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I am a non-EEA national currently living in Belgium, where I have a residence card (`titre de séjour', type A) valid till the end of October 2017.

As my old passport (which I show every time when I enter Belgium) will expire in 2018, I had it renewed, and my embassy gave me back (1) a new passport and (2) the old passport with a corner cut off.

I will have to visit the UK for 4 days in September. Unfortunately, as I am currently applying for a visa to another country, I don't currently have in hand my new passport (1). However, I do have (2) and (3) another passport (of another country) which allows me to enter the UK visa-free for 90 days.

My question is:

Can I use my old passport (2) together with my titre de séjour to leave AND re-enter Belgium, although it has a corner cut off?

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  • What about using titre de séjour and your (3) passport?
    – Neusser
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 11:52
  • Thanks, but I used (2) when I last entered Belgium in February..
    – Jerry
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 12:00
  • and on titre de séjour it clearly states my nationality of (2), which is diffferent with the nationality of (3).
    – Jerry
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 12:01
  • @Jerry Still having a valid passport/travel document is a formal requirement and serves to establish your identity. It seems necessary in any case. The fact that you used another one before or that it does not correspond to what's on your titre de séjour sound like secondary considerations to me. I would certainly take expired passport (2) as well but would not hope to enter using only that.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 12:26
  • Thank you very much. I will bring (2) and (3) with me at all times.
    – Jerry
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 12:35

1 Answer 1

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Not sure about the details of your status in Belgium but as far as Schengen regulations (and especially the Borders code) are concerned, what you need to enter the country is:

  1. A valid travel document
  2. A visa or something that exempts you from a visa.

The text does not mandate that the visa should be in the travel document or otherwise match it and a court case unambiguously established that a visa in an expired passport together with a new passport is enough. The situation was however different in several ways, as that case was about a short-stay visa and passports from the same country, not a residence permit and passports from different countries. But it supports the notion that the two requirements are to be considered separately.

In general, a residence permit satisfies the second requirement but it is not a travel document and might not be enough to satisfy the first requirement without a passport. Consequently, it seems you need to take passport (3). Depending on nationality (3) and the details of Belgian practices, presenting the residence permit might or might not be necessary but I don't see how you could hope to fly without a valid travel document.

Unless you fall under some explicit exemption (there are some), your expired passport (passport 2) is definitely not enough and does not replace a missing travel document. I would also present it to account for the discrepancy between the nationality mentioned on the residence card and the passport you are presenting and to add credibility to your story but that's the least important of the three documents.

Together with passport (3), I think you should be OK with your other documents. Without it, not so much.

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  • Why do you think that travel from Belgium to the UK will be governed by Schengen regulations?
    – Miff
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 13:43
  • @Miff (I am the owner of the post) Because I want to re-enter Belgium after 4 days.
    – Jerry
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 13:47
  • @Jerry, my point is that the answer refers to the rules of the Schengen Area. The UK is not part of the Schengen agreement
    – Miff
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 13:50
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    @Miff IIUC, this question is not about travel from Belgium to UK, but about travel from UK to Belgium (on the way back). Therefore, Schengen rules are the correct thing to cite here
    – Sabine
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 15:40
  • @Miff Why do you think I wrote anything about travel to the UK?
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 22:53

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