Germany - Entering Germany on an expired passport

I currently live and work in Germany thanks to my Irish passport, which recently expired.

Fortunately I have dual-citizenship (Ireland & Canada), so I can travel easily using my Canadian passport. However, when I return to Germany can I still
use my (expired) EU passport at immigration to enter the country? In theory I could use my Canadian passport but that only gives me a three month visa and leads to awkward questions about how long am I staying, where do I live,...

Where are you at the moment?

Is there any reason you can't get a new Irish passport before you next enter Germany?

Also, don't you have your residence permit that you could show them?

Welcome to flyertalk hoxha.

Since your work and residence permit is based on the fact you are an European citizen you should quickly apply for a new Irish Passport. Entering with an expired passport could be problematic while probably not impossible. Be aware I'm not a lawyer or immigration expert so for official answer contact the German embassy/ consulat.

I currently live and work in Germany thanks to my Irish passport, which recently expired.

Fortunately I have dual-citizenship (Ireland & Canada), so I can travel easily using my Canadian passport. However, when I return to Germany can I still
use my (expired) EU passport at immigration to enter the country? In theory I could use my Canadian passport but that only gives me a three month visa and leads to awkward questions about how long am I staying, where do I live,...

From where and how are you traveling to Germany? At the likes of FRA, HAM, DUS, MUC and TXL it's been anything but a given that most Canadian or US citizens would be asked any questions by German passport control clerks upon entry to the Schengen zone there. Are you expecting the airline's "security" contractors in some non-Schengen country, or some government officials in a non-Schengen zone country, to question you before you get to Germany and/or the Schengen zone?

Either way, sooner or later, you are probably going to need your Irish passport, so I'd suggest trying to get it renewed sooner than later. Although it is not guaranteed, it is well possible to be stamped into the Schengen zone on a Canadian passport and be legally there for well beyond 90 days as an Irish citizen, currently valid Irish passport or not being used to enter the Schengen zone.

Hello Hoxha, and welcome.

As we have a dedicated Germany forum, I've moved this thread over. Please continue to follow the discussion here.

stut
Co-Moderator
Europe Forum

Although it is not guaranteed, it is well possible to be stamped into the Schengen zone on a Canadian passport and be legally there for well beyond 90 days as an Irish citizen, currently valid Irish passport or not being used to enter the Schengen zone.

GUWOnder raised an issue here. If you enter with your Canadian Passport it will be stamped. If you keep continuing staying in the Schengen Zone with you Irish Passport over 90 days your Canadian Passport will be missing its exit stamp. So should you ever use your Canadian Passport again to enter the Schengen Area this could raise additional questions.

GUWOnder raised an issue here. If you enter with your Canadian Passport it will be stamped. If you keep continuing staying in the Schengen Zone with you Irish Passport over 90 days your Canadian Passport will be missing its exit stamp. So should you ever use your Canadian Passport again to enter the Schengen Area this could raise additional questions.

If a Canadian passport user enters Germany from a non-Schengen area by commercial flight using a Canadian passport, there is indeed a very high likelihood of the Canadian passport being stamped on entry into the zone. [At other Schengen zone country's commercial airports, the chances of a getting a stamp on entry and/or exit may be statistically different.]

Either way, the scenario mentioned in the above quoted post is highly unlikely to be a problem, and less so of a substantive "problem" if additional questions are asked of a Canadian-Irish national entitled to entry and stay as a free person in the relevant Schengen zone country as an Irish national when the Irish national has previously used the Irish passport in the same name with regard to the relevant country.

GUWOnder raised an issue here. If you enter with your Canadian Passport it will be stamped. If you keep continuing staying in the Schengen Zone with you Irish Passport over 90 days your Canadian Passport will be missing its exit stamp. So should you ever use your Canadian Passport again to enter the Schengen Area this could raise additional questions.

This is unlikely to be an issue, because...:

1) Once the OP has renewed his Irish passport there will not be any need for him to use the Canadian one to enter Schengen. Assuming both Canadian passports and Irish passports are issued for ten years then the current Canadian one will expire before the about-to-be-applied for Irish one, so in the unlikely even that, in another ten years, the OP should find himself in the same situation that he is in at the moment (i.e., Irish passport expired, Canadian passport valid) he will be travelling on a new Canadian passport

2) As has been established in other threads, passport stamping is a bit of a hit-and-miss affair in the Schengen zone. Some countries religiously stamp passports every time, others take a far more haphazard approach. A missing exit stamp is unlikely to cause any major problems even if the OP should use his current Canadian passport again.