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EUROPEAN UNION

How many travellers are turned away at European borders because of 90 day limit?

Many Non-EU nationals, including Britons since Brexit, need to make sure they don't go over the 90-day rule in the EU/Schengen area. But how many people are turned away at European borders because they overstayed?

Published: 21 May 2023 12:19 CEST
How many travellers are turned away at European borders because of 90 day limit?
How many travellers are turned away from the EU's borders because they have passed the 90 day limit? (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

The 2021 Ironman 70.3 World Champion, UK’s Lucy Charles-Barclay, may not be able to participate in the next race of the season, on the 21st of May in Kraichgau, Germany.

The reason? She has already used 88 of the 90 days she could spend in the Schengen area over a 180-day period, the athlete said on Instagram.

Non-EU travellers, who since Brexit include Brits, have to be aware of the 90-day rule when it comes to visiting the EU and Schengen area.

People can travel without border checks within countries that have signed up to the Schengen Agreement. These include EU members except for Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania. Non-EU members Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are also part of the Schengen zone.

Non-EU passport holders who are allowed to visit Schengen countries without a visa can stay for maximum 90 days in any 180-day period, regardless of the number of states they go to. This means frequent visitors to EU countries, such as those who own second homes there, need to keep a careful check on how many days they have built up.

READ ALSO: How does the 90-day rule work for the EU/Schengen area?

The 90-day limit is meant for visits only, so people who intend to become residents have to follow different procedures.

Anyone who wants to stay longer than 90 days in every 180 must apply for a national visa for the country they intend to visit.

Passengers wait under panels at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, in the northeastern outskirts of Paris, on March 4, 2023.(Photo by Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP)

If overstayers are caught they will most likely be ordered to leave, fined or even banned from the Schengen zone for a period of time. Since Brexit, these rules also apply to UK citizens, to the frustration of many second home owners in France and Spain.

The European Union plans to introduce a new border system, the EU entry/exit system, that will require biometric data, including facial images and fingerprints of all passengers entering the EU, helping authorities to systematically identify overstayers.

Travellers refused entry over the 90-day rule

Overall, some 141,060 non-EU citizens were refused entry into the EU in 2022 for various reasons, which are explained below.

Overall the largest number of refusals were reported by Poland (23,330), Hungary (15,780), Croatia (11,800) and Ireland (9,240). Ukrainian citizens accounted for the largest number of refusals, as has been the case in recent years.

According to the latest data published by the EU statistical office Eurostat, in 2022 almost 20,000 people (19,290) were refused entry at the Schengen area’s external borders because they has already exceeded the 90-day limit on previous trips.

This figure was a slight rise on the 2019 figure of 17,695. In the 2020 and 2021 the number dropped to around 10,000 travellers refused entry for having passed the 90-day limit, but the drop can be explained by fewer people on the move due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of the 20,000 refused entry in 2022 over the 90-day rule, more than two thirds were stopped at the Polish (7,570) and Hungarian (5,475) borders. Again most of them were from Ukraine as was the case in 2019. It is not clear whether these were recorded before Poland and Hungary opened their borders to the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian’s fleeing the Russian invasion in late February.

Among the countries covered by The Local, Italy refused entry to 695 non-EU citizens because of the 90/180 Schengen rule; Germany denied entry to 465; Spain 345; Switzerland 175; France 170; Austria 125; Sweden 40; and Denmark 30, according to data published recently.

Despite the confusion for Britons after Brexit it appears most travellers are at least aware of the 90 day rule given the small number that were refused entry.

Only 195 British citizens were refused entry into European countries in 2022 because of the 90 day rule. Of these, Switzerland rejected 25; Sweden, Austria and Denmark 10 each; France 5. The figure for Spain read “zero”, suggesting Spanish authorities had not made the data available.

For US citizens the number of travellers turned away at the EU borders last year for having already passed the 90-day limit was 90. The numbers were even smaller for Canadians and Australians but this will be likely linked not only to a low number of frequent travellers to the EU from distant countries. In other words if they have passed the 90 day limit they are unlikely to return within the 180 day period.

As for travellers from India, the 90-day rule does not apply to them because they need a visa to enter the Schengen area.

Other reasons non-EU citizens are turned away

Apart from the 90 day rule there are other reasons why non-EU travellers will be turned away at Europe’s borders ranging from whether they are considered to be public threat or an alert has been issued about them to the fact their passport may be out of date or they have no valid visa or residency permit. Officially non-EU visitors could be turned away if they are not considered to have the means to pay for their trip, however the figures show only 10 people were refused entry (all to the Netherlands) for this reason.

READ ALSO: Are UK tourists in Spain really being asked to prove €100 a day?

Whilst most non-EU travellers have been aware of the rules around valid travel documents it appears many Britons have been caught out since Brexit.

Visitors entering Schengen countries must have a document issued in the ten years before the date of entry and valid until three months after the planned departure date. Since Brexit many British travellers, unaware their passports were invalid, have been turned away at airports and ports.

France for example denied access to its territory – and the Schengen area – to 105 UK citizens because they held no valid travel document.

The total for British citizens turned away from European countries because of invalid travel documents was 335, with 40 denied access to Italy and 30 to Switzerland.

In total 1,305 UK nationals were denied entry at the European external borders in 2022 because of reasons ranging from overstays to no valid visa or document, insufficient means of subsistence or being considered a public threat.

France – which has the largest number of arrivals from the UK due to its proximity – recorded the largest number (440), followed by Switzerland (150), Sweden (75), Italy (60), Germany (45), Denmark (40), Austria (15). Data for Norway was not available at the time of publishing.

Sweden, where authorities have come under pressure over their treatment of British residents after Brexit, refused entry to 40 Britons in 2022 who did not have a valid visa or residence permit.

When it comes to other nationalities, some 1,020 American citizens were turned away at Europe’s borders for various reasons in 2022 and the figure for Indian nationals was 2,045. Just 140 Canadians were turned away and 50 Australian nationals.

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For members

MONEY

What Norway’s weak krone means if you are travelling this summer 

Norway’s krone is down considerably to almost all major currencies. This affects how cheap or expensive your trip in or out of Norway will be this summer. 

Published: 2 June 2023 11:29 CEST
What Norway’s weak krone means if you are travelling this summer 

Compared to 30 other major currencies, the krone has weakened against all except the Argentine peso and the South African rand, according to an overview of the “expanded major” currencies from Bloomberg. 

The Norwegian krone is considerably weaker against the euro compared to a year ago. The cost of a US Dollar or UK pound has become over a krone more expensive since February. 

Norway’s krone is also down to the Swedish krona and Danish krone. The Danish krone is fixed to the euro, so it is performing well against Norway’s currency. Meanwhile, the Swedish krone has become more valuable than the Norwegian krone. 

Low gas prices, higher interest rates in other countries than in Norway, and uncertainty in the world financial markets have all contributed to Norway’s weak krone. The weak krone will have a massive impact on anyone with travel plans this summer. 

If you travel outside Norway, you can expect your travels to be considerably more expensive. 

“This year the holiday will be expensive. Plan your summer on the basis that you will get less for your money this year than you did last year – much less,” Cecilie Tventenstrand, savings and consumer economist for Storebrand, recently told Norwegian broadcaster TV 2. 

If you are travelling from Norway and your main income is paid in krone, you can expect everything to be more expensive due to the exchange rates. 

Insurance firm Fremtid has recently issued a reminder that cancellations due to the weak krone or low money in the account are not covered by their policies. 

“If you just change your mind, you will not get any money back on the travel insurance. Then you have to contact the travel operator and investigate whether you can get money back,” Therese Hofstad- Nielsen said in a recent press release. 

Consumer economist Tvetenstrand said that travellers from Norway to other countries should try to pay with a card this summer. 

“Always pay in foreign currency. If you pay in Norwegian currency, you pay a higher exchange rate. Always also pay by card, preferably a credit card – just remember to transfer money to it straight away. The exchange fee is often higher at the ATM,” she said. 

Things are a lot more optimistic if you are travelling to Norway this summer (unless you are paying in Argentine pesos or South African rand). 

You can expect better value for your money as your currency will likely strengthen against the Norwegian krone. This means a cheaper trip to one of the most expensive countries in Europe. 

One way to take advantage of the weak krone is to consider a bank account which doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees or allows you to transfer your currency into krone. This is much more helpful than exchanging for cash, as cash isn’t widely accepted in Norway. 

Therefore if you bring a large amount of cash, you could end up stuck with it and lose out when you exchange your leftover kroner back for your preferred currency. 

READ MORE: How tourists in Norway can take advantage of the weak krone to save money

One plus (or negative) is that the krone is unlikely to see a drastic strengthening anytime soon. Dane Cekov, an analyst with the bank Nordea, told E24 that the krone was likely to continue on its current trajectory. 

“We believe that the roller coaster ride will continue for the Norwegian krone through the summer,” he said. 

As an example, he predicted that one euro could cost as much as 12.3 kroner or more during the summer. 

Meanwhile, Nils Knudsen, the currency strategist from Handelsbanken, told TV 2 that the krone would struggle until the global economy picks up. 

“It is connected with the fact that we have not received any particularly good news from the global economy. Therefore, we need to have some good news before we can say that the krone can recover in the short term,” he explained. 

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