Roy2CDG

Can someone get around Schengen area's 90-day rule, with two non-EU
passports? (such a person who have dual citizenship of US and Canada)

example,

(1) travel in Schengen countries with US passport
(2) on day 89, travel from France to the UK for a day or two
(3) fly from the UK to Germany and enter with Canadian passport
(4) on day 179, repeat the above steps, but reverse the passports

is this even legal? or simply a loophole in the 90-day rule? AFAIK,
no EU country fingerprints foreign visitors, so will they realize that
it's the same person entering with two different passports?

Thnaks!

bensyd

I can't see how it could be called legal. I would imagine that it would work though especially at some of the more blase entry ports.

obscure2k

Please continue to follow this thread in the FT Europe Forum.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

czarina

Sounds like it isn't. However, why don't you just apply for a legitimate visa on one or both of your passports?

SwissCircle

Totally agree with the above poster. Just get an extended visa. Would you recommend doing your "idea" to anyone coming to the US or Canada? I sure hope not, as that could get one into real trouble and eventually being prevented from entering those countries.

Aviatrix

It's not legal. It's something you MAY get away with for a while, but sooner or later the system will flag up these two passports belonging to the same name and date and place of birth. And if your two passports are biometric then it'll definitely be sooner rather than later because the two passports will have the same fingerprints stored on them.

Of course "getting an extended visa" - as someone suggested - isn't necessarily going to be that easy as you can't get a Schengen visa for more than 90 days. Such a thing doesn't exist. You can get a national visa for more than 90 days (which will then allow you to travel to other Schengen countries), but you will only get one of those if you qualify for temporary residency (for example, as a student). Different countries have different rules so you would have to read up on the rules for the country you wish to stay in (France?)

Although it doesn't affect me I actually think this is a real drawback of the Schengen system... in the past people were able to take a sabbatical and spend time travelling around Europe, spending a month here and a month there... these days this is virtually impossible because you can only spend 90 days in the whole of the Schengen area.

GUWonder

Fingerprinting at EU Schengen passport control may be coming in a few years, but for now that generally doesn't happen for those coming in with visa granted on arrival.

If the passports have different names -- something that is legally possible given a name change in one country doesn't necessarily get recognized automatically or at all in another country -- and a variety of PNR-supplied information is compartmentalized to segment the information tracking back to the name, the Schengen information systems won't catch it. But passport control and/or customs has gotten lucky and prevented such a thing.

For example, A Canadian-New Zealand dual national got flagged at Helsinki not too long ago and won't be allowed back in for 3-4 years or something like that without going through the process he should have followed in the first palce. He could have applied as a partner to an EU national and then this issue wouldn't have arisen but no, that more common sense approach was not followed and now they are just backed up in time and facing a family split in the EU national partner's home country for a longer period of time than would be the case if taking ordinary measures.

Aviatrix

There is no fingerprinting... but if you have a biometric passport then your fingerprint is stored on the passport, and I assumed (but may be wrong) that if there are two passports with the same stored fingerprints then the system would pick it up when the passports are scanned.

nomad1974

AFAIK there is not "visa on arrival" for EU countries (Schengen or not). You either need a visa (which you have to obtain before travelling) or you do not.

GUWonder

I know there is no fingerprinting but I am talking about matters under consideration such that there would be fingerprinting -- that's why I said it may be coming in a few years to EU passport control.

Most passports -- and they are all biometric passports since a picture of a face acts as biometric measure -- don't include a stored fingerprint.

Functionally it acts as a visa on arrival.

Roy2CDG

whenever I arrive at Frankfurt or Paris(CDG), they only take a quick glance
at my US passport and let me in. never stamped it.

when I got my new epassport last year, I asked the French passport
checker to stamp it. The dude acted like I was asking for his wife's
phone number!!!??? He refused to give me both. He said he never
stamps US passports.

Aviatrix

German ones do (as of 2007). UK ones will in a couple of years. It was my understanding that many other countries are due to follow suit in the very near future.

Aviatrix

Are you sure that "take a quick glance" is all they do? I thought that passports got scanned these days.

soitgoes

Passport control officers in CDG are notorious for not stamping.

GUWonder

While FRA usually does more of a check than some other places where I enter the EU Schengen zone, there are various EU Schengen zone entry points where all they do (some of the time or most of the times) is:

1. "take a quick glance" at the cover of my US passports; or

2. take a quick glance at the cover and/or ID info page of the presented US passport without swiping and/or stamping it.