 day? The 180 days have expired, while the 90 days haven't. – Timo Huovinen Apr 27 '18 at 05:52
  • If I put entry 01/01/18 and exit 02/01/18 and then entry 30/04/18 into the calculator I get 90 days left, shouldn't it be 89? – Timo Huovinen Apr 27 '18 at 05:55
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    @TimoHuovinen You shouldn't get hung up on the 180-day period, it has no relevance. I can only repeat what phoog and Doc already stated but there is no such thing. What's happening in your second example is that by the time you reach the 89th day, the 1st of January is more than 180 days in the past so it doesn't count anymore and you still have one day left (90 - 89 you just spent in the Schengen area). – Relaxed Apr 27 '18 at 06:07
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    In fact, if there are at least 90 full days between your last departure and your entry, you always have 90 days left (every day of your stay you have at least one day left as the older days gradually disappear from the 180-day window). So I am not getting the reasoning behind your first example at all but I can tell you you can stay 90 days. – Relaxed Apr 27 '18 at 06:09
  • @Timo Huovinen You’re still misinterpreting how the 180 day window works. It never ends, it keeps rolling with every day that passes. So there is never a moment when the 180 days ‘expire’, only a point when, if enough time has passed since you last exited Schengen, a stay of 90 days becomes possible again. – Traveller Apr 27 '18 at 09:36
  • @TimoHuovinen "while the 90 days haven't"; " I'm worried that it's wrong because the 180 day period expires even though I didn't spend the 90 days": any day of presence "expires" or ages out of the calculation when it is more than 180 days in the past. If you enter in July, any days of presence in January do not count because they're more than 180 days earlier. You don't have to use all 90 days. When you enter on 29 June, you must include all days of presence in January in the count, but on 30 June (in a non leap year) you can ignore 1 Jan. On 1 July you can also ignore 2 Jan, and so on. – phoog Apr 27 '18 at 15:00
  • @TimoHuovinen (corrected version of an earlier comment): leaving the day after arrival is actually a two-day visit. If you enter on 1 January and leave on 2 January, your following entrance can be for up to 89 days if you return on 2 January, for up to 88 days if you return any time between 3 January and 2 April, and for up to 90 days if you return on 3 April or later. – phoog Apr 27 '18 at 15:35
  • @phoog I actually left that point aside so as to avoid confusing things further! – Relaxed Apr 27 '18 at 15:53
  • @Relaxed I considered the same, but decided that (a) it has to be addressed at some point, and (b) perhaps it would help understand the fact that 90 days are 90 integral countable calendar days rather than a period of time. – phoog Apr 27 '18 at 16:00
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    A bit thank you to everyone (this was driving me insane), the last explanation made it all clear to me, what I kept thinking was that the start of the 180 days was fixed on the first day of entry and would reset after 180 days or 180 days plus some amount of time. Now I understand that you can check your remaining days by checking how many days you've spent in the area in the last 180 days. – Timo Huovinen Apr 27 '18 at 18:35