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Essentially looking for confirmation of my understanding of travel in and out of the Netherlands, to France (or Austria) for a week, for an EU Citizen (Italian) with an expired (by 2 months) Italian passport. Person is my girlfriend.

Born in South Africa, but with Italian citizenship. Resident in Netherlands for less than 3 months so do not yet have Dutch residents permit. Was permitted to enter the Netherlands from the UK (where she lived for 9 years), despite only having a few weeks of validity on the passport.

Europa.eu search of what is possible on an expired passport, in and out of the Netherlands:

Whatever your nationality, an expired passport is not accepted as a valid travel document to enter or leave the Netherlands. europa.eu expired passport

Seems very cut and dried. Is there some other valid travel document that would be proof? Only other currently held ID is a UK Driving License, or a South African passport with no Schengen visa, in her married name, She has marriage certificate if the dots need to be joined...

But looking on IATA for the possibilities of travel, when all the details are entered, it appears to show that travel IS possible to France - when I fill in the details (i.e. Italian, passport dates, depart from Netherlands, fly to France for a week, resident in Netherlands, Alien Passport as proof), I see that

Yes, The documentation you hold is sufficient based on your details and the itinerary provided.

Is Europa.eu the safest source of information? Does the Netherlands have stricter requirements?

Air travel is the preferred option - but train or driving could be done, if that makes any difference. Can she leave and re-enter the Netherlands with what she's got?

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    As a non-EU citizen, I recently traveled Amsterdam - Zurich - Malaga (and back) - the only time I used my passport was to scan it at the kiosk to print my boarding passes. It was not requested once; except as a proof of ID at Malaga during boarding on my final leg; but there you could have gotten by with any kind of government ID.
    – Burhan Khalid
    Dec 2, 2015 at 14:25
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    @BurhanKhalid, when you cross borders within the Schengen zone you have to carry travel documents and present them during random checks. These random checks are supposed to be very unlikely, so that the average traveler is not bothered.
    – o.m.
    Dec 2, 2015 at 15:51
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    She has to prove her identity and her citizenship. Does she have any documents to prove the citizenship?
    – o.m.
    Dec 2, 2015 at 15:54
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    @Gordonjackson, can the Italian embassy help with emergency travel documents? That should go faster than a new "regular" passport.
    – o.m.
    Dec 2, 2015 at 17:32
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    @Gordonjackson, I cannot give a definite answer on this, so I'm sticking to comments and not an answer. As an EU citizen she is allowed to enter France and the Netherlands, but she is required to carry the documents to prove that she is allowed to do so. Usually that is a passport or national ID card.
    – o.m.
    Dec 2, 2015 at 18:43

1 Answer 1

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For later readers...

We travelled from Amsterdam Central, on the train, to St. Anton am Alberg in Austria, via Koln in Germany.

There were no passport checks along the way, and no ID required apart from my girlfriend had to present the credit card she bought the international train tickets with, on the DB (German trains).

Thanks for everyone's input. Your mileage may vary, and I understand that there can be passport/ID checks along the way, just that we did not experience any.

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