Days Allowed

By passport

Schengen rules for Canadians

Canadians can visit the Schengen area without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. If you leave and come back within the same 180 days, your earlier stay still counts toward the 90.

Last checked 3 Nov 2026 against the official sources below.

How Canada explains the count

  • The 180-day period is counted backward from today’s date.
  • Your 90 days include all stays in the Schengen area during the last 180 days, across all 29 countries.
  • Once your 90 days are used, you must leave until enough time has passed to come back, or apply for a long-stay visa.

Entry and exit days both count. Cyprus is not in the Schengen area and has its own separate 90 days.

Passport

Canada says your passport must be valid for at least 3 months after your planned departure date. The EU also requires it to have been issued within the last 10 years.

The EES and its days-left tool

The EES registers your fingerprints and a photo of your face, and stores them for three years. It tracks entries, exits and overstays, but Canada says you are still responsible for tracking your travel days.

The remaining stay shown in the EU’s online EES tool doesn’t include time in the Schengen area that began before 10 April 2026. If you travelled before then, count those trips yourself. See how the EES check compares.

Staying beyond 90 days

Canada says some countries allow Canadians to stay beyond the 90-day limit under specific conditions. For example, you may need to stay in that one Schengen country and not travel to others during the extra time. If the country doesn’t allow it, apply for the right visa before you travel.

The EU publishes a list of bilateral visa waiver agreements that Schengen countries have notified, several of them with Canada (last published in 2019). Each country applies its agreement in its own way. Our calculator doesn’t apply them; ask the embassy of the country before you rely on one. See also staying longer than 90 days.

ETIAS and dual citizens

  • Once ETIAS starts, Canadians will need it for short stays in the Schengen countries and Cyprus. It isn’t live yet. See ETIAS.
  • If you’re a dual Canadian-European citizen, Canada advises travelling on your European passport. You then aren’t processed as a foreign visitor under the EES and short-stay limits don’t apply. Carry your Canadian passport too: you need it to return to Canada by air.

Questions

Does the count reset when I leave the Schengen area?

No. The Government of Canada says that if you leave and return within the same 180-day period, your previous stay counts toward the 90-day limit.

Can Canadians stay longer than 90 days?

Some Schengen countries allow Canadians to stay beyond 90 days under specific conditions, such as staying in that one country. Where a country doesn’t allow it, you need the right visa before you travel. Check with the country’s embassy.

Does the EES online tool show my full count?

Not if you travelled before 10 April 2026. The Government of Canada says the remaining stay shown in the EES tool does not reflect time in the Schengen area that began before that date, so you need to track earlier trips yourself.

I’m also a European citizen. Do the 90 days apply?

Not if you travel on your European passport. Canada advises dual citizens to enter the Schengen area with it, and to carry their Canadian passport to fly back to Canada.

More guides

Sources

Last checked 3 Nov 2026.

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