‘It might not be’ because rules seem to be inconsistently applied. I got no stamp in Lanzarote or Portugal earlier this year, flying from UK for first trip and France for the second. I would have thought I would get a stamp even when showing residency card but clearly this isn’t always the case. So my question was for those who ‘know’ the answer, so that I have a definitive answer.
Err…how? There’s always a passport check on arrival at Ouistreham, & adding the CdS always gets you a cheery smile.
If by “the authority concerned” you mean border guards I wouldn’t regard them as an authoritative source on the law - we’ve heard numerous examples of people with a valid CdS getting passports stamped on entry to France which is wrong.
If you have a reference to actual EU/Schengen law which says that a non-EU citizen holding a residence permit in one EU member nation can enter another Schengen member using just their residence card then please share it.
You do raise an important point though - which is that border guards aren’t always as informed about the law as one might like, especially where the law is new, or newly being applied.
TBH I would not envisage the slightest problem if travelling from one EU member to another, if you always exit and enter through your host nation, using your residence permit to demonstrate that you have right of entry/abode.
Where it might be a problem is entering via an EU nation which is not your host nation.
In due course I expect this will all be worked out, in the meantime until EES/ETIAS is up and running it probably won’t be an issue in practice.
Edited to acknowledge @Adam1’s point below.
Again. Forums.
I never said anything about overriding the 90 day rule.
Now, did I?
OK, fair enough.
You did say “Because the residency card of a non national indicates it is ok to travel within Schengen with your passport”
The thing is that having a residency card for one state does the square root of nothing for your ability to enter another member state. If your country of nationality has a visa waver scheme you can enter subject to the 90/180 rule with no formality. If you need a visa to enter then you *still* need a visa to enter, whether or not you have residence in some other EU nation.
Fortunately the UK has visa waiver agreements with all of the Schengen nations.
Once more for clarity - if resident in one EU member state entry to others depends on the normal Schengen rules as determined by your passport, your residence permit makes no difference at all, it does not confer extra privilege.
Whatever the last border guard you met says.
Yes. True. By Brit Ferries check-in staff but not by douanes. I s’pose their records are available to douanes and there’s probably NPR cameras clocking every vehicle. However, nothing coming in …
One thing that completely puzzles me is that I can’t see where non-UK citizens get their passports stamped going OUT of Portsmouth (unless the Brittany Ferries check in staff are authorised to stamp passports - but I thought that had to be “official” border guards).
Then let the Spanish Bandidos spend their time and resources looking for people who have already left ![]()
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Until you come back the same way and they say “no, hombre”
Impossible, you havent left remember ![]()
The Bandidos would be very red faced and have to admit their error. Makes you wonder how easy refugees move across countries
Extremely hard in terms of Italian/Spanish-French border. They even have teams of hunters to track them down. Most refugees don’t have cars registered in France or Spain that will whisk them across the border.
This documents the more common experience
I definitely second your view that those who should know (an authority) don’t. I had to tell border control in Lyon that they shouldn’t stamp my passport.
That’s what I thought, but as I say, this isn’t always understood , hence no stamp entering Portugal from France, and they didn’t look for a stamp when I exited on a flight to the UK either.
I should probably say that, although as far as I know holding a residence permit for one Schengen zone country does not confer extra rights to travel in another I actually think that it should - specifically the right to travel without time limits.
Anything else runs counter to people’s expectations and, given the lack of internal checks, would be very difficult to police.
Err…no. You might not get checked by the douanes leaving France at Ouistreham, although since brexit I’ve always had the proper check after entering the international part of the port, having already shown my passport to BF bods at the check-in… but you most certainly do get checked by douanes on entering France.
Righto… I’m cutting through the dross and getting to the nitty gritty…
As a Resident in France, if going through any Schengen countries… I don’t care what they stamp in my PP… I have the right to come back home to France, no matter what…
My lifestyle is such that, should push come to shove, I can prove where I have been passing my time… no problems.
In any case, I have no intention of spending 90/180 in Schengen, away from my home in France … let alone going “over” the 90 limit…
So, I have no worries…
does this adequately sum-up the various answers on this Thread…???
Being a regular user of the Portsmouth - Caen run then I can testify that entering Ouistreham is definitely PAF passport check/stamp and then douanes. However I’d have to disagree with the esteemed Mr Badger as I’ve never seen anyone stopped by the latter. I think there is an office if you actually have something to declare.
Leaving France it’s BF check-in then PAF for the exit stamp. Between the two there’s an occasional spot check of a few vehicles (just before passports).
Entering Portsmouth there’s a UK border check and presumably non-UK passports get a stamp, after that there’s a customs shed but, again, I’ve never seen anyone pulled in for a check - maybe if they are looking for a specific vehicle that would differ.
However leaving Portsmouth there’s no sign of a border post - BF check you in, there’s then a “random” security check - many more vehicles are checked than on the French side and it’s so “random” that I seem to get pulled in 2 times out of three. I’ve given up bothering to be cross about it - guess I look dodgy.
However unless BF staff double up as border guards I can’t see where the UK is applying exit stamps to anyone’s passport.
We frequently drive down to Spain, but once when taking up a rental apartment and being asked for ID, I realised I’d left my UK passport at home in the Aveyron. Flashed my titre de sejour instead and briefly felt like an EU national. OTOH I assume if it had been the police I’d have been deported to France…
Frontier crossing by car within Schengen is so painless that it’s easy to think of it as one big country.
Kind of the point, really. ![]()
Not if it was a genuine oversight…
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