Passport stamps

Is linching an alternative tò walking the plank :wink:

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Over-thinking and panicking… isn’t reserved solely for Brits :wink: :wink:

Asked to complete a boarding pass 2 days before leaving… and only then discovering the flight & holiday is booked in one name and the passport is in another… equals “meltdown” :roll_eyes: :frowning: (and a few rude French words)

Yes, should be easy to sort out… but not when in panic mode… and the suitable documents/whatever couldn’t be located… aaargh…

Trying to be supportive, we were all dragged through various scenarios :wink: … from refusal to be allowed on board, to being locked up in a foreign jail… :roll_eyes: :frowning:

That person took along heaven knows what bits and bobs… and obviously it all worked as we got postcards :wink: :wink:

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I believe airlines can be quite heavily fined if they “enable” an illegal immigrant to evade passport checks so that may be why they are being super-cautious?

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I suspect that it is more because if a passenger is refused entry by the border guards, the airline he/she came in on is obliged to fly them home again without charge and without the passenger being allowed to stay. This makes it the airline’s responsibility to check documents.

If the airline is not returning a flight to home base on the same day, there is then the problem of where to put the passenger overnight or for the airline to find them a seat on another carrier. The passenger is under no circumstances allowed to leave the airport and enter the country.

All together a situation best avoided!

@Shunt - unlikely you will be stamped if you show your French resident card.

Blue sky thinking #1 - What if the plane crashes - who gets the life insurance payout?

Blue sky shining #2 - what if it’s a terrorist who’s going to take the plane down who ‘borrows’ the ticket?

Absolutely airlines need to know their client!

How did you prove that you were the owner of the passport and CdS?

A few years back my wife was flying down to JHB from the UK to join myself and her parents for Christmas. and for reasons that an elderly failing brain can no longer recall, I’d gone down the day before on Air France and she was coming down on Lufthansa . Unfortunately her feeder flight to Frankfurt was delayed and everyone was put up in an off-airport hotel. After having spent the next day happily visiting galleries in Frankfurt she returned to the airport for her JhB flight, only to be arrested because she’d inadvertently entered Germany on an SA passport without a current Schengen visa. Fortunately she wasn’t locked up and was allowed to leave Germany that evening.

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@Stella you are doing it again ! Complete gibberish that doesn’t add to the site content in any shape or form. Please stop! Thanks.

Apologies if I’m not making sense… it was all rather confusing at the time :wink:

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Said my name, under which initial they retrieved from a locked drawer They looked at the photos and they looked at me. Luckily, I still do look like my passport pic :relieved:

Oh dear! But at least they saw that frankly (:grin:) your wife was no terrorist, drug mule or illegal immigrant. They were likely most suitably impressed that she visited some local art galleries. A memorable visit!

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I have permission to share this from RIFT (FB Remain in France Together)
If you hold a WARP this “trumps” any passport stamp.

I thought this might help clarify the legal position currently.

Please present your WARP with your passport to Schengen border control and don’t worry if they stamp your passport!

Things may change when travelling across the borders when EES is implemented (an automated IT system for registering travellers from third-countries) was previously scheduled for implementation in 2022, and then May 2023, and then delayed again until the end of 2023. However, EES is not now expected until 2024, possibly to be introduced after the Paris Olympics in the Summer. Whilst neither neither the EES nor ETIAS will apply to residents it’s likely that residents will have their documents scanned too and border guards may “retire” their stamps - we will see…

Passport Stamping and the WARP

by James Brannan

Since the end of the transition period some British passport holders resident in France have had their passports stamped when entering or exiting France, even when presenting a WARP, and this has caused some ill-feeling among those who (justifiably or not) consider that as residents they should be exempt from stamping. It should be pointed out immediately that a passport stamp has no consequence for a resident with the relevant status, as by definition a resident cannot be an overstayer in his/her host State. So it does not set a “clock” ticking! The only issue may be the inconvenience of seeing one’s passport fill up if you are a frequent traveller.

What is the Commission’s view?

There has been some misunderstanding about whether there is such an exemption from passport stamping for residents or more specifically for WARP holders. This partly stems from the European Commission’s longstanding opinion (since e.g. a 2009 Commission report on this matter, COM(2009) 489) that TCN residents’ passports should not be stamped because it is not useful to do so; but that has always been just a non-binding view (as expressed more recently in a powerpoint presentation to border guards in connection with Brexit and in a handbook which has the value of a recommendation). As commented by Steve Peers et al. in EU Immigration and Asylum Law (2012, vol. 1 p. 53):

“… the Commission took the view that the passport need not be stamped, because a risk of exceeding the authorised period of short stay does not arise. While this is a sensible argument, nevertheless there is no express exception to this end in the Code.”

What does EU law say?

The Schengen Code has since been amended without any change in this respect. Some recent advice from the Commission (July 2021) confirms that it is up to each State to decide and that stamping of residents’ passports is not contrary to EU law or more specifically to the WA (which doesn’t provide for any exemption):

“depending on national practices and in accordance with their legislation, some Member States may still stamp passports of beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement, even if these hold a notified residence documents. Please note in this regard that the … Commission guidance is legally not binding upon the Member States. Therefore, Member States, which stamp the passports of beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement do not necessarily act in breach of Union law.”

The issue of stamping at the external Schengen border is governed in France by the Schengen Borders Code (Article L331-2 of the CESEDA, body of French migration rules, refers back to this Code). The only TCN residents exempt from stamping under EU law are family members of an EU citizen with the appropriate permit under Article 10 of Directive 2004/38. This is clear from Article 11 § 3 (g) of the Code. There are a few other exemptions e.g. for certain transport workers, diplomats, etc. This means that by default all other non-EU passports may be stamped. It must be pointed out, however, that the French border guards have some discretion and perhaps have not received clear directions about the WARP, which would explain the apparent lack of consistent practice.

Further developments

Clarity on this in French law would certainly be welcomed and this will in principle be required when the new EU Entry/Exit system (EES) comes into force in parallel with ETIAS (EES to be rolled out first in 2023). Importantly, neither the EES nor ETIAS will apply to residents. Amendments have been made to the Schengen Code for the EES and a clause specifically allows States to continue stamping residents’ passports; Article 11(1) of Regulation 2017/2225: “Where provided expressly by its national law, a Member State may, on entry and exit, stamp the travel document of third-country nationals holding a residence permit or long-stay visa issued by that Member State.” It is not yet known what France’s policy is going to be on this (Belgium, for example, does not intend to stamp residents’ passports). Some EU States have in the past pointed to the use of stamps to assess the length of a resident’s absence when it comes to renewing a permit. But if there is no specific law in France then stamping of residents’ passports should finally come to an end. It goes without saying that, in any event, a WARP beneficiary should always present the card on entering and exiting France.
.

LINK TO SCHENGEN BORDERS CODE (REGULATION 2016/399)

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32016R0399

LINK TO CODE AMENDMENTS FOR EES (REGULATION 2017/2225)

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32017R2225

There may be a further update for EES soon.

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If you fly from france to any other country within the shengen zone ,there is no passport control.

I recently flew from Paris to Berlin and back and there wasnt even a booth at which to show a passport too!

I also flew to Poland from Paris and again, no need for a passport. Easy as pie :+1:

It was only my friends who were flying back to the UK that had to show a passport and were ushered into a cordoned off part of the airport.
I should point out that this was always the case because although the UK was part of the european union, we always had a hard border. Many people believe that the Hard border only came about after Brexit but in reality , its always been there. :thinking:as
I commuted between France and the UK twice a week from 2007 and 2020 and at all of the crossings, i had to stop and produce a passport. The only difference now is i have to show a CDS but again, this is only on returning from the UK. Hope this helps

That’s weird, ID is checked as a matter of course at departures at airports, and sometimes arrivals. Last time I flew (a couple of months ago) it was an internal flight and I was asked for ID. I have to show my carte d’identité every time and I’m not even foreign :wink:

But I was.

I suspect you’re talking about gate staff checking that the named ticket holder is flying target than passport checks for migration control.

No this is before the gate, it’s the police aux frontières, but whoever does it your ID is still checked, you can’t just hop on a plane the way you hop on a tram. And going to the UK last year my French passport was checked in Bordeaux, in Amsterdam and in Edinburgh. I hadn’t renewed my UK one in time.

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@Shunt - there must be some random selection or differing attitude to the rules by the security.
I’ve been twice to Barcelona in October and never stamped and of course I never get stamped going to/from the UK either !!

Well, I’ve never had my passport/ID card checked by the police aux frontières at an airport, departing or arriving when flying within Schengen. It has been checked at the departure gate, but not always.