1

Schengen countries in Europe keep little notes about foreign travelers in their Schengen Information System (SIS). Have no idea what that is, what it contains, or what it looks like.

Whether by this SIS or not by SIS, how can someone check if they are banned from a Schengen country for an overstay after leaving the Schengen area?

Is there a public way to check without a long-distance consultation or without testing the border guards? (Especially since the foreigner has already left the Schengen area and Schengen authorities have no way to contact or notify the foreigner because there is no e-mail, address or phone number associated with passports.)

Does the person's home country passport office have any way to check, possibly by scanning data transmitted to your passport by Schengen countries?

Additional info found in an answer to a related question:

entries and exits from the entire Schengen area are not recorded in the SIS either (there is another system for that, which hasn't come online yet).

Improve this question
20
  • There is no "data transmitted to your passport". Passports do not hold any data other than what is printed and visible on them. See Why doesn't my own country know if a foreign country has banned me? for more discussion on this point.
    – Greg Hewgill
    Commented Mar 1, 2023 at 23:06
  • 2
    @GregHewgill Cannot is wrong, they can, it's just not used
    – Nicolas Formichella
    Commented Mar 1, 2023 at 23:07
  • 2
    That means, for example, that if you overstayed your visit to France (for example), then you may not be recorded as "banned" today in the SIS systems. But, if you try to visit a Schengen country tomorrow, the officer may look at your entry and exit stamps and THEN decide to deny you entry. So there might not even be any evidence of a "ban" today even if you did overstay.
    – Greg Hewgill
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 2:02
  • 1
    We have to make a distinction between stamps suggesting an overstay and a formal ban. If you have been banned, Schengen border guards would find out through an alert in the SIS and should deny entry without even looking at the stamps. The ban should be disputed with the country that issued it and border guards have very little discretion.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 23:09
  • 1
    @user610620 Incidentally, some countries do give you a document (e.g. in France, it's called a récépissé) to cover such a waiting period. It's not quite a residence permit and doesn't always allow travel within the area but they are not relying solely on some national computer system to check your status.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 23:29

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

Does the person's home country passport office have any way to check, possibly by scanning data transmitted to your passport by Schengen countries?

No. Countries do share immigration data, but they'll never do that

Whether by this SIS or not by SIS, how can someone check if they are banned from a Schengen country for an overstay after leaving the Schengen area?

GDPR in the EU grants you the right to access, rectify, and delete your personal data, and SIS is not an exception :

From the EU

What rights do people have regarding their data stored in SIS?

If a person believes that their personal information has been misused, needs to be corrected or deleted, they may make use of the data protection rights recognised in the SIS legislation. These are:

  • the right to access personal data stored in SIS
  • the right to correct inaccurate personal data or have unlawfully stored personal data be erased
  • the right to bring proceedings before the courts or competent authorities to correct or erase personal data or to obtain compensation for any damages resulting from breaches of data protection law.

The SIS legislation gives a person the right to initiate action before the competent authority, including a court, under national rules to obtain information, access, rectify, erase or obtain compensation (if the person suffers damages) in connection with an alert relating to him or her.

Countries using SIS have mutually agreed to enforce final decisions handed down by the courts or authorities. This agreement means that a decision taken by a court or competent authority in one country should be recognised and enforced in all the countries that use SIS.

These rights can be exercised in any country that uses SIS. The national procedures and contact points for access requests have been compiled in a comprehensive guide

Follow the guide linked above

for an overstay

Overstays are calculated from the passport stamps only, if an overstay had occurred, the guard checking you on exit would inform you of the situation as you'll may be detained, served paperwork, have your visa cancelled... or any combination of all that

Improve this answer
6
  • 6
    @user610620 the UK was never a Schengen member, though they did have access to SIS when they belonged to the EU. Regardless. Nicolas Formichella has no more influence over the EU's publications than you do. You can send them a message asking them to update the document. The information in this answer applies equally to non-EU Schengen members.
    – phoog
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 0:34
  • 1
    @user610620 Since the Schengen Information System is an EU project, it is by nature 'EU-centric'. The last update was on the 2015-10-15. If you look for Switzerland in the document, you will find that information. Guide for exercising the right of access | European Data Protection Supervisor
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 4:56
  • 2
    @user610620 It should also be noted that the SIS II is not only about Schengen entry bans (which was not available to the UK), but also a major crime-fighting database (which was heavily used by the UK) and provides alert information for police, migration, justice and other authorities regarding missing people, criminal entities associated with crimes.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 5:12
  • 1
    @user610620 Also. Switzerland has adopted a very similar law to GDPR (nLPD), and Norway, as a EEA member, is bound to the GDPR
    – Nicolas Formichella
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 8:08
  • 1
    The GDPR has a broad carveout for national security and the like (article 23) and in fact the SIS has provisions for alerts that should not be revealed to their subject, even alerts for discreet surveillance. Access is largely ad hoc and rooted in the SIS regulation itself rather than stemming from the GDPR. In fact, @user610620's remark is very interesting, the relationship between the Schengen acquis and the rest of EU law has always been a bit messy, Switzerland has to abide by it by virtue of having joined the Schengen area through a specific agreement, quite apart from the GDPR.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Mar 2, 2023 at 23:21

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .