New Departure Date Set

Our visa grants us admission to Italy on or after 1 April 2026 — the arbitrary date we set for our move to Bologna based on the 2-3 month estimate for being granted the ERV.

We're not going to wait that long, however.

Instead we are going to take advantage of the 90/180 Schengen rule to move to Italy sooner rather than later.

The 90/180 rule, for those unfamiliar with it, allows "... non-EU nationals, including US citizens, to stay in the Schengen Area for up to 90 days within any rolling 180-day period."

We spent a considerable amount of time in Schengen countries in 2025 ... most of it during the latter half of the year — a month-long car trip in Switzerland and Italy; a month-long cruise in the British Isles and along the coast of Europe; and a three-week Bologna recon trip. Thus, we were unsure how many days we still had under the 90/180 rule

Enter into the picture the Schengen rule calculator.

Long story short, an estimated late February re-entry into the Schengen Zone dropped all of the time we spent in Switzerland and Italy on the car trip, and part of the time we spent cruising the coast of Europe. Result: +/- 45 days available to us under the 90/180 rule.

So, our departure to Bologna is now set for 24 February.

Switching the award airfare we purchased last year to fulfill the ERV application requirement was easy. It took about 10 minutes to cancel the original tickets, look at options for 24 February, and buy new tickets ... for less award miles as a bonus.

We have some very busy days ahead of us to get ready for our "expats in Italy" adventure. Better get started!Read more