bordermate FAQs

What is bordermate?

bordermate is a tool that helps you track your time in the Schengen Zone to help you comply with the 90/180 day rule. It pulls data from your Google Calendar to automatically count days spent in Schengen countries.

The Schengen Rules

What is the Schengen 90/180 day rule?

You cannot spend more than 90 days in any 180-day period in the Schengen Zone without a visa. The 180-day period is a rolling window that moves with each day.

Which countries are in the Schengen Zone?

The Schengen Zone includes 29 European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

What counts towards the balance?

Any event in a Schengen country, even if you only enter Schenen for five minutes, counts as a day towards your balance. Unfortunately.

What if I have events that start before the 180-day window?

bordermate only counts the days that fall within the last 180 days since before that time, days don’t count towards your current balance.

What happens if I go over 90 days?

bordermate will show warnings when you exceed the 90-day limit. Remember, bordermate is just a tracking tool and accepts no liability for legal consequences.

How accurate is bordermate?

bordermate is designed to be accurate for tracking purposes, but it's not a substitute for official immigration advice. Always consult official sources for legal requirements.

What should I do if I'm close to the 90-day limit?

If bordermate shows you're approaching the limit, consider adjusting your travel plans or consulting with immigration professionals about your specific situation.

Reading your results

What does "Total at End" mean?

The “Total at End” shows how many days you'll have used in the Schengen Zone by the end of that particular event. It counts based on the event’s previous 180-day rolling window. It's a running total to that end date.

If the Total at End for an event is 70, that indicates you could spend up to another 20 days in the Schengen Zone in the 180 day period before the end of that event. But you need to be careful about not going over the limit. Remember: bordermate accepts no liability for legal consequences.

Why do some events add fewer days than the duration of the trip?

This happens when some days of an event overlap with another event. bordermate avoids double-counting days, so overlapping days only count once toward your total. The app counts the days on the event that started first.

What does the balance bar show?

The balance bar shows how many days you've used out of your 90-day allowance in the 180-day period running up to today. Green means you're well within limits, orange means you're getting close, and red means you're near or over the limit.

How to enter events

How to I tag an event to sync to Bordermate?

Just add:

  • the address
  • city
  • country or
  • “Europe”

to the location section of the event and bordermate will automatically detect and count these days.

It’s best to select the country or location from the dropdown provided by Google.

What about events I’m invited to by others?

If you’re added as a guest to someone else’s event, these will only count if accepted, and not if you’re just invited or declined. Also, any links to edit the event don’t work.

Does bordermate work with all-day events?

Yes, bordermate works with both all-day events and timed events. For travel days, we recommend using all-day events.

What if my events span multiple days?

bordermate correctly handles multi-day events. It counts each day of your stay, from the start date through the end date.

Can I use bordermate for multiple calendars?

Currently, bordermate only works with your default Google Calendar. Make sure to add your travel events to your default calendar. The default calendar is shown at the bottom of the add on and web app.

Advanced: Does bordermate account for different time zones?

All day events don’t consider timezones and will just show up as all day whatever your calendar time zone. If you’re based in Australia and put in an all day event on 1st January, this will show up in bordermate as the full day on 1st January even when you update your calendar timezone to a European timezone.

On the other hand if you are adding an event that is not a full day event, you should enter the event into your calendar with the timezone of the country you’re visiting for full precision.

Editing events

Can I edit events within bordermate?

Kind of. You can click the edit button on any event and it will open in the Google Calendar website you can make changes. This opens it in a new tab. You can’t edit the event directly within the app.

It opens the event in the Google Calendar site rather than the app.

Privacy

Is my data private?

Yes, bordermate only accesses your Google Calendar data and doesn't store or share your information. For more information see the Privacy Policy in our Terms & Privacy page.