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So I had 7 day business visa for Germany and I spent exactly 7 days in Berlin. My flight back home was through Frankfurt but the flight to Frankfurt was delayed which led to me missing the connecting flight back home. Lufthansa gave me 1 day hotel voucher and booked me for the next earliest flight which was for tomorrow.

Now that means I'll technically be 8 days in Germany, so I guess the system will flag me for a visa violation.

Lufthansa rep talked with passport control agent and they let me out to Frankfurt so I could travel to the hotel.

I don't know what will happen tomorrow when I'm going home.

Could this possibly make it harder for me to get the next Schengen visa down the road?

Does the system care or recognize that my overstay was because of airlines' fault and not my own?

Update: So I'm at airport right now past the passport control. The guy on passport control told me that it's a criminal offense that I have overstayed and I will need to write a report. He gave my passport to another officer who I followed into the border office. After doing something on the back for 3 minutes he gave my passport back and told me I can go. I couldn't ask him any questions cuz he left immediately.

Since I didn't have to write a report means that it wasn't a criminal offense in this case, right? Am I safe? Is this likely to come up next time I try to get a visa?

Update 2: Just found out that the stamp is marked like this with a pen, not sure when and who marked it though. Any idea what it means? stamp

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  • 15
    Keep the documentation for next time. They are unlikely to stop you leaving for overstaying.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Oct 30, 2022 at 20:40
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    FlightAware displays departure and arrival time information for one day after the flight's schedule. Find the flight, and download and print the information now.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Commented Oct 30, 2022 at 21:00
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    Or better yet the airlines should be able to issue you a confirmation of irregular flight (e.g. for travel insurance purposes).
    – xngtng
    Commented Oct 30, 2022 at 21:13
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    In that case they didn't talk to passport control so you could leave the airport, because you were already outside the international zone of the airport and could leave without going through any passport checkpoint. They most likely talked to passport control to notify the immigration authorities of your situation and indicate that it was Lufthansa's responsibility, not yours. I expect that the "something in the back for three minutes" included finding this information from Lufthansa in their records, which is why they let you go.
    – phoog
    Commented Oct 31, 2022 at 10:15
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    You should be entitled for compensation, and so you will get a strong documentation.
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Commented Oct 31, 2022 at 10:55

3 Answers 3

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So I'm at airport right now past the passport control. The guy on passport control told me that it's a criminal offense that I have overstayed and I will need to write a report. He gave my passport to another officer who I followed into the border office. After doing something on the back for 3 minutes he gave my passport back and told me I can go. I couldn't ask him any questions cuz he left immediately.

Since you indicated in a comment that you never passed through the exit passport control before missing your flight, I believe your assessment that the airline spoke to passport control "so I could travel to the hotel" is inaccurate. At that point you were still in the Schengen area part of the airport, so you did not need to go through passport control to get to the hotel, and you required no special permission to leave the airport.

Rather, it's most likely that the airline told the immigration authorities that you had missed your outbound flight because their flight was delayed, and that your late exit from the Schengen area the next day would be due to forces beyond your control. The next day, when the officer went to the back to prepare to write the criminal report, he found this information in your records. This allowed him to send you on your way without writing a report.

Since I didn't have to write a report means that it wasn't a criminal offense in this case, right? Am I safe? Is this likely to come up next time I try to get a visa?

Yes, if there was no report then there is no criminal offense. You are safe. There should be no consequences next time you try to get a visa.

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    This was probably entered into the VIS (Visa Information System). This means that when the next visa is issued, when they will also check the entry/exit stamps, they will notice that the matter was resolved.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Oct 31, 2022 at 12:38
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    @MarkJohnson You keep making fanciful references to the VIS but what kind of records would have been entered? Any reference for that?
    – Relaxed
    Commented Oct 31, 2022 at 20:00
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    @Relaxed You may deem it a 'fanciful references', but it is actualy quite simple. The record of the visa holder is contained in the VIS system. An extension of the visa for 1 day for the force majeure situation must be entered in accourdance to Article 14 of the VIS Regulation.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Oct 31, 2022 at 22:13
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    @MarkJohnson Uh? Article 14 is about visa extensions?! Do you suspect this is what happened here? I don't think that's what phoog suggested and I wouldn't expect it to be the case but sure, if there was a visa extension, it would be recorded. On the other hand, the OP hasn't mentioned any visa extension and if that was the case, there should be a new sticker, cf. article 33(6) of the visa code.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Oct 31, 2022 at 22:40
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    What I called fanciful is the suggestion that the VIS contains a full record of the person's history or other random information like overstays on a national visa but obviously the characteristic of the Schengen visa itself would be recorded there, that's exactly what it is for.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Oct 31, 2022 at 22:42
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FWIW, you will technically be overstaying and violating the visa conditions even if it is because you missed your outbound flight. It is for this reason never a good idea to fully utilize a visa and not plan to leave before the last day of the visa validity.

What will happen tomorrow is very much at the immigration officer's discretion. Germany does not publish any guidelines for overstay penalties, but is compared to other Schengen countries relatively keen to issue entry bans, even for minor infractions. In theory even a one day overstay can lead to a 5 year entry ban, on the other hand it may just as well be that the immigration officer doesn't notice that you overstayed or will be satisfied with your explanation and not impose any sanctions at all.

It would be nice if you came back tomorrow after leaving Germany and share with us what happened.

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Oct 31, 2022 at 21:24
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    This doesn't sound like something I can bring into accordance with my understanding of German law. At least, it is heavily missing any references. It's definitely not at the discretion of the officer, there is either a law or at least case law.
    – DonQuiKong
    Commented Nov 1, 2022 at 12:36
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    @DonQuiKong It is indeed at the discretion of the immigration officer if a proceeding is initiated at all or not. For minor infractions, which would be dismissed by a court anyway, the immigration officer can pretend not to have seen anything, as seem to have been the case by how OP explains in his question what happened when he actually left Germany.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Nov 1, 2022 at 15:16
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    And the legal basis is simply that the Residence Act does not define a minimum, just a maximum penalty for certain violations, which means that violations do not have to lead to a penalty.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Nov 1, 2022 at 15:24
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Any idea what it means?

I am just guessing here, but it looks like BPOLi FRAⅡ. In Dutch it is not uncommon to write a capital i with a dot, so it may be BPOLI as well. BPOL looks a lot like an abbreviation of Bundespolizei (Germany's Federal Police), the I is probably for Inspektion. FRA in that case is probably Frankfurt or Frankfurt international Airport., where the roman 2 is coming from I wouldn't know.

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