Originally Posted by
Tchiowa
My wife has permanent residency in the US. Not only does she have a Green Card (probably functionally similar to what the OP's son forget to take) but she also has a visa stamped in her passport that showed she was already approved and when they scan her fingerprints it comes up. I would have thought Europe had something similar.
Apparently not.
Many of the EU Schengen countries have issued permanent residency status without notification of such status (or application for such status) in the passports of persons with such status (or in the process of being supplied a document confirming such status). While many of these countries used to issue stamps/stickers indicating residency status in foreign citizen's passports, the trend has been toward residency cards in the Schengen Zone. But the residency status is not generally contingent upon either having such card or having ever had such a sticker/stamp.
I always get amused when a newbie working Schengen or LHR passport control first encounters a situation of a resident EU Schengen citizen from another EU country shows up with a non-EU spouse intending to settle in that EU country of arrival. Why? Because legally the host country is generally required to issue a visa on the spot or otherwise grant admission without separating the family unit.