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My mother has a multiple-entry visa issued for Belgium which is valid for one year, with maximum stay of 90 days.

Having entered the Schengen area June 25, her 90 days expires September 23 (she will exit September 20).

Since she has used up her 90 days, how would one go about restoring another 90 days when the 180 days are up (December 22)?

Does she need to reapply for a new visa (despite the fact that her current visa has not expired)?

Or does the 90 day limit reset automatically and she can re-enter with her existing visa?

ktosayev
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    “Resetting” is not the right way to think about this, that's now how it works. For example, I haven't checked your calculation, but if she is indeed leaving three days before hitting 90 days, this also means she could come back three days earlier. But she will never be allowed to stay longer than 90 days at once. – Relaxed Aug 08 '17 at 13:04
  • Be careful, you are miscounting: if your mother enters on 25 June, she must leave by 22 September. That's six days in June and 62 in July and August, leaving only 22 in September. – phoog Aug 08 '17 at 21:35

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It's more of a sliding window than anything being “reset” but the idea is indeed that she can still use her visa, as long as it is valid (and also allows multiple entries, as is the case here). Visas with more than 6 month validity can therefore be used to stay more than 90 days in total.

Your mother does not need to do anything special beside letting enough time elapse between visits. Obviously, she also need to still fulfil all the usual requirements and can in principle be asked to prove that any time she tries to enter.

Relaxed
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  • the way I read the OP the visa had both a duration of visit and validity period. The duration is almost used up while validity remains. That's different from the 90/180 window. – o.m. Aug 08 '17 at 20:00
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    All my Schengen visas have always have a "duration of days" [1-90] and a validity period "FROM XX/XX/XXXX TO XX/XX/XXXX" and "number of entries" [01/MULT].

    Obviously you can use up your "number of days" before the visa expires and for really short stays, this is not a problem. The question is specifically that you use up your 90 days (say June 25-September 23) and exit the Schengen area. The visa is still valid until June 21 of the next year...but you have used up your 90 days.

    As I now understand, these "number of days" applies for a 180 day period - not the visa period (1 year).

     – ktosayev Aug 08 '17 at 20:36
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    @o.m. all visas valid for longer than 180 days have a duration of stay of 90 days, and for those visas the 90/180 rule applies. This is explicit in the Schengen Visa Code. – phoog Aug 08 '17 at 20:58
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    @o.m. That duration was 90 (the OP was explicit about that), which ought to be interpreted in the way I described. It is not different from the 90/180 window. Besides, as phoog explained, visas valid for one year should in principle always have a maximum duration of stay of 90 days, even if I have heard of exceptions. – Relaxed Aug 08 '17 at 22:11
  • @ktosayev A duration below 90 is indeed to be used once. 90 or XX means 90 days in any 180-period. In principle, no visa valid for longer than 6 months should have a duration under 90 but I have heard about consulates making that mistake. – Relaxed Aug 08 '17 at 22:12
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I found the answer to my question here: Multiple entry Schengen Visa valid for 5 years, with duration of stay : 90 days

The answer makes clear reference to the Schengen Code in which the short version is: If a multiple entry visa is granted for X number of years and the maximum duration of stay of 90 days is granted, the number of days indicated in duration of stay is for any six-month period, not the visa period.

ktosayev
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