zat_dude

I had a day-trip to NL yesterday, arriving to and departing from AMS. I am not sure if what took place is pure coincidence but similar has happened before*. No general delay or disruption was observed.


Preface: I am a passport holder of an A8 country having lived in the UK for a number of years. I current have a beard. My main passport was issued before I grew a beard. My photo on the secondary passport (same issuing country) is with a beard.

So, I had a funny feeling in the morning so I decided to travel with my recently issued second passport (with beard).

On arrival I used the e-Gates and it wouldn't let me through. A border control officer came to my gate and pulled me aside to check passport details and ask a few routine questions. I didn't see anyone else being pulled over while queuing or while being processed.

I had never had any problems with those e-Gates before anywhere - irrespective of the existence of facial hair on my face OR the passport photo.

The reason for this could have been anything, I drew no conclusions whatsoever. It was, however, simply odd.


*: Twice previously this and last year, when leaving Schengen countries for the UK, I had been questioned and quizzed about my passport details, once I even had to play a little translation game from my native to English. One of the officers was friendly and explained afterwards that they have intel about Syrian *migrants* entering EU illegally and obtaining fake passports from some of the Eastern European countries.

One might conclude that having a beard and having a passport from Eastern Europe is not a convenience nowadays.

Roger

Good question.

I remember getting through French Immigration as non-EU using my Swiss identity card before Swiss could use the EU line. It saved ages getting to the car rental desk at NCE.

corporate-wage-slave

Have a look at the link in SwissBritMiss post: Schengen citizens are the precise target of these increased checks.

DYKWIA

They have recently changed the AMS Schengen border to some automated system. I was forced to use it last week, and it was a pain. I had my face scanned 3 times in the space of about 20 meters (no joke!).

I asked to go through Privium channel and was told very snottily that there wasn't one, and never had been. I pointed to it and said that there was, and I'd used it the week before. Had no effect...

corporate-wage-slave

Transferring through AMS Schengen to non Schengen may take 10-15 minutes to get through the frontier (or less). I wouldn't want a connection of less than an hour but many MCTs in AMS are in the 40 minute area. The problem appears to be those who start their journeys in AMS, with queues snaking back a long way around the building during peak periods. Privium is the answer for regular travellers (and has been for a while) though I note DYKWIA's reply supra.

SwissBritMiss

This is about entering and exiting Schengen. If you need to visit an EU airport passport checkpoint, by definition you are either exiting or leaving the Schengen zone.

It's not about Schengen citizens vs. non-Schengen citizens. There is no such distinction. You have EU rights to freedom of movement from citizenship of an EU country. Once you as an EU citizen (indeed, even of a third country) enter Schengen, even if your citizenship derives from a non-Schengen member state (or third country), you still don't need to go through immigration checks within the Schengen zone. That is why the EU wants stronger checks at the external borders of the Schengen zone. (I make no comment on the proportionality of either the regulation or how member states have implemented.)

(Edited to add: some countries have re-introduced checks within Schengen. This is unilateral and they are not forced to make the same level of checks as the regulation requires. They also apply regardless of nationality, so the above about no third queue still applies.)

PUCCI GALORE

Exactly - non-Schenigen. France is checking wherever you come from (was certainly the case at Nice last week). Tell me then why they have chosen to operate them now rather than in October and that the numbers manning and the electronic gates are woefully inadequate and that the main consumers of this wonderful service happen to be British? Those people I saw at Alicante yesterday were under no illusion. I'm not saying things landing back in the UK are any better but I have detected something of an improvement as people seem to be coping better with the electronic gates and things appear to be organised.

Anyhow it's a bit late and utterly ignores the fact that the problems are home grown.

To return to the actual topic, CQS is correct - getting in and out of Spain or France could be tedious if you arrive at a peak time.

Calchas

Several countries including France have re-introduced checks on passengers arriving from within the Schengen zone.

BAAZ

No, because whether you're a "Schengen citizen" is irrelevant.

Either people are entering the Schengen area from outside (e.g. travelling from the UK, or the US, or India, or wherever, to France, Germany, Italy, or wherever), or leaving the Schengen area,

- In this case everyone's passports have to be checked. For this, people are separated into EU (+EEA+CH) citizens, who don't have to be checked as much (although they now have to have their passports scanned, instead of just a visual check), and non-EU/EEA/CH citizens, who are likely to need more thorough checks and questions around their travel plans.

Or people are travelling within the Schengen area (e.g. from France to Germany, etc).

- In this case, there normally aren't any checks at all. Much as if you travel from Scotland to England. However, due to recent events, some countries such as France are checking people's documents even for people arriving from other Schengen countries. I'm not sure if they are checking people's documents who are leaving France to go to another Schengen country. The Schengen treaty allows countries to introduce such checks temporarily for reasons of national security, etc.

Fitch

AMS may be a mess but I've flown RTM-LCY a couple of times recently and the place has been deserted, like "kerb to gate in 5 minutes" deserted...

SwissBritMiss

True and I shall edit - but they don't have to under the regulation, and this would apply to everyone regardless of nationality. My point was that there isn't a distinction between non-Schengen and Schengen citizens in the question around third queues.

binman

I flew into MXP this morning. 2 agents in arrival passport control. No queues, no delays. Perhaps there should be a WIKI to highlight hotspots and worst time for disruption.

I would agree this has nothing to do with Brexit and everything to do with protecting open borders. I wish them luck as I for one will be devastated when we do leave in 2019.

Dubh

I've received my standard sms message about leaving more time for LIN tomorrow morning. The last 2 trips have been ok with the increased passport checking time, but seeing as today is the last day prior to the majority of the North of Italy industry taking their summer shutdown....i fear the worst.

If I'm updating in a couple of hours from a stationary Milan ringroad, send help.

BAAZ

Aren't arrivals into Nice separated into domestic (incl. Schengen) and non-Schengen arrivals? Or have they just directed the Schengen arrivals into the non-Schengen part of the airport? I don't know Nice airport.

If it's anything like Lamezia Terme where I fly regularly, and which has hardly any non-Schengen flights apart from a Ryanair service from Stansted and the odd charter flight from here and there, and therefore has only one physical area to check passports with space for two agents, if all the passengers from Germany and Switzerland suddenly had to go through that one place, the queues would be rather long.

BAAZ

The issue is more delays on departure, not on arrival. Especially at airports like LIN where there is only one small section for non-Schengen flights, which are pretty much all to the UK, and where most EU nationals (mainly Italians and Brits) were just waved through with a cursory glance at the passports.