How serious is it if you are found to overstay?

Will it be a serious issue if you are registered with EES and are found to have ‘overstayed’ in France?

Overstays are flagged up by the digital system, whereas previously it would have to have been noticed during a passport stamp check. You will have to give reasons to the border guards.

We have been told that they have, in the past, often been flexible with regard to a short period of overstaying, though we have occasionally heard of people being given a €198 French fine.

If a person stays too long they will be added to an ‘overstayer’ list and alerts will be sent to EU countries using EES. 

Authorities such as passport control officers, immigration officers and staff issuing visas have access to the list, so this could count against you eg. for a future visa application, if applicable.

As of April 20, 2026, the EU reported some 7,000 people having been refused entry to the EU due to having overstayed their entitlement previously (it was unclear if this also included people who had used up exactly their entitlement and had no days left).

The EU says if you give credible evidence to guards of unforeseeable or mitigating circumstances your data could be amended in the system, allowing you to be removed from the overstayers list.

There can be additional consequences depending on national laws, however, the French police have previously stated that there is no specific sanction in France other than the fine.

Changing your EES records

Procedures are provided for if you believe that your EES records are incorrect, for example if you use the official EES days checker and it shows that you have fewer days in the Schengen area left than you believe you are entitled to.

The official EES checker tells you what future travel into the Schengen area is possible based on what the EES database already holds about your passport. This differs from the older EU Schengen stay calculator, which worked it out from information you input yourself about past trips.

Where you are shown too few days, it could be because an exit that was never recorded, leaving the system to assume you are still inside the area. This is worth taking seriously because a record with no exit against it can put you on the EU's list of overstayers, which can later count against you when applying for a visa or, in future, an ETIAS authorisation.

You have a right to ask for inaccurate or incomplete data about you to be corrected or completed, and it is worth doing this well before your next travel rather than relying on explaining yourself at the border. 

You can raise the error with border officials on arrival, with evidence, but there is no guarantee it will be resolved there and you could still face problems.

Requests can be sent to the authorities of any country in the system. In practice, though, only the country that created the faulty record can actually change it, so writing directly to that country is usually quicker.

If the problem arose at a French border, the two contacts are:

• Direction générale des étrangers en France, Ministère de l'Intérieur, Place Beauvau, 75008 Paris and/or

• Le Délégué ministériel à la protection des données, Ministère de l'Intérieur, Place Beauvau, 75008 Paris

Set out your situation, identify the crossing in question by date and place, say what the record should show, and ask for your file to be checked and corrected. 

Include proof such as boarding passes, tickets, hotel bills, bank card transactions abroad, or an old-style passport stamp if you have one. 

Send it by registered post so you have evidence of the date. You should receive a reply within 45 days.

You can also ask a border officer directly for the maximum stay you have remaining, which gives you an official figure to compare with the website.

If you are unhappy with the outcome, you can complain to France's data protection authority, the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL), including where you believe your movements have been logged incorrectly. 

A list of the relevant authorities for each participating country is available here, and the French interior ministry's guidance in English is here.