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Make sure you get your passport stamped

Holiday Ideas & Foreign Travel
Clariman
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Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504542

Postby Clariman » June 3rd, 2022, 8:01 am

I had a minor issue at passport control when leaving Italy to return to the UK this week. If I was not with Mrs C, it might have been more serious.

Since leaving the EU, UK citizens no longer have freedom of movement and unlimited lengths of stay in EU countries. When you leave an EU country, passport control will check the date stamp that you entered the country so they can enforce this.

For some reason my passport was not stamped on entry to Italy, which caused questions and a reprimand at passport control when I left. Luckily I was travelling with Mrs C whose passport had been stamped so that was good enough circumstantial evidence that I had also been there for a week.

Moral of the story - CHECK you passport has been stamped when entering an EU country.

I suspect the cause of this might have been that Mrs C has a new UK passport and I still have the EU style passport and the Italian border authorities had channeled EU and UK arrivals through the same checkpoint. They probably forgot to stamp mine.

C

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504544

Postby Dod101 » June 3rd, 2022, 8:14 am

And how long are we UK citizens allowed to stay in an EU country? (With presumably no visa)

Dod

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504546

Postby Clariman » June 3rd, 2022, 8:30 am

Dod101 wrote:And how long are we UK citizens allowed to stay in an EU country? (With presumably no visa)

Dod

90 days

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504569

Postby Lootman » June 3rd, 2022, 10:07 am

Clariman wrote:Moral of the story - CHECK you passport has been stamped when entering an EU country.

What if the airport uses e-gates to process incoming passengers? Are you supposed to then hunt down an official and demand a stamp? I would have thought that the e-gate writes or records something electronically that can be subsequently read.

Even pre-Brexit I had a problem once going into and out of a Schengen zone country. The Schengen country (Portugal in this case) tried to match up my entry and departure, without success.

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504575

Postby Dod101 » June 3rd, 2022, 10:24 am

Lootman wrote:
Clariman wrote:Moral of the story - CHECK you passport has been stamped when entering an EU country.

What if the airport uses e-gates to process incoming passengers? Are you supposed to then hunt down an official and demand a stamp? I would have thought that the e-gate writes or records something electronically that can be subsequently read.

Even pre-Brexit I had a problem once going into and out of a Schengen zone country. The Schengen country (Portugal in this case) tried to match up my entry and departure, without success.


I must say I did wonder about that. Is every EU country going back to the future by stamping UK passports? There must these days be a better way of doing it than that. For instance in Hong Kong they use e-gates and yet I know that I have only a limited entitlement to be there. OTOH Singapore and Malaysia still require foreigners like me to stand in a long queue, take fingerprints, and then stamp my passport, at least on entry.

Dod

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504589

Postby Clariman » June 3rd, 2022, 11:05 am

On leaving Italy, we went through an electronic gate at passport control, then a border manual check of passports.

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504600

Postby Lootman » June 3rd, 2022, 11:44 am

Clariman wrote:On leaving Italy, we went through an electronic gate at passport control, then a border manual check of passports.

That second passport check is a Schengen check. Airports in the Schengen zone are divided into Schengen and non-Schengen areas. Your first passport check got you into the Schengen zone of the airport. The second check gets you into the non-Schengen zone of the airport i.e. flights to the UK, Ireland etc.

My understanding is that it is Schengen that really cares about when you enter and leave, and tries to match that up. And possible problems with that pre-date Brexit, as I found out when I had a similar problem to you in Lisbon in 2019! They could not match my departure up to a previous entry (which might just have been because it was only the night before) and the officer and I had a debate for a while.

But then he let me through anyway. There isn't much useful purpose achieved by detaining a foreign national trying to leave at that point. I'm sure it just creates a load of paperwork for no good reason. :D

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504728

Postby gpadsa » June 3rd, 2022, 8:01 pm

Dod101 wrote:OTOH Singapore and Malaysia still require foreigners like me to stand in a long queue, take fingerprints, and then stamp my passport, at least on entry.

Does 'entry' include transiit passengers (i.e., in the airport for a few hours with an onward flight) or is the fingerprinting reserved for those visiting Singapore/KL?

Gpadsa

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504738

Postby Dod101 » June 3rd, 2022, 9:14 pm

gpadsa wrote:
Dod101 wrote:OTOH Singapore and Malaysia still require foreigners like me to stand in a long queue, take fingerprints, and then stamp my passport, at least on entry.

Does 'entry' include transiit passengers (i.e., in the airport for a few hours with an onward flight) or is the fingerprinting reserved for those visiting Singapore/KL?

Gpadsa


If you stay 'airside' ie do not go through any checks of passports, you do not have the fingerprinting and so on. Last time I was there I was coming form Colombo and passing through on my way to Perth WA, that is, I was in transit. Just stay within the secure area and there is no check, until you go to board your onward flight of course. When I said 'entry' I meant to Singapore itself. Transit is just like anywhere else.

Dod

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504749

Postby AsleepInYorkshire » June 3rd, 2022, 10:03 pm

Clariman wrote:
Moral of the story - CHECK you passport has been stamped when entering an EU country.

C

Hi Mr. C,

When next we go to Italy we will take Mrs C with us ;)

Hope you had a really good time

AiY(D)

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504800

Postby Lootman » June 4th, 2022, 8:32 am

Dod101 wrote:
gpadsa wrote:
Dod101 wrote:OTOH Singapore and Malaysia still require foreigners like me to stand in a long queue, take fingerprints, and then stamp my passport, at least on entry.

Does 'entry' include transiit passengers (i.e., in the airport for a few hours with an onward flight) or is the fingerprinting reserved for those visiting Singapore/KL?

If you stay 'airside' ie do not go through any checks of passports, you do not have the fingerprinting and so on. Last time I was there I was coming form Colombo and passing through on my way to Perth WA, that is, I was in transit. Just stay within the secure area and there is no check, until you go to board your onward flight of course. When I said 'entry' I meant to Singapore itself. Transit is just like anywhere else.

But not everywhere else. If you transit through a US airport, say on a trip from the UK to Canada or Mexico, you will have to go through US immigration first at the US airport. There is no way around that because US airports do not have sterile airside areas.

A few people with outstanding arrest warrants in America have been caught because they changed planes in the US, or even got diverted there because of weather or technical issue.

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504838

Postby Dod101 » June 4th, 2022, 11:58 am

Lootman wrote:
Dod101 wrote:
gpadsa wrote:
Dod101 wrote:OTOH Singapore and Malaysia still require foreigners like me to stand in a long queue, take fingerprints, and then stamp my passport, at least on entry.

Does 'entry' include transiit passengers (i.e., in the airport for a few hours with an onward flight) or is the fingerprinting reserved for those visiting Singapore/KL?

If you stay 'airside' ie do not go through any checks of passports, you do not have the fingerprinting and so on. Last time I was there I was coming form Colombo and passing through on my way to Perth WA, that is, I was in transit. Just stay within the secure area and there is no check, until you go to board your onward flight of course. When I said 'entry' I meant to Singapore itself. Transit is just like anywhere else.

But not everywhere else. If you transit through a US airport, say on a trip from the UK to Canada or Mexico, you will have to go through US immigration first at the US airport. There is no way around that because US airports do not have sterile airside areas.

A few people with outstanding arrest warrants in America have been caught because they changed planes in the US, or even got diverted there because of weather or technical issue.


Interesting thank you. Hence the question I suppose. And does that mean you need to have the ESTA visa and currently, I gather the Covid tests?

Dod

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504923

Postby Spet0789 » June 4th, 2022, 10:39 pm

Lootman wrote:
Clariman wrote:Moral of the story - CHECK you passport has been stamped when entering an EU country.

What if the airport uses e-gates to process incoming passengers? Are you supposed to then hunt down an official and demand a stamp? I would have thought that the e-gate writes or records something electronically that can be subsequently read.

Even pre-Brexit I had a problem once going into and out of a Schengen zone country. The Schengen country (Portugal in this case) tried to match up my entry and departure, without success.


Generally the e-gates are no longer available to British passport holders. We have to queue with the Mongolians and Mozambicans. Thanks Brexit!

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504942

Postby Dod101 » June 5th, 2022, 8:17 am

Spet0789 wrote:
Lootman wrote:
Clariman wrote:Moral of the story - CHECK you passport has been stamped when entering an EU country.

What if the airport uses e-gates to process incoming passengers? Are you supposed to then hunt down an official and demand a stamp? I would have thought that the e-gate writes or records something electronically that can be subsequently read.

Even pre-Brexit I had a problem once going into and out of a Schengen zone country. The Schengen country (Portugal in this case) tried to match up my entry and departure, without success.


Generally the e-gates are no longer available to British passport holders. We have to queue with the Mongolians and Mozambicans. Thanks Brexit!


That's interesting. I have never knowingly queued with Mongolians except possibly in Beijing but that might simply be that quite a lot of the northern Chinese have what I regard as Mongolian features.

Dod

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504991

Postby AF62 » June 5th, 2022, 12:26 pm

Clariman wrote:
Dod101 wrote:And how long are we UK citizens allowed to stay in an EU country? (With presumably no visa)

Dod

90 days


Potentially.

However if you have visited an EU country in the Schengen zone in the last 180 days then the answer is somewhere between zero and 90, as the rule is a maximum of 90 days days stay in the Schengen zone in the last (rolling) 180 days - not much of an issue for the average UK holidaymaker, but a killer for anyone with a holiday home in an EU country in the Schengen zone.

Lootman wrote:I would have thought that the e-gate writes or records something electronically that can be subsequently read.


Monitoring how long someone has been in the Schengen zone and whether they have exceeded their time limit will be a function of ETIAS, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/etias), which all UK passport holders wanting to travel to an EU Schengen zone country will need to pay for (once every three years).

As the ETIAS will be issued electronically and contained on the RFID chip in the passport then it is theoretically possible that UK citizens might be permitted to use the e-gates again.

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#504995

Postby Lootman » June 5th, 2022, 12:35 pm

AF62 wrote:
Clariman wrote:
Dod101 wrote:And how long are we UK citizens allowed to stay in an EU country? (With presumably no visa)

90 days

Potentially. However if you have visited an EU country in the Schengen zone in the last 180 days then the answer is somewhere between zero and 90, as the rule is a maximum of 90 days days stay in the Schengen zone in the last (rolling) 180 days - not much of an issue for the average UK holidaymaker, but a killer for anyone with a holiday home in an EU country in the Schengen zone.

Lootman wrote:I would have thought that the e-gate writes or records something electronically that can be subsequently read.

Monitoring how long someone has been in the Schengen zone and whether they have exceeded their time limit will be a function of ETIAS, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/etias), which all UK passport holders wanting to travel to an EU Schengen zone country will need to pay for (once every three years).

As the ETIAS will be issued electronically and contained on the RFID chip in the passport then it is theoretically possible that UK citizens might be permitted to use the e-gates again.

Since Schengen is determined to play such games it is always useful to keep in mind all of the European nations that you may visit that are not in Schengen:

Bulgaria,
Romania,
Croatia,
Cyprus,
Ireland,
United Kingdom,
Albania,
Armenia,
Azerbaijan,
Belarus,
Bosnia & Herzegovina,
Macedonia,
Moldova,
Montenegro,
Serbia,
Ukraine,
Russia,
Andorra,
Monaco,
Vatican City.

Not recommending Ukraine or Russia right now.

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#506041

Postby moorfield » June 9th, 2022, 12:19 pm

I'm due to be driving through the Eurotunnel terminal at the end of July, high season. Will be interesting to see if there will be much passport stampage going on there. And counting of bottles of wine on the way home.

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#506045

Postby swill453 » June 9th, 2022, 12:38 pm

Taking the campervan on a ferry to Amsterdam later this month, I guess that's the sort of travel where they might want to ensure you don't stay more than 90 days.

And don't get me started on costs of getting an Animal Health Certificate for the dog, and the inability to take normal (meat-based) dog food into the EU...

Scott.

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#506052

Postby BigB » June 9th, 2022, 1:12 pm

swill453 wrote:And don't get me started on costs of getting an Animal Health Certificate for the dog, and the inability to take normal (meat-based) dog food into the EU...


Animal Health Cert is a racket - round here (SE) it's about £150-200 per trip from the vets!

We were able to locate a vet in EU last year that would issue a new EU animal passport for <100 Euro, so now he can travel on that without the cert each trip.

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Re: Make sure you get your passport stamped

#506053

Postby swill453 » June 9th, 2022, 1:14 pm

BigB wrote:We were able to locate a vet in EU last year that would issue a new EU animal passport for <100 Euro, so now he can travel on that without the cert each trip.

Yes that's the plan. As we travel round Germany we'll try any vets we come across.

(AHC £135 at my vet)

Scott.


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