Originally Posted by
candyann
Originally Posted by
RedSnapper
The initial interaction always begins with me handing them my passport. They then flip through the book, looking at the ~100 Schengen stamps, trying to figure out if I've somehow over-stayed during what appear to be multiple "visits" to Europe. Once I get the plastic residence card out of my wallet a few seconds later, they quit looking at the stamps and just wave me through.
Just curious--why not present your passport and residence card to the immigration officer simultaneously, and save those few seconds?
I only ask because whenever I have a visa, or in the past when I've had a separate residence card, I always make sure that's the first thing the IOs see. I either hand them my passport open to the visa page or hand them my passport with the plastic card on top of it. It seems to save fumbling and questions.
I rarely show or pull out my European residence cards when entering or exiting the Schengen Zone. Why? Because I want to minimize the risk of losing the cards, because I'm not generally asked for the cards, and because presenting the cards slows down things as passport control then reviews more docs and seems to review things more thoroughly. In the main I'm doing everyone a favor by presenting just my US passport.