Passport stamping

[Char]

The next bit of fun will be educating Eurotunnel and co that EES/ETIAS don't apply if you have a CdS or TdS and letting you skip the fingerprinting queues.

good luck with that

[niemeyjt]

Yes. Not sure I will drive to UK in November. Will have to fit winter tyres early this year and fly instead if I need to visit.

[tagh]

Yes, I am a bit worried about that so will plan my Tunnel trips around 0600hrs when there are usually few folk about; easier to get the dog sorted as well, though she has said she will not give her paw prints!

[exile]

I am unsure why people are concerned about having their passport stamped. Remember that your TdS is issued under the understanding of maximum periods spent outside France. Although in theory this can be tracked electronically* it is easier for boarder control to look at stamps.

* I am unsure how either stamps or electronic tracking work if a passport is renewed - but I would bet there are civil servants who know.

[niemeyjt]

If a PAF who ought to know better still stamps it, the risk is s Gendarme or whoever doesn't know all the rules and gets shirty during a controls.

[A.N.Other]

on next exit via Geneva airport I explained to Swiss border guard who simply put two diagonal bars through top left of the stamp and made a derogatory comment about PAF.

That is the procedure according to the "Practical Handbook for Border Guards" (p89) so kudos to that particular guard knowing the rules.

As such I would have no compunction in so crossing out an incorrectly applied stamp in my own passport.

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/do ... NIT/EN/pdf

[A.N.Other]

on next exit via Geneva airport I explained to Swiss border guard who simply put two diagonal bars through top left of the stamp and made a derogatory comment about PAF.

That is the procedure according to the "Practical Handbook for Border Guards" (p89) so kudos to that particular guard knowing the rules.

As such I would have no compunction in so crossing out an incorrectly applied stamp in my own passport and having a copy of the handbook on my phone.

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/do ... NIT/EN/pdf

[exile]

Reading quickly through that, it seems that under the section of stamping of travel documents, as 3rd national our passports should be stamped.

It is however important to recognise that this is a 2006 document and is in need of updating. One example of a 3rd nation spouse to an EU citizen is of a UK husband - so clearly no longer applicable.

[elsie]

This is the latest(?) Nov 2022 "Practical Handbook for Border Guards" I have found

In theory, passport stamping should end once EES has been implemented on 10 Nov, but there may be a transitional period.

Physical stamps are currently used to track entries and exits but this information is not systematically recorded in a centralized digital system accessible to all Schengen countries. 90 days after that current entry stamps will have expired and 180 days after all will have expired.

From 10 Nov leaving the EU with a passport with an entry stamp will require the border guard to create an individual computer file with your details, presumably including past entry/exit stamp details? Presumably that data will then be linked when you use EES and register your passport for the first time? Even if you left the EU before your passport renewal there might be a record on the system. As far as I've seen, the French PAF scan all passports on entry so they may well have there own digitised system? I would assume if you've obtained a new passport before your next EU entry, there is enough information on a passport (name, date of birth, place of birth) for a query to be raised about past EU entry information? And I assume there will still be some random/exceptional physical passport checks?

[exile]

Thanks for that Elsie. So our passports should not be stamped if we show the TdS