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My son is American and was on a tourist visa in Sweden. While there, he was arrested and jailed for getting into a heated argument in public with his girlfriend. After serving two months of his 4 month sentence, he was deported from the country. He was escorted from the prison to the airport and into his plane back to the US. They flew all the way to San Francisco with him, where they checked him through customs and then released him.

The deportation was not a part of the original sentence. He says that he told them hw was missing his flight home, it was non-refundable and he would not have any money to get a new flight when he got out. The authorities at the jail told him he was banned from travelling to Sweden for three years. When he left, they gave him a piece of paper that said he was being expelled because he wouldn't be able to support himself when he was released.

Can he still travel to Denmark or does the ban affect all EU Schengen countries? Is there any way to find out if he's on this list that everyone is talking about? He wants to travel there soon, but doesn't want to spend the money and then get turned around at the airport. Is there anyway to check on this before he buys his ticket?

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    Is your son an EU, EEA, or Swiss national? If not, does your son need a visa to enter the Schengen area? If so, what happened to his visa?
    – phoog
    Jan 10, 2017 at 3:59
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    Did he get any paperwork detailing the expulsion? Assuming he's not an EU/EEA citizen, Sweden certainly can enter an alert about him in the Schengen Information System which will as a rule prevent him from entering the Schengen area at all -- but in that case they're supposed to inform him in writing.
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Jan 10, 2017 at 4:03
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    He did not get anything in writing. They just escorted him from the jail, to the airport, and all the way to San Francisco, Ca. USA. Can they put him on the list without notifying him in writing? Is there any way to find out of he is on the list? Thank you.
    – Sher
    Jan 11, 2017 at 3:54
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    @Sher You should edit the question (again) and add the details about no paper-work and rest of deportation process there. Also does "people at the jail" refer to jail authorities or other inmates?
    – RedBaron
    Jan 11, 2017 at 5:50
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    @Relaxed: My source is Article 42 of Regulation 1987/2006 for the SIS.
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Jan 11, 2017 at 20:58

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You haven't provided many details and I know next to nothing about Swedish criminal law so I am not sure I will be able to provide a comprehensive answer to all your questions but I can at least say two things about bans and how they are enforced in the EU:

  • Since the borders between them are open, Schengen countries share a database where they can register bans to make sure the relevant people are stopped at the Schengen external border no matter where they enter. Presently, it isn't technically mandatory for Sweden to register all bans there but it's very likely your son's ban would have been registered (and that's the way the system is intended to work).

    Denmark participates in this system as well so if there is an alert it would indeed also apply there and show up on the Danish border guards' screen.

  • Under EU and Swedish rules, your son also has a right to access the data about him and to request changes if they are inaccurate or unlawful (but obviously not to have his name removed if the ban was proper). The request has to go through the Swedish Police Authority and requests in English are accepted. Details in this guide.

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    Isn’t it also possible to be banned from one Schengen country without being banned from the whole area? Especially when the ban is not due to violating terms of stay. Or perhaps not, for non-Schengen citizens.
    – Guan Yang
    Jan 12, 2017 at 1:38
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    This is what we are trying ot find out. I'm going to check with teh Swedish Police Authority as Relaxed has suggested. Thank you.
    – Sher
    Jan 12, 2017 at 1:44
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    @GuanYang It's possible that the ban hasn't been registered to the relevant database (work is underway to harmonise this but until now Schengen countries basically do what they want). It's also possible for a country to issue a special visa, called a "limited territorial validity visa" (LTV visa), valid only for that country, to overcome a ban or objections from another country (e.g. for "reasons of national interest"). But by default a ban is legally valid for the whole area.
    – Relaxed
    Jan 12, 2017 at 8:20

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