EES says you overstayed, but you didn't: how to show your real Schengen days

Five terms first

• Schengen area. The 29 European countries that share one short-stay limit. GOV.UK lists them.[4][7]
• 90/180 rule. You can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole area.[4][8] For how to count, see our Schengen 90/180 guide.
• EES. The EU’s digital record of your entries and exits. It stores the date and place of each crossing, your passport details, your fingerprints and a facial image.[3] GOV.UK says EES started on 12 October 2025.[7] The EU says it has run at all external border crossings since 10 April 2026.[4]
• Overstayer. In the EES law, someone who has stayed longer than their short stay allows.[1]
• Member State responsible. The country that entered the data in EES.[1]

The short answer

• A missing exit can look like an overstay. EES automatically flags records with no exit after your allowed stay ends.[1]
• Check your record. Use the EU’s online tool, or ask passport control.[3][5]
• Ask for a correction. You can send the request to any Schengen country. The law says it must reply within 45 days.[1]
• Carry evidence. EU rules accept “credible evidence, such as transport tickets” to show you didn’t overstay.[2]
• If you’re refused entry, the law says you get a written decision with reasons, and a right to appeal.[2]

Educational, not legal advice.

How a missed exit becomes an “overstay”

EES has an automated calculator. It tells border guards, on entry, the longest you can stay. On exit, it tells them about any overstay.[1]

EES also automatically finds records with no exit date after an allowed stay ends. People it flags as overstayers go on a list that national authorities can see.[1] The EU says the calculator and the overstayer list started on 10 April 2026.[4]

So if a border doesn’t record your exit, EES may treat you as still in the Schengen area. The Dutch border police say a missing entry or exit can happen “due to technical or operational limitations”. That can mean a wrong 90/180 count, and a wrong result in the EU’s online tool.[9]

If EES is down, border staff store the data and enter it later. In exceptional cases, they record it by hand and stamp your passport.[1]

In the news. The Telegraph reported in September 2026 that a British traveller (named in the report) arrived in Italy on 6 September. It said EES “had failed to record a previous exit”. Italian police accused her of overstaying and “deported her the same day”. The report says she had spent 22 days in the Schengen area that year.[14]

In an earlier Telegraph case, a reader said an officer at Faro Airport told her on 28 March 2026 that she’d overstayed. She said she’d stayed 61 days. She was told she couldn’t travel to any Schengen country for 180 days, and got nothing in writing.[15]

Step 1: Check what EES says

1. Use the EU’s online tool. It’s called “Check how long you can stay” and is on the EU’s Travel Europe site.[5] You enter your passport details and your trip dates.[1] It gives an “OK” or “not OK” answer and the days you have left.[13]
2. Know its limit. Slovenia’s police say it doesn’t count visits that began before 10 April 2026.[13]
3. Ask at the border. The EU says you have the right to hear from passport control officers how long you can still stay.[3]
4. Ask for your full record. You have a right to see the EES data held about you.[1][3] Italy has a form for this.[11] Compare it with your own count.

Questions about your remaining stay or the tool’s result go to the country where you last entered or left, the EU says. If you haven’t been since 10 April 2026, ask the country you plan to visit.[4]

Step 2: Ask for a correction

Under the EES law, you can ask for wrong or incomplete data to be “rectified” (corrected) or “completed”. You can send the request to any Schengen country.[1] The EU suggests “preferably the ones to which you travelled”.[3]

1. Choose a country. If you know which border missed your exit, you can write to that country. If you don’t, the Dutch border police suggest the country you last entered or left through.[9] The law lets you use any Schengen country.[1]
2. Find its contact. The EU’s Travel Europe site lists each country’s contacts for data protection matters.[3][6] Italy uses a form, sent to the border police in Rome.[11] The Netherlands takes requests online or by post.[10] Austria asks for a written, signed request with a copy of your travel document.[12]
3. Say what’s wrong. Give the dates and crossing that are wrong or missing, and what you want changed. Italy’s form refers to Article 52 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226, the EES law.[11]
4. Attach evidence. The Dutch border police list a copy of your passport, plus boarding passes, flight tickets or other travel details. They also accept other documents that prove when you left or arrived.[9] Italy’s form asks for copies of all your passport pages, so stamps can be checked.[11]
5. Keep copies of everything, and the date you sent it.

What the law says happens next

• 45 days to reply. The country you wrote to must reply within 45 days.[1]
• Another country may check it. If that country didn’t enter the data, it checks it itself within 30 days. Or it passes it within 7 days to the Member State responsible, which then has 30 days.[1]
• A written confirmation. If the data is wrong, they must correct it and confirm in writing “without delay”.[1] If you show there was an error, your data must also come off the overstayer list.[1]
• A written refusal. If they don’t agree the data is wrong, they must say why in writing. They must also tell you how to challenge it.[1]
• Help and complaints. Each country’s data protection authority must help you if you ask.[1] You can complain or go to court if they refuse, or don’t reply in time.[1][3]

The Dutch data protection authority says you can also ask the authority to stop using the data while it checks your request. This is called “restriction of processing”.[10]

How it works in practice

The official pages say little about real-world timing. The Dutch border police say “not all functionality of the EES is fully available”. So corrections may not be possible straight away, and they may take the full 45 days.[9]

The news reports point both ways. In the Faro case, the reader emailed a scan of her passport to two Portuguese authorities, one of them the police. The Telegraph says Portugal’s border police replied the next morning. They listed her entries and exits, showing 61 days, and said she was free to return.[15] The report doesn’t say whether her EES record was changed. Its travel correspondent later wrote that he knew “of no case in which the claimant has succeeded in putting the record straight”.[16]

The EU pages we could read don’t say how long a correction takes to show in the online tool.

What evidence helps at the border

The EU’s border rules let officials presume you’ve overstayed if EES shows no exit after your allowed stay ended.[2] You can rebut that “by any means”. The rules ask for “credible evidence, such as transport tickets or proof of presence outside the territory of the Member States”.[2] If you do, officials must record in EES when and where you crossed.[1][2]

GOV.UK’s advice for Italy, Spain, France and Portugal is the same. If your record is wrong, approach border officials when you next cross. Ask for a correction, and “be prepared to provide supporting evidence if requested”.[8]

Records to keep

Our suggestion, built on the EU’s wording. Not an official list.

What happens at the border if the record is wrong

When you arrive. If the record says you’ve used your 90 days, you may be refused entry.

• Refused and recorded. The EU says someone who has already used 90 days will be refused, and the refusal is recorded in EES.[4]
• In writing. The law says a refusal must be a “substantiated decision stating the precise reasons”, on a standard form you’re handed.[2]
• Appeal. You can appeal under that country’s law.[2]
• No pause. An appeal doesn’t pause the refusal.[2]
• Correction. If the appeal finds the refusal was wrong, the refusing country must correct your EES data.[2]

When you’re inside, or leaving. The EU says overstay consequences depend on national law. They can include removal, fines or detention, or being stopped from coming back.[3] Ban lengths vary:

• GOV.UK: an overstay may lead to a ban from Schengen countries of up to 3 years.[8]
• Italy: its police say an overstayer found on exit can get a re-entry ban of 1 to 3 years.[11]
• EU-wide: the EU says entry bans are set case by case, and in principle last no more than 5 years.[4]

What to do on the spot

Show your evidence and ask the officer to correct the record, as GOV.UK suggests.[8] If you’re refused entry, make sure you get the written form.[2] The EU guidance we checked doesn’t describe a 180-day ban like the one in the Faro report.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a wrong EES record fixed before I travel?

Yes. You can send a correction request to any Schengen country’s competent authority, without being at a border.[1] Add your passport copy and proof of when you left.[9] They have 45 days to reply.[1]

Which country do I contact if I don’t know where my exit was missed?

The EU’s guidance doesn’t say. The law lets you write to any Schengen country.[1] For questions about your remaining stay, the EU points to the country where you last entered or left.[4]

How long does a correction take?

The law sets 45 days to reply, with 30-day checks in between.[1] The Dutch border police say corrections may not be possible immediately, and they may use the full 45 days.[9]

I was refused entry because of a wrong record. What now?

Keep the refusal form. It must give the precise reasons. You have a right to appeal under that country’s law. If the appeal finds the refusal was wrong, you’re entitled to have your EES data corrected.[2] You can also ask for a correction separately, without appealing.[1]

Do passport stamps still help?

They can. Stamping ended on 10 April 2026, except when EES fails.[1][4] The EU rules accept credible evidence “by any means”.[2] Italy’s correction form asks for copies of all your passport pages.[11]

Sources

Checked on 12 October 2026. We checked the EU laws against EUR-Lex’s current consolidated texts. These are dated 12 June 2026 (EES Regulation) and 12 October 2025 (Schengen Borders Code). Consolidated texts are for reference only. The Official Journal versions are the legal ones.

1. Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 (EES Regulation), Articles 3, 11, 12, 13, 20, 21, 35, 52, 53 and 54, consolidated version of 12 June 2026
2. Schengen Borders Code, Regulation (EU) 2016/399, Articles 12 and 14, consolidated version of 12 October 2025 (Article 12 as replaced, and Article 14 as amended, by Regulation (EU) 2017/2225)
3. EU Travel Europe: Data held by the EES
4. EU Travel Europe: FAQs about EES
5. EU Travel Europe: Check how long you can stay
6. EU Travel Europe: Contact details for data protection matters
7. GOV.UK: EU Entry/Exit System: updated 10 April 2026
8. GOV.UK: Italy entry requirements. The same EES and overstay text is on the Spain, France and Portugal pages
9. Royal Netherlands Marechaussee: Incorrect or missing registration in the EES
10. Dutch Data Protection Authority: Entry/Exit System (EES)
11. Polizia di Stato (Italy): Sistema europeo Entry-Exit System (EES), and its correction request form and access request form
12. Austrian police: Information about the processing of personal data in the EES (PDF)
13. Slovenian police: Entry/Exit System (EES)
14. The Telegraph: Briton wrongly deported from Italy following new EU border checks (news report)
15. The Telegraph: “I was told I’m banned from the EU for six months because of a border officer’s error”, syndicated 8 April 2026 (reader letter and reply)
16. The Telegraph: A year on, the EU’s digital border scheme remains a mess (opinion and advice)

Educational information, not legal or immigration advice. This page doesn’t tell you how many Schengen days you have left or whether you’ll be let in. Border decisions are made by each country’s officials under EU and national law. If you’ve been refused entry or given a ban, get advice from a qualified immigration lawyer in that country.