Missing Exit Stamp from EU
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Anywhere I need to be.
Programs: OW Emerald, *A Gold, NEXUS, GE, ABTC/APEC, South Korea SES, eIACS, PP, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 16,046
#17
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 323
Why was he looking for it? Did you get stamped out after that trip, and did your passport get swiped to record your movements electronically?
When entering and exiting France my passport has been stamped, but I am quite sure it has never been swiped. So I now realize that if I took a train from France to Switzerland and tried to exit, the border guy would have the same reaction, although a French Schengen stamp would be more likely to convince him than a Gibraltarian one
When entering and exiting France my passport has been stamped, but I am quite sure it has never been swiped. So I now realize that if I took a train from France to Switzerland and tried to exit, the border guy would have the same reaction, although a French Schengen stamp would be more likely to convince him than a Gibraltarian one
I'm almost certain he swiped it--I don't recall ever NOT being swiped in .ch--but my impression is that the swipe is really more about catching someone with a warrant or other alert, and less about catching overstays. Yes, I'm sure a record gets created about it, but I also don't think the officer has instant access to all your travel history. If that was the case, the computer would easily display a big read "OVERSTAY" on the screen, and this board would have more stories about how and where people were forced to pay a fine for overstaying (or being banned), and a lot fewer stories along the lines of "well, I got away with it this time, but do you think they'll catch me next time?". There would be even more stories with people being asked to pay a fine unjustly (no actual overstay) and how they had to prove their innocence
Given that, I think stamps are important, and since they will look for recent stamps in particular, they could bring this up again with you (at any Schengen port, not just Switzerland). Fortunately, the better ones, like the Swiss, will quickly apply common sense and let you through, and the less diligent probably won't notice. Also, I've never seen them care about old discrepancies, so after a few months nobody will care. It doesn't become some kind of burden you have to carry until your next passport (as it might if the determination was made automatically by computer)
#18
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: London
Programs: SK Gold, ITA Executive, Sixt Diamond, Hertz PC, Avis PC, IHG Platinum
Posts: 5,163
Entered France in London on Friday morning [Eurostar terminal], policeman didn't swipe or stamp my passport.
Upon leaving Luxembourg airport on Sunday late afternoon, policeman flipped through my passport [with quite a few Schengen stamps in it], asked me when and where did I enter, and after me telling him about Eurostar, just stamped it with an exit stamp.
I have been in quite a few situations where I got stamped on entry, but not on exit and vice versa. I even had a [wrong] stamp where it looked like I stayed a year and 3 days, instead of only 3 days
Worst culprits - French police.
#19
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,630
This is not an uncommon problem. I've had a handful of issues with this over the years.
On one occasion in Dusseldorf some years ago, I had entered Schengen in Rome (who had either overstamped or stamped so faintly it was not easily visible) and I spent a while being questioned by the Bundespolizei until the supervisor accepted my Manchester to Rome boarding pass stub from earlier in the week as proof I had legally entered the area.
At Malpensa, the officer had forgotten to roll over his date stamp from 2004 to 2005 (it was the first few days of January to be fair) when he stamped me into the country on arrival, resulting in the guy who looked at my passport on departure the next day accusing me of having been in Italy for an entire year. Thankfully that was easily sorted out as the passport I was carrying was only 8 months old so could not have been stamped in January 2004, and the immigration agent who had admitted me was on duty again downstairs where his stamp was still showing the incorrect year!
I also had an issue at Cologne once where I forgot to legally enter the country (long story there!) and had to get a supervisor to sort me out with a retroactive entry stamp! Similarly in Paris, entering as a crew member, I have had to force immigration to find someone with a stamp so that I would have no problems when departing as a passenger subsequently. Conversely, arriving in France as a passenger but departing as a crew member means entry stamp but no exit stamp - especially if operating a mix of Schengen and non-Schengen flights in the same duty period.
The biggest culprits vis-a-vis not stamping are the Italians and French. The German airports (but not the old land borders) on the other hand stamp for everything including when I enter or exit as a crew member. I have dozens of pages in my passport just filled with German stamps as a result. The Dutch do not stamp crew members but sometimes check for stamps of departing passengers, which has caused problems more than once when a crew member later departs Schiphol as a passenger. I've also had questions at Amsterdam entering Schengen by overnight rail into Germany from (pre-Schengen) Poland, where my passport received a Polish exit stamp but not a German entry one - and I didn't have a copy of my PKP train ticket with me. I've also tried in vain to locate someone/anyone to stamp my passport at the German railway terminus in (pre-Schengen) Basel. In Ljubljana, the only immigration officer on duty at the airport at the time I departed didn't even have a exit stamp with him. Iceland stamps arriving passengers but not departing crew members, which has caused me minor problems on a subsequent trip to Germany where my previous Icelandic entry as a passenger had not been "closed" as I had left Iceland as a crew member.
In Kaunas, I was interrogated by Lithuanian immigration even though I was on an intra-Schengen flight and should not have been checked at all. The fact that I was on an Indian passport with a Schengen visa issued by the German Embassy in Ghana arrived in from Latvia and traveling to Finland with an entry stamp from Bratislava probably didn't help matters! If I hadn't been stamped in on that trip, I'd probably still be in a Lithuanian jail!
Moral of the story - always insist on a passport stamp when entering or exiting the Schengen zone if possible. I claim that I need them for tax purposes and that rarely causes an argument. Of course, if you can't actually find an official to do it that's a different story.
On one occasion in Dusseldorf some years ago, I had entered Schengen in Rome (who had either overstamped or stamped so faintly it was not easily visible) and I spent a while being questioned by the Bundespolizei until the supervisor accepted my Manchester to Rome boarding pass stub from earlier in the week as proof I had legally entered the area.
At Malpensa, the officer had forgotten to roll over his date stamp from 2004 to 2005 (it was the first few days of January to be fair) when he stamped me into the country on arrival, resulting in the guy who looked at my passport on departure the next day accusing me of having been in Italy for an entire year. Thankfully that was easily sorted out as the passport I was carrying was only 8 months old so could not have been stamped in January 2004, and the immigration agent who had admitted me was on duty again downstairs where his stamp was still showing the incorrect year!
I also had an issue at Cologne once where I forgot to legally enter the country (long story there!) and had to get a supervisor to sort me out with a retroactive entry stamp! Similarly in Paris, entering as a crew member, I have had to force immigration to find someone with a stamp so that I would have no problems when departing as a passenger subsequently. Conversely, arriving in France as a passenger but departing as a crew member means entry stamp but no exit stamp - especially if operating a mix of Schengen and non-Schengen flights in the same duty period.
The biggest culprits vis-a-vis not stamping are the Italians and French. The German airports (but not the old land borders) on the other hand stamp for everything including when I enter or exit as a crew member. I have dozens of pages in my passport just filled with German stamps as a result. The Dutch do not stamp crew members but sometimes check for stamps of departing passengers, which has caused problems more than once when a crew member later departs Schiphol as a passenger. I've also had questions at Amsterdam entering Schengen by overnight rail into Germany from (pre-Schengen) Poland, where my passport received a Polish exit stamp but not a German entry one - and I didn't have a copy of my PKP train ticket with me. I've also tried in vain to locate someone/anyone to stamp my passport at the German railway terminus in (pre-Schengen) Basel. In Ljubljana, the only immigration officer on duty at the airport at the time I departed didn't even have a exit stamp with him. Iceland stamps arriving passengers but not departing crew members, which has caused me minor problems on a subsequent trip to Germany where my previous Icelandic entry as a passenger had not been "closed" as I had left Iceland as a crew member.
In Kaunas, I was interrogated by Lithuanian immigration even though I was on an intra-Schengen flight and should not have been checked at all. The fact that I was on an Indian passport with a Schengen visa issued by the German Embassy in Ghana arrived in from Latvia and traveling to Finland with an entry stamp from Bratislava probably didn't help matters! If I hadn't been stamped in on that trip, I'd probably still be in a Lithuanian jail!
Moral of the story - always insist on a passport stamp when entering or exiting the Schengen zone if possible. I claim that I need them for tax purposes and that rarely causes an argument. Of course, if you can't actually find an official to do it that's a different story.
#20
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 1
meshed departure stamp at CDG
when i asked french official to put departure stamp at CDG , He puffed air out and stamped on page full of immigration stamps ( four stamps), and then he marked stamped area with with ball pen
i don't know what does it mean
i don't know what does it mean
#21
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: I'm not sure myself..
Programs: AA Plat, DL Silver, MR Plat, nobody everywhere else
Posts: 281
Reminds me of my favorite stamp in my passport - in Germany, was stamped as entering on March 32nd (320309). Guess they didn't roll the numbers over correctly in the stamp or something. It wouldn't have surprised me in several countries, but in Germany!
#22
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Helvetia
Programs: AS; BA Silver; UA; HH Diamond; Sprüngli Connaisseur
Posts: 2,898
I had a contrary experience.
I entered the Schengen area via CDG (from U.S). The immigration official neglected to stamp my passport. I traveled to Denmark and then Germany. When leaving FRA to return to the U.S. the German border official said I didn't have an entry stamp and so this exit is illegal -- there could be a big fine, etc, I could have been in Europe for months. I showed him my air itinerary. After he heard I entered via CDG, he had that look of disgust on his face, like those inefficient French. Also, from my past stamps, he could see that I made multiple trips to/through FRA previously, of 1-2 week duration. He let me go with a strong warning to be sure to get the stamp next time.
I entered the Schengen area via CDG (from U.S). The immigration official neglected to stamp my passport. I traveled to Denmark and then Germany. When leaving FRA to return to the U.S. the German border official said I didn't have an entry stamp and so this exit is illegal -- there could be a big fine, etc, I could have been in Europe for months. I showed him my air itinerary. After he heard I entered via CDG, he had that look of disgust on his face, like those inefficient French. Also, from my past stamps, he could see that I made multiple trips to/through FRA previously, of 1-2 week duration. He let me go with a strong warning to be sure to get the stamp next time.
Another time I got the guy in FRA asking what I'd done in Germany. I handed him my residency permit and said: "Nothing, I live in Switzerland".
#23
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 323
If it was a mechanical stamp, I'm not sure how that's even possible, since there are no months with 32 days...?
#24
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: On the road in North America....
Programs: UA 1MM, *G, Global Entry
Posts: 579
#25
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: I'm not sure myself..
Programs: AA Plat, DL Silver, MR Plat, nobody everywhere else
Posts: 281
#26
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Programs: Miles & More
Posts: 102
Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain do record entries and Exits of non-EU/EFTA nationals - but even those records are only for their own use and NOT available to other Schengen countries.
Thus, it is vital to get stamped when entering and exiting Schengen in General.