Schengen transitional solution – Calculating drivers’ stay in hours

Transporters from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia expect the European Commission to soon schedule a meeting on the issue of limited stay of professional drivers in the Schengen area, while new talks between transporters from the four countries are scheduled for Tuesday in Skopje.

The President of the International Transport Association of Serbia, Nedjo Mandic, states that the requirements have been partially reduced in order to enable a quick transitional solution, but that it must be introduced urgently. The transitional solution they propose is to start counting the 90 days of stay in Schengen in hours, not calendar days, with a new start of calculation from the day such a system is introduced. In this way, the actual time spent in the Schengen territory would be counted, and the day of entry and day of exit would not automatically be counted as full days.

According to the rules, the day of entry is counted as the first day of stay, while the day of exit is counted as the last. As Mandić explains, professional drivers often lose an entire day of their stay due to waiting at the borders, even though they only stay in the Schengen area for a few hours. The carriers, he says, have analyzed the actual time that drivers spend in the Schengen area and determined that their stay is significantly shorter than the 90 days allowed under the “90 days in 180 days” rule.

– When we calculated the hours they spend, we found that our drivers have between 65 and a little over 80 days of actual stay, and all of them have exceeded 90 to 120 days according to the records and are all in violation. Essentially, however, they have not spent more than 60, 70 or 80 days in the Schengen area – Mandic tells Biznis.rs.

According to him, the problem arises precisely because of the days that are lost when entering and leaving Schengen. A driver who enters the border a few hours before midnight because of waiting in a queue practically loses that entire day, and if they cross the border after midnight, the next day is also counted. As an ultimate solution, the transporters are asking for professional drivers to be completely exempted from the stay restrictions or for the permitted period to be increased to 130 days. As a third possibility, Mandic cites the introduction of long-term professional visas, which would be obtained electronically in accordance with the visa strategy, without going to the embassy. This, he estimates, would permanently solve the problem of staying in Schengen.

He also reminds that four countries sent a new letter to the European Commission last week, after the last meeting of the technical working group did not make any progress in resolving the problem.

– We asked the European Commission to urgently schedule a meeting for us. We suggested Belgrade, but we said that it would not be a problem to come to Brussels – he says.

According to him, the European Commission has told the carriers that the three relevant directors of the EU Directorate for Mobility and Transport, with whom they are holding talks, are currently on vacation and will return on August 12. After their return, the carriers expect a meeting to be scheduled. The carriers insist that the talks be held in person, not online, because previous meetings in that format have not brought concrete proposals or progress in solving the problem.

In the meantime, representatives of carriers from four countries will meet tomorrow in Skopje, where they will agree on further steps. The carriers have additional expectations from September 1, when a meeting of Schengen member states is scheduled, at which professional drivers will be the only item on the agenda.

– We expect that some solution will have to be found then – says Mandic. If there is no progress, the carriers do not rule out more radical measures, including a border blockade.

The long-standing problem of the stay of professional drivers has further escalated after the entry/exit system (EES) became fully operational at the external borders of the Schengen area on April 10, 2026.

The electronic entry/exit system has enabled strict control of the rule on the maximum stay of 90 days in a 180-day period, so professional drivers who exceed the permitted limit now face fines, entry bans and even deportation.

PU Međunarodni Transport Beograd

International Transport Association of Serbia

Neđo Mandić

stay of professional drivers in the Schengen zone

Schengen zone