172driver wrote:
The point I was trying to make is that intra-Schengen flights are treated like domestic flights with neither customs nor immigration checks on either end.
And again that is wrong. Intra Schengen does N O T mean no customs, only if those flights are also intra-EU. That is why people get busted in e.g. Germany and fined tens of thousands of Euros because of this misinformation.
Any intra-Schengen Flight between Norway, Iceland and Switzerland and any destination within each other or to the EU needs customs.
None of these however need immigration. However, flights to non-Schengen states such as the UK, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Ireland need immigration in each case, but, if intra EU, do not need customs.
I agree that it is confusing until you really get into the mindset that customs and immigration as a general concept have NOTHING to do with each other and BOTH need to be checked independently when flying in Europe. Otherwise, you are bound to end up with a possibly existential legal problem.
Personally I have to say that Schengen in the current incarnation is making things more difficult instead of easier, particularly when non-EU states were admitted. IMHO that was a mistake. Schengen should have been limited to EU countries only, then we would not have these constant discussions.
LeSving wrote:
Not true. In France they always ask for passport, even when there is no passport control. The reason is that ID cards are required in the EU. In Norway we have no such special ID card, and no requirement, so the passport is the only ID they approve in France.
So they don*t ask for passports. They ask for IDs. That the only ID you can provide is a passport is a different matter.
Pretty sure that most of last year I went through PASSPORT CONTROL arriving in France from Shengen countries most of last year. This stopped in Oct/Nov. It was to do with the enhanced security situation in France the last few years. Yes, in Europe, an ID card will work. But do you want to queue with hundreds of others for half an hour or scoot through the EU Electronic passport control when transiting Paris/Amsterdam etc…??
So they don*t ask for passports. They ask for IDs. That the only ID you can provide is a passport is a different matter.
Semantics, but they do not ask for ID, they specifically ask for passport when I show my boarding card, check in lugauge etc. Anyway, the point is that intra Schengen is not as free as one single country. It can be, but that is not due to Schengen, but due to other conventions. So if the only way I can identify myself is using my passport, then a passport is indeed needed. That is a simple fact, and no other “matter” will change that.
Anyway Schengen is about immigration. It’s like one single country when it comes to immigration.
skydriller wrote:
Pretty sure that most of last year I went through PASSPORT CONTROL arriving in France from Shengen countries most of last year. This stopped in Oct/Nov. It was to do with the enhanced security situation in France the last few years.
Yes, but that was because France had partially suspended Schengen!
Just passed through North Terminal at Gatwick.
1 common route leading to passport checks. No relation to airport or country of departure.
This is no doubt a pragmatic solution, because everybody passes through a pipeline for customs/immigration.
At STN and LHR there is a separate channel for arrivals from the CTA – no passport checks. Haven’t done it in a while, but I used to fly between London and Scotland on occasion and never had an immigration check on either end.
That I am sure is true. Domestic stuff goes a different route.
LeSving wrote:
Travelling to the UK is like going back in time some 20-30 years. Lots of lines for customs and immigration.
No lines for customs (it’s just a red/green/blue channel which the passenger self-selects: I have never ever seen a line here). Very few lines for passport control. Nearly everyone goes through the e-gates now, including US citizens where there’s enough machines and quick enough processing a line never forms.
Wanted to know the option to clean customs into the EU when flying from non EU country. Do you have to do it in the “first port of entry” or can you do it at the final destination? My issue is that I am a Canadian citizen living in Portugal and was told that I could run into problems clearing customs in other EU countries and should fly directly to Portugal when coming from outside the EU since other EU countries don’t really care that I live in Portugal and may count my stay as “over stay”.
Anyone had any experience with such a situation?
[ post moved to existing thread @Wingover ]
