TL;DR — Key Takeaways
- →Three ways to add trips: manual entry, AI text parsing, or bulk CSV import.
- →Risk cards are green (safe), yellow (caution), or red (at or over threshold) per country.
- →The what-if simulator tests future trips without committing them to your log.
- →All logged trips feed the Schengen calculator automatically.
- →Export your full travel log as CSV for your tax professional.
The Residency Tracker is your running travel log. Every trip you enter feeds your Schengen day count, per-country risk scores, and tax savings calculation. This tutorial walks through all three ways to add trips and how to read what you see.
What you'll have by the end: travel history logged, risk scores visible per country, and the what-if simulator ready to use.
Prerequisites
Your dashboard preferences should be set — specifically citizenship (for Schengen detection) and home country (for the savings baseline). Complete the Dashboard Setup tutorial first if you haven't yet.
Step 1 — Navigate to the Residency Tracker
From the left sidebar, click Residency Tracker. You'll land on the main tracker page with your trip list and risk cards.
Residency Tracker main page showing an empty trip list on the left and a prompt to log your first trip
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Step 2 — Add a Trip Manually
Click Add Trip. Fill in country, start date, and end date. Optionally add a visa type and notes. Click Save. If it's a Schengen country, the Schengen calculator updates automatically.
Add Trip form with country autocomplete open, date pickers filled in, and the visa type dropdown visible
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Step 3 — Use the AI Trip Parser
If you have travel history to catch up on, the AI parser is faster than manual entry. Click Parse Trips with AI. Paste in any text describing your travel — a flight itinerary, an email confirmation, or a rough description.
The parser extracts country, start date, and end date, then shows a preview before saving. Confirm the entries, edit anything that looks off, then save.
AI trip parser dialog showing text input on the left and parsed trip entries on the right with checkboxes to confirm each
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Step 4 — Import from CSV
For larger histories, use CSV import. Click Import CSV and download the template to see the required format: country code, start date, end date. Upload your completed file and trips populate in bulk.
CSV import dialog showing the file upload zone and a link to download the format template
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Step 5 — Review Your Risk Scores
Once trips are logged, scroll to the Risk Scores section. Each country gets a card showing days logged, proximity to the residency threshold, and a risk level indicator.
Green means comfortably under threshold. Yellow means you're in the caution zone. Red means you've crossed or are very close.
Three country risk cards showing different risk levels — one green with plenty of buffer, one yellow near a threshold
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Step 6 — Run the What-If Simulator
The what-if simulator lets you test hypothetical future trips without committing them to your log. Click What-If Simulator, add a hypothetical trip, and see updated risk scores immediately. Use this before booking: "If I stay in Germany three more weeks, do I cross the 183-day threshold?"
What-if simulator panel with a future hypothetical trip entered and the updated risk score for that country visible
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Step 7 — Export Your Log
Click Export to download your full trip history as a CSV. This is the format most tax professionals will recognize when they need your travel history for an expat return.
Export button and the download dialog showing a year filter option
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What's Next
With your trip history logged, your Schengen Tracker now has real data to calculate from and your Savings Ledger has a day-weighted basis. Check both next.