Timeline for European citizen travelling to another European country without valid passport
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 20, 2017 at 16:31 | comment | added | Crazydre | @MartinBonner You go by car. I go by bus, and have never experienced an actual customs check, but plenty of (again, internal) immigration checks (esp. entering Switzerland). What they do is check whether those who need a Schengen entry stamp have one, and often verify their destination and purpose of trip. Guess it varies depending on the mode of transport | |
| Jun 20, 2017 at 16:11 | comment | added | Martin Bonner supports Monica | @Crazydre: The checks at the Swiss-German border are customs checks, not immigration checks. I haven't been asked for papers by the Germans or Swiss since Switzerland joined Schengen, and I go back and forth across the border at least every week. (Usually Bad Säckingen, Laufenburg, or Waldshut but occasionally anywhere between Konstanz and Basel.) We do now have WT plates (which mark us as local), but that was true even when using number plates from the UK. | |
| Jun 20, 2017 at 15:35 | comment | added | Crazydre | @JaneDoe1337 As expected | |
| Jun 20, 2017 at 14:57 | comment | added | Summer | @Crazydre just to give you an update, he just crossed the border again, no issues. :) | |
| Jun 20, 2017 at 5:32 | comment | added | dunni | gesetze-im-internet.de/freiz_gg_eu_2004/__8.html says that it is only required to carry a passport or ID while crossing the border. Once you're in the country, it is not required anymore to carry it (only to have it and produce it if necessary) | |
| Jun 20, 2017 at 5:14 | comment | added | Relaxed | @Tor-EinarJarnbjo What's your definition of “quite common” and your evidence for that? Anecdotally: I crossed this border about a dozen times per year during the last ten years, mostly by car, sometimes by train and I have not been checked a single time. I don't think “many Schengen countries” have laws requiring carrying ID incidentally, matter of fact I only know one (but it's the Netherlands!) | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 18:22 | comment | added | o.m. | @JaneDoe1337, when it comes to questions of immigration, the German authorities are supposed to give EU citizens the benefit of the doubt. Your partner would be roughly in the same situation as a German citizen without ID, except that they can't query Dutch records quite as easily. | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 17:47 | comment | added | phoog | @JaneDoe1337 that said, the license strongly implies that he is legally resident in the Netherlands, or at least that he was at one point, and it will certainly help in the unlikely event that he gets in trouble with the police to establish his credibility, making it more likely that the police will treat him relatively less harshly. | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 17:08 | comment | added | Crazydre | @JaneDoe1337 Licences are tied to residence, passports and IDs to nationality | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 17:05 | comment | added | Crazydre | @Tor-EinarJarnbjo Are These checks done by the police or customs? I do know (Schengen-internal) immigration checks aren't uncommon when entering Germany from Switzerland (although significantly less common than when entering Switzerland itself). Sometimes these are actually carried out by customs (such as once at Weil and once at Rheinfelden-Autobahn), and sometimes by the Police (such as another time at Rheinfelden-Autobahn and once at the Konstanz-Döbeleplatz bus stop) | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 16:36 | comment | added | johannes | Having a Dutch name and a Dutch accent with a Dutch car and Dutch driver's license should be good enough of an argument, unless the cops find another reason for a deeper check (maybe the car smells too much like weed or he's speeding or such) | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 15:45 | comment | added | phoog | @JaneDoe1337 it does not. It does not list the bearer's citizenship, and having Dutch citizenship is not a requirement to get a Dutch driver's license. | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 15:40 | comment | added | Summer | @phoog I guess the next question then is; can a drivers license prove dutch citizenship? | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 15:38 | comment | added | Tor-Einar Jarnbjo | Id checks are common in all interactions with customs or police in Germany. As phoog already pointed out, a passport or id card is required to prove the Dutch citizenship and a copy can easily be falsified. Many EU or Schengen countries have national laws requiring you to carry or be in posession of recognized id documents and it can not be assumed that these regulations are in conflict with the right to free travel. | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 15:31 | comment | added | phoog | @Crazydre but how is someone who left his proof of citizenship at home going to prove his citizenship? | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 15:22 | comment | added | Crazydre | @Tor-EinarJarnbjo And according to EU law, you cannot be refused entry to an EU state if you can reasonably prove Eu citizenship. Also, do they check passports/visas during These customs checks? | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 15:20 | comment | added | Tor-Einar Jarnbjo | Random customs checks are actually quite common when entering Germany from the Netherlands to unveil drug smuggling. When crossing the border, you are according to German law and independent of your citizenship, obligated to carry recognized travel documents (passport or a national id card issued by an EEA state). | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 14:42 | vote | accept | Summer | ||
| Jun 19, 2017 at 14:41 | comment | added | Summer | That's good to hear, thanks for the link with extra info. | |
| Jun 19, 2017 at 14:27 | history | answered | Crazydre | CC BY-SA 3.0 |