New rules were introduced for entry into the countries of the Schengen zone. From now on, for the 180-day period, the tourist can stay in the area for 90 days, according to ee24.com.
The old rules retain the opportunity to be in the Schengen area for a longer time. For example, a tourist could stay in Schengen on 90 days at the end of the first half of the year and the first 90 days of the second half, giving combined about 180 days (except for one day, required to leave the Schengen area at the end of the first half and enter again). From now on, this way will not work.
Consider an example. Let's say, December 1, 2013 you will go to Finland, where you live for three months (until the end of February 2014), after which you'll need to leave Finland and the whole Schengen area. Under the new rules, to return to the Schengen area from now on you'll be able to return only six months later, in June 2014.
Now, the length of stay in the territory of Schengen countries for 180 days will be calculted. Whilst ensuring deadlines will be the tourists' duty , because otherwise the border problems may arise (this rule applies to all visa and not just the tourist ones).
European Commission experts developed the "Schengen Calculator" (you need to link to the European Commission's website, and then examine the first instruction on the use of a calculator, and then click on the link "The short-stay calculator").
At the moment, the Schengen area includes 26 countries (22 of which are EU members): Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden and Estonia.
The change in the rules will not affect Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus (these four countries may soon join the Schengen area) and the United Kingdom. At the same time, it applies to all countries that have signed the convention, not only the members of the European Union. In this case we are talking about Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.