achimha wrote:
Yes pretty much only that the distinction “customs” versus “immigration” might not be correct. In Germany there are many airfields that provide “immigration” but not “customs”, i.e. they are good from/to Romania but not from e.g. Switzerland. Other countries might have the same differentiation. You need “immigration”.
I was trying (unsuccesfully) to explain the difference between customs and immigration on two occasions: to customs officer in Bari and to airport employee in Carcassonne. In Bari the officer insisted that I had to go through customs when flying from/to Zagreb (although both Italy and Croatia are in EU) – I gave up after 10 minutes. In Carcassonne I explained I needed only immigration and she was persistant that I needed customs and in the end she invited customs. They came, looked our IDs and said that they didn’t have to come.
I think both customs and immigration can come and check you any time they wish. It´s not happening in reality but the format vehicle is there.
In 2013 my family and I flew from Szeged, Hungary, to Romania. We were visited by two police officers at the airfield in Hungary to show our passports so that we can officially leave the Schengen Area. When we came back the same police officers showed up again. That was immigration. Cost was zero. We are two EU citizens and one EU resident / non EU citizen.
@markpodbery
indeed as Shorrick said, you need immigration not customs…
This whole Customs v. Immigration stuff is horrible.
Search EuroGA for Immigration. ..
Most countries have only CUSTOMS.
International airport databases call it CUSTOMS.
Only very few countries in Europe operate the two separately.
Does Hungary operate them separately?
If no then one needs a Customs airport for non Schengen traffic.
Peter wrote:
Only very few countries in Europe operate the two separately.
I am under impression it´s run separatelly by most of countries but might be influenced by CZ experience…
I think it´s time to create multidimensional graph explaining all that…
Well, yes, they operate it separately internally but as far as the pilot is concerned the two are merged.
Countries which operate them separately are Germany Italy and who else?
There was a thread with this exact question.
Otherwise it is just a question of Schengen or not.
Greece is in Schengen but does not operate it.
Peter wrote:
Countries which operate them separately are Germany Italy and who else?
In France it depends on which airport you are at. I had a chat with the “douanier” at Deauville who did a passport control, to ask why they as customs could do this when for example at Toussus, you can only clear customs but not border control. He kind of smiled and shrugged, saying that they had an agreement with the border police and were happy to do it. Apparently in other places there are some political reasons for border police and customs to cooperate less.
Rwy20 wrote:
Apparently in other places there are some political reasons for border police and customs to cooperate less.
In Germany the AFIS can do immigration after a short training and being appointed as “Hilfspolizist” (auxiliary police). So that puts the hurdle to having immigration at an airfield very low. If an airfield has that status and no qualified AFIS is present, then the Bundespolizei (Federal Police) actually have to drive out to the airfield and do the check which they do free of charge.
Customs checking cannot be delegated. The reason is that it is highly complex. There are thousands of pages of national and EU legislation to consider. The border control is very simple — get passport details and email/fax them to the nearest Bundespolizei where a computer check is performed.
So the French model at Deauville works — a customs officer performs passport control but the other way around it cannot work — a police agent is not qualified to handle customs matters.
OK but some 99% of airports are either port of entry (and good for anywhere foreign) or they are not port of entry (and no good for anywhere foreign).
The OP’s profile doesn’t state where he is based (and I can’t reveal what I might know as a Mod) but his name is British, and for Brits the situation is especially simple.
And once outside Britain, it’s according to Schengen (or not).
