How to Keep a Private Travel History Log for Visas, Taxes, and Residency Proof

A private travel history log is a defensible record of where you were, on what dates, and how you could prove it if asked. For visas, taxes, and residency documentation, you do not need a 24/7 GPS trail in someone else's cloud. You need consistent entry and exit logic, clear day counts, and a small set of evidence per border crossing.

DaysAround is built for this exact tradeoff: reconstruct your travel history from photo metadata on your iPhone, then keep tracking going forward, with on-device processing and no account required.

The real reason you need a travel log (it's not for a map)

A "countries visited" map is fun. A compliance log prevents expensive surprises.

Here's what commonly triggers questions:

• Tax residency: Many countries use physical presence thresholds (often 183 days) or "days in-country" tests. Your social ties don't override day counts.
• Visa and immigration forms: Applications often ask for last 5-10 years of travel, with exact dates and sometimes addresses.
• Residency renewals and permanent residence: Programs can require minimum days present (or maximum days absent) over a rolling period.

What goes wrong when your history is fuzzy:

• You spend hours reconstructing dates from memory
• You create inconsistencies between forms, passport stamps, and bank statements
• You lose time during an application or audit because the reviewer asks for more documentation

DaysAround keeps the focus on what compliance needs: country timeline + dates + day counts, built from data you already have, without sharing location data with third parties.

What to track: the minimum viable defensible travel record

A defensible log is simple. It's also strict.

Minimum fields to capture

For each stay segment, record:

• Country
• Entry date (and time if you can)
• Exit date (and time if you can)
• Entry method (flight, land, train) and optional border/airport
• Notes (optional): visa type, purpose, address, "transit only"

If you want your log to work for both immigration and tax conversations, add:

• City or region (optional but helpful)
• Evidence pointer (file name, photo, PDF reference)

DaysAround helps by automatically building a country timeline from your geotagged photos and timestamps, then letting you sanity-check gaps. If your camera roll has years of travel, you have years of raw evidence already.

A simple spreadsheet schema you can actually maintain

If you keep an external log (for sharing with a lawyer or accountant), this column set stays readable:

Column	Example	Why it matters
Country	Spain	Primary reporting unit
Entry date	2025-05-02	Day count boundary
Exit date	2025-05-19	Day count boundary
Entry time (optional)	23:10	Helps resolve "same day" edge cases
Exit time (optional)	06:40	Helps resolve "same day" edge cases
Entry method	Flight	Explains missing stamps
Location note	BCN	Later corroboration
Transit-only?	No	Avoids overstating presence
Evidence	IMG_4932 (stamp), PDF ticket	Defensibility
Confidence	High / Medium / Estimated	Honest reconstruction

DaysAround is the private "source of truth" for the timeline on your phone. Your spreadsheet becomes the shareable artifact.

Decide your day counting rules before you log anything

The biggest failure mode isn't missing a country. It's inconsistent counting.

Pick one day-count definition and label it

Different regimes count days differently. Two common methods:

• Midnights spent: You count days based on where you were at midnight
• Any presence during a day: If you were in the country at any time during the day, it counts

You can't "average" these. Pick the rule that matches your filing requirement, and label your log accordingly.

DaysAround's value here is clarity: it shows your stays by country with timestamps so you can apply the rule you need consistently. For Schengen-specific rules, use DaysAround's built-in Schengen calculator.

Choose a timezone convention and never deviate

Pick one:

• Local time at location (often simplest for border crossings)
• UTC (best for consistency if you cross timezones frequently)

Then stick to it for every entry and exit. If you mix conventions, you create one-day discrepancies that are painful later.

DaysAround reads timestamps from your photos, which are already consistent inside your device's photo library. You can use that as your baseline and annotate exceptions.

Define these edge cases upfront

Write your rules down in a one-paragraph note attached to your log:

• Same-day border crossings: If you enter and exit on the same calendar day, do you count 0 or 1 day?
• Late-night arrivals / early-morning departures: Decide whether time-of-day affects your counting
• Airport transits: If you didn't pass immigration, label as Transit-only. Don't treat it as "entered country"
• Schengen vs non-Schengen moves: Track explicitly. Schengen compliance uses a rolling 90/180 method, not a monthly reset

DaysAround helps most with the cases people forget: the short stays, weekend hops, and "I was there for two days" segments. Those are exactly the gaps photo metadata often reveals.

How to collect proof without building a surveillance dossier

You don't need continuous GPS tracking to prove travel. You need artifacts.

Primary evidence (strongest)

Aim to save one per border crossing:

• Photo of passport stamp (if you get one)
• Boarding pass or e-ticket PDF
• Train or ferry ticket
• Official entry confirmation (where applicable)

DaysAround complements this because many of these artifacts are already in your camera roll (stamp photos, gate photos, arrival photos). When you scan locally, you turn a pile of images into a structured travel timeline.

Secondary evidence (corroboration)

These help if stamps are missing or illegible:

• Accommodation invoice
• SIM activation receipt
• Toll or transit card receipt
• Card transactions that show country and city

We recommend saving these in an encrypted folder, then referencing them in your log as "Evidence pointers." DaysAround doesn't require you to upload any of it. Your travel history stays on-device.

The habit that makes this easy

After every border crossing, capture one proof artifact:

• Take a clear stamp photo or screenshot the boarding pass
• Save it to a "Travel Proof" album

That single habit reduces reconstruction work by 80 percent later.

DaysAround makes that habit pay off because your "Travel Proof" photos also act as timeline anchors during scans and gap checks.

Practical systems that stay private (and don't collapse in 3 months)

A private system needs two parts: a log and a storage plan.

System A: DaysAround as the timeline, spreadsheet as the export

This is our recommended setup for digital nomads:

• Use DaysAround to maintain your country timeline on iPhone
• Export or copy totals into a spreadsheet for sharing (accountant, lawyer, application forms)
• Keep evidence files locally (encrypted) with references in the sheet

This avoids the common failure mode of "I stopped logging" because the scanning step rebuilds history from what you already captured.

System B: Folder structure for evidence (simple and audit-friendly)

Use a structure that matches how you search later:

• /Travel Proof/2026/2026-02 Japan/
  • Stamps (photos)
  • Tickets (PDF)
  • Lodging (PDF)
  • Notes (txt)

Back it up with encryption:

• Encrypted local backup, or
• Encrypted external drive

DaysAround stays separate from your document archive. It gives you a clean country and date view without forcing you to centralize everything in a cloud service.

Export and review cadence

Pick a cadence that matches your compliance risk:

• Monthly if you're close to Schengen 90/180 limits
• Quarterly if your main concern is tax residency day counts
• Before every application (visa or residency renewal) as a final reconciliation

DaysAround's "year in review" view helps you spot patterns fast so you can catch anomalies before you file. It lets you visualize your travel patterns across countries while keeping everything on-device.

Reconstructing the last 2-5 years if you didn't track it

Reconstruction is the reality for most travelers. The goal is an honest, consistent log with clear confidence levels.

Start with what's already timestamped

Work backward in this order:

1. Photos (geotag + timestamp)
2. Email receipts (flights, hotels)
3. Calendar events
4. Bank and card statements
5. Messaging threads (address pins, arrival texts)

DaysAround is designed for step 1. Scan your photo library on-device and you often get a surprisingly complete map of countries and approximate stays in minutes. That gives you a backbone timeline to verify against receipts.

Fill gaps without lying to yourself

When you can't confirm a date:

• Mark the segment as Estimated
• Add a note: "Derived from hotel invoice" or "based on card transactions"
• Don't fabricate exact entry times

DaysAround helps you narrow uncertainty windows by showing the first and last photo evidence in a country. That often turns a two-week guess into a three-day range you can reconcile.

Special problem: Schengen travel with few stamps

Schengen movement often has no stamps. That's exactly why private, timestamped personal artifacts matter.

Use:

• Photo timestamps in each country
• Accommodation invoices
• Train tickets
• Card transactions

Then validate against the Schengen rolling window. DaysAround includes a Schengen calculator so you can see 90/180 status based on your stays, without sharing your location history.

Where DaysAround fits: compliance-grade history without cloud tracking

DaysAround is a privacy-first country tracker for iOS built for people who need accurate day counts but refuse always-on surveillance.

What we do (and what we don't do)

DaysAround:

• Reconstructs travel history by scanning photo metadata on-device
• Lets you visualize your travel patterns across countries
• Tracks days-per-country for tax clarity
• Includes a Schengen 90/180 calculator
• Answers questions like "How long was I in Spain?"

DaysAround doesn't:

• Upload your photos or metadata to our servers
• Require an account
• Use third-party analytics SDKs to profile your movement

This matters because travel data is uniquely sensitive. It can reveal visa status risk, tax exposure, and predictable location patterns.

A realistic workflow for visa, tax, and residency documentation

1. Scan your photo library in DaysAround to rebuild baseline history
2. Review gaps and add missing segments (land borders, no-photo trips)
3. Decide your counting rule (midnights vs any-presence) and keep it consistent
4. Attach evidence pointers in your external sheet or folder
5. Export and archive quarterly and before applications

This workflow gives you peace of mind without creating a permanent third-party location dossier.

Final checklist: a private travel log that holds up under scrutiny

Use this checklist before filing season or an immigration application:

• I track country + entry date + exit date for every segment
• I have written down my day count rule and timezone convention
• I label transits separately from entries
• I handle same-day border crossings with a clear rule
• I save one proof artifact per border crossing
• I keep evidence in an encrypted archive and reference it in my log
• I export a shareable format (CSV/PDF/spreadsheet) and keep versions
• I use DaysAround to visualize and validate my travel patterns across countries, with on-device processing and no cloud uploads

FAQ

What's the minimum I need to track for taxes or visas?

At minimum: country, entry date, exit date, and a way to corroborate it later (stamp photo, ticket PDF, invoice). DaysAround helps by reconstructing those dates from geotagged photos so you're not relying on memory.

Should I track time of day or just dates?

Track times when you can, especially if you do many same-day crossings or late-night arrivals. If you can't, keep dates consistent and document your counting rule. DaysAround surfaces timestamps from your photos, which often gives you times without extra work.

How do I track travel inside Schengen when I get no stamps?

Use personal artifacts: photo timestamps, lodging invoices, train tickets, and card transactions. Then compute your rolling 90/180 status. DaysAround includes a Schengen calculator and keeps everything on-device.

What if I crossed a border by land and have no flight record?

Record the entry and exit dates, add a note ("land border"), and keep secondary evidence (SIM receipt, accommodation invoice, card transaction). DaysAround can still anchor the stay if you took photos on either side of the crossing.

How do I prove travel history if asked by immigration or for residency?

Commonly accepted supporting documents include passport stamps, tickets/itineraries, accommodation invoices, and sometimes bank statements. Requirements vary by country and program, so confirm with your immigration professional. DaysAround's role is to keep your timeline consistent and easy to summarize.

Can I keep a private travel log without Google Maps Timeline?

Yes. You can maintain a defensible log with timestamped events and evidence artifacts, without continuous location collection. DaysAround is designed to avoid Google-style location dossiers by scanning photo metadata on-device.

Is it safe to use apps that scan photo location data?

Only if processing happens on-device and nothing is uploaded. DaysAround runs entirely on your iPhone and doesn't upload your photos or metadata. If an app requires account sync or cloud processing, assume your travel history leaves your control.

What's the best format to share with an accountant or lawyer?

A CSV or spreadsheet is usually easiest for day counts and pivot tables. A PDF export is useful as a frozen snapshot for an application packet. We recommend keeping both: a working sheet plus periodic archived versions.

What should I do if I'm reconstructing years of travel after the fact?

Start with photos, then reconcile with emails and financial statements. Mark uncertain segments as "Estimated" with notes. DaysAround helps by turning years of photo metadata into a first-pass timeline you can validate.