stimpy

I kind of doubt that anything like that exists yet. France, the country I have residence in, never asks to see my card coming or going. It's only AMS and FRA in my experience. I can't remember the last time I flew in to BRU though.

I also had to show my card at LHR once when I was asked when I was returning to the US. I said I had no plans and that's when the shocked officer asked me where I lived and then to see my card.

GUWonder

What kind of residency status do you have and on what basis do you have residency status? Which country or countries are involved in terms of issuing your travel documents. Given the mention of a residency visa for an unspecified Schengen Zone country rather than a residency card, not sure what to make of that.

Out of the last few hundred entries into the Schengen Zone on my US passports, I've shown personal proof of Schengen country legal residency allowances less than five times; and two of those times it was done only because I wanted to see what would happen when wanting to use the empty EU passport line when the "all passports" line was backed up. I've been asked only two (maybe three) times by entry Schengen passport control if I have proof of Schengen residency. I've been asked about the card more on exit than entry, but that is a particular of my travel parties' constituency from time to time. Even at the German hub airports' passport control checkpoints, I've not once been asked to show my residency proof on arrival into the Schengen Zone there on my US passports.

If you were a legal permanent resident whose right to such status was apparent to passport control when you are heading to country of legal residence in the Schengen Zone, to where are they going to lawfully deport/remove you while abiding by the legal agreements applicable to state authorities for such circumstances? Unless something unmentioned by the OP is involved in this situation, it seems like BRU passport control and/or the OP's son messed up/around somehow and the mess goes beyond whether or not the permanent resident card was there for display.

I've seen it take place in reality. It's not generally as fast and certainly not all that pretty as some other alternative routes that are just as legal; but it is supposed to work as it has in the main. But I generally wouldn't advise doing so, as there is a real possibility of getting strung along for hours, the better part of a day or even more.

GUWonder

SIS? It exists, but what it is used for and how it is used in practice have a lot of people still imagining that SIS is somethin akin to US CBP's records systems -- it isn't.

If not familiar with legal dynamics in this area, I suggest a read of the wikileaked CIA's "guide" on these kind of matters. It has an indication of SIS's limited practical implications.

APIS likely has more implications for what you mentioned of your circumstances than SIS. And Spain is an APIS and Schengen SIS user.

By the way, even when I show my residency cards, most frequently my passport still gets stamped. Even when the issuing country of the cards have been the same as the country operating the Schengen port of entry/exit.

LupineChemist

I am utterly unfamiliar with the exact programs used. I do know that I used to just get waved through without having to show a card and then it changed very quickly to needing to show it every single time without fail. There is something that flags and I don't know if I got an observant officer, the huge amount of Schengen stamps, or a flag but it was clear the officer at HEL was also interested right away until I showed the card.

Also, I'm allowed to use the EU/EEA line?!

GUWonder

In practice it depends on how an individual feels. I've encountered it in various ways. I've not been advised that there is any unified legal standard about which Schengen passport control line should or should not be accessible to Schengen country residents. Personally, I mostly use the All Passports type of lines.

theddo

So carry proof you are entitled to enter the country you are going to? Yeah, that's a good advice.

deniah

https://www.wien.gv.at/english/e-gov...-employee.html

Austrian Aufenthaltstitel RWR holder.

The point being that passport has nothing indicating residency*. It merely says im an American (which by default only entitles me to 90 days stay over the length of a year or whatever it is)

Catusa

I asked a German immigration officer about the card. He said if I show the card I won't get a stamp in my passport, if I don't show it I will get a stamp.

Theddo, he has a US passport and right to enter Belgium and the situation was that for the first time he was asked to show proof of legal French residence. When he finally entered France no questions were asked.

GUWonder

When it comes to US passports of a person presenting an EU Schengen residency permit:

The Dutch (at AMS) mostly don't stamp when they encounter a permanent residency card or other such permit; the Germans sometimes do stamp and sometimes don't stamp; the Swedes stamp way more times than not; the Norwegians often stamp; the Danes stamped more often than not; the Italians at MXP and FCO sometimes don't even open the passport, or they sometimes merely open to whatever page is convenient and stamp without caring about anything else; the French at CDG stamp more times than not.

:D!

A US passport doesn't confer a right to enter Belgium.

Does a French residence permit confer a right to enter Belgium? For that matter, does it confer a right to enter France?

A valid UK residence permit (which I currently hold) doesn't automatically give you the right to enter the UK.

I am aware of one case where an American+EU unmarried couple of many years, not living in the EU citizen's country of citizenship on mainland Europe, was granted admission at LHR in this situation. The American even had multiple recent visa-free entries to the UK on his own. I can't remember why they did not apply for a family permit in advance; it was possibly something like a company transfer of the EU citizen with not much notice

They had very little hassle because they had contacted immigration at LHR in advance and advised them of their approximate time of arrival and the documents they intended to bring to prove their relationship. Some higher-up person in immigration told them he would be on duty when their plane would arrive and that he was prepared to grant entry without an EEA permit if the various documents were in order, so that's what they did.

TravellingSalesman

Not even your neighbours to the North do that. I have a Canadian PR card, but as far as I can tell there is no record of it in my passport.

LupineChemist

I've never not been stamped at MAD. At least work pays for a new passport because it eats through pages rather quickly.

MSPeconomist

I believe the OP's son is a student in France, probably in about first year of university or equivalent.

However, OP said son had been a French resident for about fifteen years or since age three IIRC. So I suspect that OP was a French resident then for work and son was a resident as a minor family member (dependent). Then OP moved to Singapore the son stayed behind in France and switched to a student visa.

What might have looked unusual to Belgian immigration is that the son didn't also have a student visa in the passport. IIRC USA students would enter on a student visa (not as a tourist or they might have to leave the country and come back as part of the process of making themselves legal) and then obtain the residency permit after arrival. In the son's case, he would have had the residence permit first, based on the parent's work permit and residency, and then later he switched to independent student/residency status with parents living in a different country. Or maybe the parents are in Singapore but maintain French residency permits, so that the son could do the same, still as a dependent. That could explain the instinct of the parents to show their own documents to Belgian officials in an attempt to extricate the son.

My impression too is that Belgium expects/requires foreigners with residency permits to carry them, the same as Belgian citizens would routinely carry their national ID cards and need to show them to police upon demand or with their driving licenses. One also needs these documents to do banking in Belgium, to purchase a car, to show to landlords, etc.

BTW, I think people on student visas would have (long term but) "temporary" residency permits while those with working permits for nontemporary jobs would eventually get "permanent" residency permits.

stimpy

No, student visas do not come with residency cards. Just the visa alone with the specified duration is all they get in most circumstances.

But yes if the OP's son had a titre de séjour with the right to attend school then he would of course not require a visa in the passport. Which is not the usual route for foreign university students.

s0ssos

Sorry, one thing that I still wonder about after reading all these posts is whether people's different experiences have to do with their race.