Consequences of Schengen Border guard not checking residence permit

Question

I am a Canadian national already living in Finland with a Finnish residence permit (based on my spouse having a Residence Permit for work). I was traveling back from Canada (after a short visit) to Finland via France.

At the Schengen border crossing in France, the border guard did not ask/check for my Finnish Residence Permit card at all, but instead stamped my Canadian passport with a Schengen Entry stamp (i.e. did not check/scan my Finnish RP at all).

Will this affect my stay as a residence permit holder in Finland? In particular, does the rule of 90 days stay within the last 180 day period now apply for me because the guard did not scan my RP at the border crossing?

Answer 1

At the Schengen border crossing in France, the border guard did not ask/check for my Finnish Residence Permit card at all, but instead stamped my Canadian passport with a Schengen Entry stamp (i.e. did not check/scan my Finnish RP at all).

Well, you should provide both the passport and residence permit together to the border guards. For entry, this is not that big of a problem. But if you are a visa national or when you exit, some guards might be annoyed.

but instead stamped my Canadian passport with a Schengen Entry stamp (i.e. did not check/scan my Finnish RP at all).

1. "i.e." does not apply here; the former does not imply the latter. Technically they should always put a stamp on passports of non-EU/EEA/CH ("EU") citizens who are not family members of EU citizens. But of course that's not a useful exercise and so some countries and guards do not (tend to) do it; France is not one of those countries. If you provided your RP, they probably just did not take a close look. Stamping does not mean they did not take your RP into account. The border guard at CDG also put a stamp on my passport, when they definitely checked my residence permit (by dropping it against the desk).

2. You may believe that a computer scan or data entry of some sort is needed for authentication or recording your entry or whatever purpose; this is not true. There is no Schengen-wide database of residence permit holders. As of March 2022, there is not even a shared record of entry and exit (although it should be implemented soon; but in any case it will not apply to residence permit holders"). Currently the shared data are based on the principle of "negative" list where only alerts are issued against people who should not be allowed entry. The details on your passport or your flight records are enough to carry out a search in such database.

In particular, does the rule of 90 days stay within the last 180 day period now apply for me because the guard did not scan my RP at the border crossing?

1. As discussed above, Finland does not know, as a matter of course, where and when you entered or left the Schengen area from a common database (such database does not exist).
2. Lacking a common database and a legal basis, border guards do not and cannot grant, renew or cancel a status granted by another Schengen country.
3. The Schengen agreement only provides a common policy for the conduct of border checks and short-period stays. Your stay in Finland with a residence permit is exclusively governed by Finish law.
4. The 90/180 rule technically always applies to you in countries where you do not hold a residence permit (or another national permit), whether a passport is stamped or not.
5. A valid residence permit generally exempts you from overstay checks at exit since it would be a futile exercise: the country of issue presumably would have checked when they issued the permit if they cared about it; other countries do not know where you have been and when your authorized stay under residence permit started.