Eurotunnel this morning. We had to ask to get passport stamped

[jongood]

I don’t think this is quite right, although last week, that’s what happened to me, despite me arguing the point with them in Folkestone.

I was traveling with an EU passport holder (my spouse) and before I could intercept the action, I had my UK passport stamped… I clearly questioned this, offered our marriage certificate and citied the EU directives which I have highlighted electronic copies of… the discussion got quite heated, with three border control officials involved in the end, but they are clearly poorly informed and trained. Luckily we are only away 88 days this trip, but we were scheduled, before the French border problems to be away 112 days!

Lesson learnt and I’m handing laminated copies of the EU directives and the marriage certificate over before any passports next time.

I'm not a pedant in any way but I wonder how they would deal with someone in your position that doesnt always travel with their spouses? It doesnt seem unusual for younger couples that the wives have girlie holidays, the guys go to stag do's and one or other regularly travels for work. If one was a UK passport holder and the other an EU it could get awfully complicated.

 

[jongood]

Complying with the 90/180 day ruling....it is in the interest of any traveller to make sure their movements are recorded in their passport.
If a guard cannot be bothered to stamp, he or she may not be bothered to scan either...

The guard yesterday was going to do either, he just waved us through, I could easily have thought, happy days lets get on with it.

I have wondered if he'd clocked the LHD vehicle and not bothered looking at the plate.

 

[Coolcats]

I have to ask too, why did want your passports stamped ?

Gina.

It’s called stamp collecting there are many people who collect post cards postage stamps etc so why not boarder stamps.

 

[orridge]

I hold an Eu Residency card and an UK passport.

I intend when crossing a Schengen border, outbound or inbound, to only present my residency card to the EU authorities and to present my UK passport to the UK, or other non-Schengen authorities, e.g. Croatia.

I consider this meets all legal requirements.

Geoff

We sometime do similar in that we sometimes present our UK passport to leave and enter the UK but use our New Zealand passports to enter and leave France/Belgium as we get 90 days in each country not the 90 in 180.

 

[pj650]

I'm not a pedant in any way but I wonder how they would deal with someone in your position that doesnt always travel with their spouses? It doesnt seem unusual for younger couples that the wives have girlie holidays, the guys go to stag do's and one or other regularly travels for work. If one was a UK passport holder and the other an EU it could get awfully complicated.

You’re not being pedantic Jon. It’s about covering yourself. If you have the stamp in your passport the dates are there in black and white.
Everything has changed now we have the 90 day rule. No one knows the implications of exceeding the time limit yet. We are sailing Santander/Portsmouth and will be asking for our passports to be stamped.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[mapman]

We sometime do similar in that we sometimes present our UK passport to leave and enter the UK but use our New Zealand passports to enter and leave France/Belgium as we get 90 days in each country not the 90 in 180.

I thought all non EU citizens got the 90 in 180? NZ and UK should be treated the same.

 

[orridge]

I thought all non EU citizens got the 90 in 180? NZ and UK should be treated the same.

You are partly correct in that NZ get 90 in 180 in Schengen countries as a whole but we also have bilateral agreements dating back to 1950/1960's that overrule that so we could stay 90 in France, then 60 in Belgium, then 90 in Germany but could not go to a schengen country that does not have a bilateral agreement such as Slovenia as the 90/180 would apply.

The countries with this bilateral visa waiver agreement are as follows:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Iceland
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Portugal
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland

The New Zealand government confirms the European Commission still honours these visa waivers and that they override the Schengen agreement.


The UK had or has the opportunity to do agree something like that but was so hung up on freedom of movement that no reciprocal agreements were made so currently stuck with 90 in 180.

 

[MichaelT]

You’re not being pedantic Jon. It’s about covering yourself. If you have the stamp in your passport the dates are there in black and white.
Everything has changed now we have the 90 day rule. No one knows the implications of exceeding the time limit yet. We are sailing Santander/Portsmouth and will be asking for our passports to be stamped.

I think you are being pedantic, here is my last stamp, please try and tell me the date and if it was into or out of EU......

 

[rod_vw]

M54 Junction 2 to 3 closed all weekend Jon, welcome back

No passport stamp on the Staffordshire / Shropshire border then?

 

[jongood]

I think you are being pedantic, here is my last stamp, please try and tell me the date and if it was into or out of EU......View attachment 586908

We've been trying to remember to check the stamps are correct and legible. The acid test will be if people start racking up fines or bans when they encounter officers who want to make a point/do their jobs properly.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Tombola]

I htink most of us are aware of this but here it is. SOme possibly being a bit early eh.
---------------------------------

British nationals travelling to and from European Union countries from May 2022 and on will no longer have their passports stamped, as the information on the date of their entry to the block, or the exit, will be recorded through a new automated system.

EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) is set to become fully functional in May next year, though it has been reported that the EES may experience some delays.

The system will register entry and exit data and refusal of entry data of third-country nationals crossing EU’s external borders, including here Britons, which means that passport stamping will become unnecessary.

“EES will replace the current system of manual stamping of passports, which is time-consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings and does not allow a systematic detection of over-stayers (travellers who have exceeded the maximum duration of their authorised stay),” the European Commission’s Migration and Home Affairs notes.

In spite of the EU’s claims that the new system will enable travellers to cross the borders more quickly, in a meeting of the UK Lords Committee on November 2, UK travel bosses have expressed their concerns that the new EU border systems may, in fact, create long queues, in particular at ferry ports and the Channel Tunnel.

The head of the Dover Harbour Board, Tim Reardon, said that travellers would have to step out of their vehicles in order to complete the controls, and this would make the queues even longer.

“There is no way of doing a biometric control without getting everyone out of the vehicle,” Reardon said.

Just after the EES becomes operational, Brits will also have to obtain online a travel authorisation in order to be able to travel to the Schengen Area, known as the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS).

The ETIAS will cost €7 and will be valid for a period of three years at first, or until the traveller’s passport expires, whichever comes first. Aside from Brits, all travellers from countries under the Schengen visa-free regime are obliged to obtain an ETIAS before they travel to Schengen Zone.

This means that around 1.4 billion people who currently are permitted to travel to the EU visa-free will have to apply for an ETIAS.

In spite of speculations that the EES and the ETIAS may be delayed, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency – Frontex has finalised the EES pilot project at the Spanish and Bulgarian land borders.

At the same time, the eu-LISA, which is the EU Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, has announced open registrations for air and sea carriers, as well as international carriers transporting groups overland by coach for the EES and the ETIAS.

Registration will enable carriers to receive the necessary information to prepare for the implementation of the EES and ETIAS legislation.

 

[gerry mcg]

When we went across 2 weeks ago via the tunnel to go skiing, i travelled on my Irish Passport, my wife on her GB one.

The French border control stamped her passport on entry (probably shouldn’t have as she was with me) but not mine.
on return, the french border officers in the booth had a discussion regarding her passport and my Irish one, and gave us our passports back, both un-stamped.
we asked the french border to stamp my wife’s, so she had a matching pair of in and out stamps.

when we travelled in the summer, we had an issue, when they did not stamp her passport on UK exit / EU entry, then we were questioned on return to why there was no stamp and could we prove our UK exit / eu entry.. the Exit border officer then stamped her passport and wrote an entry statement and recorded in a ledger.

i think it is important to check you get a stamp on UK exit / EU entry. If you don’t, be prepared to be questioned on return… its not a given, but they do seem to be checking

 

[Carpmart]

I'm not a pedant in any way but I wonder how they would deal with someone in your position that doesnt always travel with their spouses? It doesnt seem unusual for younger couples that the wives have girlie holidays, the guys go to stag do's and one or other regularly travels for work. If one was a UK passport holder and the other an EU it could get awfully complicated.

It’s quite simple according to the EU directives which cover this, when I am travelling with my spouse (proof may be needed) I am to be afforded the same travel rights as them. If I am on my own, then I am a UK passport holder and should be treated as such.

 

[TONCAZ]

You only rely on the stamp when one of them gets funny .If you have a stamp they can't argue.If relying on a scan ,which you have no access to & no idea whether it has been done, You are in it without a paddle.

No but they have a legal requiremnent to stamp non EU passports.

All this stamping may go once the ETIAS system is up and running, as this system will track you in and out of Schengen states

 

[jumar]

All this stamping may go once the ETIAS system is up and running, as this system will track you in and out of Schengen states

I'm aware that the technology is so complex that it also has the ability to check fridge contents too...

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[gus-lopez]

If one was a UK passport holder and the other an EU it could get awfully complicated.

It is complicated & in all honesty far to involved for those at ground level to be understanding without continually updating themselves.

I think you are being pedantic, here is my last stamp, please try and tell me the date and if it was into or out of EU......View attachment 586908

It is an "in to" the schengen area stamp . Arrow pointing in to box indicates in & arrow pointing out of box indicates out. Date ,no idea but as long as you had 2 to match should be ok

All this stamping may go once the ETIAS system is up and running, as this system will track you in and out of Schengen states

But doesn't apply to the likes of me as a resident in another eu state.

 

[jongood]

It’s quite simple according to the EU directives which cover this, when I am travelling with my spouse (proof may be needed) I am to be afforded the same travel rights as them. If I am on my own, then I am a UK passport holder and should be treated as such.

Were you to be questioned while travelling by yourself how could you prove which trips were accompanied and which werent unless you had her passport?

 

[Carpmart]

Were you to be questioned while travelling by yourself how could you prove which trips were accompanied and which werent unless you had her passport?

I would imagine that it will correlate directly with the stamps in the passport, as in I am stamped when alone and not stamped when accompanied by my free roaming EU ‘life buddy’ aka ‘the wife’! (save for the first debacle at ET obviously).

 

[Littlewheels]

If you are a frequent traveller the free pages in the passport will soon get full won’t they?

We went to Turkey late last year and the officious border control guy was a very enthusiastic stamper

Maybe he was a former Solicitor! Envelope=£ Stamp=£ Phone call£ email£ Letter£ etc etc , so he thinks Passport =£££££ multiple times

 

[royandsharont]

Just had an email update to the Belgium entry rules and read the below section on telling us to ensure we get our passports stamped, though I would just post it here for clarity from the go web site

Passport stamping​

Check your passport is stamped if you enter or exit the Schengen area through Belgium as a visitor. Border guards will use passport stamps to check you’re complying with the 90-day visa-free limit for short stays in the Schengen area. If relevant entry or exit stamps are not in your passport, border guards will presume that you have overstayed your visa-free limit.

You can show evidence of when and where you entered or exited the Schengen area, and ask the border guards to add this date and location in your passport. Examples of acceptable evidence include boarding passes and tickets.

You may also need to:

• show a return or onward ticket
• show you have enough money for your stay

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}