A Road Haulage Association (RCA) has reported that one of his drivers received a penalty and advised not to return to the EU because they had broken the 90-day in 180-day rule. The incident happened in the Netherlands.
Since Brexit, a visa is required if a person is visiting the EU or other countries in the Schengen area if they are staying more than 90 days. The 90-day rule does not distinguish between traveling for business or leisure activities. The Government advises that a person’s total stay in the Schengen area must be no more than 90 days in every 180 days. It does not matter how many countries they visit. The 180-day period keeps ‘rolling’.
Image by Davie Bicker from Pixabay
It’s important to be aware of the number of days your drivers are spending in Europe and be mindful of the limits. With the holiday season approaching, days used for work will encroach on any holiday requirements, and drivers could find themselves refused entry to countries for their holidays. Employers should explain this situation to drivers and allow them the flexibility to undertake personal and business travel without breaching the 90/180 days.
The 90 days in 180 rule is part of our legal agreements with the European Union, which means exceeding the limit is breaking the law. Some border points may not appear to enforce the rules as much as others but that doesn’t mean controls aren’t in place. It should also be noted that a company sending a driver who has exceeded their allowed entry days is asking, or possibly even inducing, the driver to break the law. There could be come back not only on drivers but also on their company.
- To work out if your stay is within the 90-day limit, use the following steps.
- Check the date you plan to leave the Schengen area on your next trip.
- Count back 180 days from that date to get the start of the 180-day period.
- Add up the number of days you have already spent in the Schengen area in that 180-day period (you can use the dates stamped in your passport showing when you entered and left a country).
- Work out how many days you will spend in the Schengen area on your next trip. Add this number to the number of days you worked out in step 4.
- Check that the total number of days is not more than 90.
The countries in the Schengen area are:
Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
EU countries Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania are not in the Schengen area.
