Visa runs: how day limits really work
A “visa run” means leaving a country and coming back to keep staying on visa-free or visa-on-arrival terms. Whether that actually gives you fresh days depends entirely on how the country’s limit is written — and the four common shapes count very differently.
Per-entry limit (resets when you leave)
The simplest kind: you get a fixed number of days per entry — say 90 — and the counter resets to zero each time you exit and re-enter. Here a genuine border run does buy you a fresh allowance. Some countries still cap how many such days you may use per year.
Rolling window (X days per Y)
The strictest kind, and the one that catches people out. You may spend at most X days within any moving window of Y days — the Schengen 90/180 rule is the famous example, but other countries use 90/180 too. A border run does nothing here: the window still counts all your recent days, so leaving and returning the same week changes nothing.
Yearly cap
You get a maximum number of days per calendar year — for example 183. The count resets only when the new year starts, not when you cross the border, so a visa run inside the same year adds nothing.
Fixed period with an extension
You get an initial stay that can be extended once at an immigration office — for example 30 days plus a 30-day extension — before you must leave. The extension is a one-time top-up, not a reset.
Always check whether your limit resets on exit or keeps counting. Assuming a border run resets a rolling or yearly limit is the most common — and most expensive — visa-run mistake.
How to count without slipping up
- Identify which of the four shapes your country uses.
- For rolling limits, count every present day in the current window, including entry and exit days.
- Track the exact date you must leave by, not a rough guess.
- Watch per-year caps even when each individual entry looks fine.
Daybound lets you set the exact rule for each country you visit and shows how many days you have left and the date you need to leave by.