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Digital nomad visas and the Schengen 90/180 rule

A nomad visa is issued by one country, but the 90/180 rule belongs to the whole Schengen area. What the EU's own pages say about how the two fit together, and what they leave to each country.

Short stay and long stay are different regimes

The 90/180 rule is the short-stay rule. The European Commission's border-crossing page says the common short-stay rules sit alongside national ones: long-stay visas and residence permits for visits exceeding three months remain subject to national conditions.

In practice that means a digital nomad visa, where a country offers one, is a national long-stay document. Its length, cost, income requirement and permitted work are set by the issuing country, not by the EU and not by Staymark. Read the issuing country's own immigration site before you rely on any summary, including this one.

What the EU says about holders of long-stay visas and permits

The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) registers short-stay travellers. The official EES page lists holders of residence permits and long-stay visas among the people the system does not apply to.

For travel to other Schengen countries, Regulation (EU) No 265/2010 amended the Schengen Convention so that holders of a residence permit, or of a long-stay visa, issued by one member state may move freely for up to three months in any six-month period in the other member states, provided they meet the entry conditions and are not on a national alert list. The wording is three months in any six. The regulation does not say how this relates to a visa-exempt visitor's 90/180 count, so check the official text before you plan around it.

The practical points to separate

• Days in the country that issued your visa or permit are governed by that visa or permit and its national conditions.

• Days in other Schengen countries are a question of the free-movement wording above, subject to entry conditions.

• Days spent before the visa started, as a visa-exempt visitor, were short-stay days. Your own record of them is what you will need if you are ever asked.

• Time outside the Schengen area, in the UK, Ireland, Cyprus or elsewhere, does not use Schengen days.

How Staymark treats a nomad visa

Staymark does not know your visa status. It counts every day you log in a Schengen country as a short-stay day against the 90/180 rule, which is the cautious reading for a visa-exempt traveller. If part of your time is covered by a national long-stay visa or permit, treat the tracker's total as the conservative figure and confirm the position with the issuing country.

What it does give you is a dated record of where you were each day, which is the evidence a consulate, an employer or a tax adviser tends to ask for. Premium exports it as a PDF evidence pack.

Questions

Is there one EU-wide digital nomad visa?

The Commission's page says long-stay visas and residence permits remain subject to national conditions, so the rules come from the country that issues the document.

Do my days in a nomad-visa country count towards the 90/180?

That depends on the national visa or permit you hold, which the issuing country decides. The 90/180 rule is the short-stay rule for visa-exempt visitors.

Does a nomad visa let me travel to other Schengen countries?

Under the 2010 amendment to the Schengen Convention, holders of a long-stay visa or residence permit may move freely for up to three months in any six-month period in other member states, subject to the entry conditions. Check the issuing country's guidance.

Sources

Staymark counts days against published rules. This guide is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice; rules change, so check the official sources above before you travel.