How can I check my French EES days?

Reader question: I have checked the EES website for my outstanding Schengen days and it is incorrect. I know where the error comes from but I need to have it corrected otherwise I will not be able to return later in the year. What can I do?

As you imply, 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.

Note first that the EU acknowledges the tool is not yet giving a complete picture.

Most significantly, the figure it shows ignores any stay that began before April 10, 2026, when the system became fully operational.

That gap makes the tool show more days than you really have, not fewer — so it will not explain a figure that is too low.

Where you are shown too few days, it could be because of 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, and the French interior ministry's guidance in English is available.