"EU/EEA/CH" Fast Lane

michael1234

Have I read it right that there will be no change to this at EU airports? Something like "EU/EEA/CH/UK" ?

Just e-gates opening up (which are not available to families and some other people) which they were doing anyway?

jimi_man

If you’re talking about the latest deal, then there is no timescale for it to happen; it’s up to individual EU airports as to whether they allow it and passports still need a manual stamp at present until ETIAS comes in. 

katejo

I returned from Bari last week and only realised that the passport guy had failed to do an exit stamp when I was on the plane. I am not sure whether to expect any problem on my next flight to Scandinavia in August. I have kept my boarding pass with the luggage receipt attached. I don't know whether to be concerned or not? I did have to scan the passport before going to the kiosk. Mine still looks like an EU passport and has an EU title heading on it. 

NoodleDoodleMan

Interesting question.

We came back via Malaga airport a week ago - the passport control officer took a quick look at our passports and glanced at our faces then placed an exit stamp on each.

It didn't appear that any electronic record of our leaving Spain was made, however I may be wrong on that.

la531983

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Interesting question.

We came back via Malaga airport a week ago - the passport control officer took a quick look at our passports and glanced at our faces then placed an exit stamp on each.

It didn't appear that any electronic record of our leaving Spain was made, however I may be wrong on that.

Probably held it against a RFID reader as there is a chip in the passports.

NoodleDoodleMan

la531983 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Interesting question.

We came back via Malaga airport a week ago - the passport control officer took a quick look at our passports and glanced at our faces then placed an exit stamp on each.

It didn't appear that any electronic record of our leaving Spain was made, however I may be wrong on that.

Probably held it against a RFID reader as there is a chip in the passports.

Thanks for clarification - it wasn't obvious to departing passengers (me at least) that there was an official record of entry and exit into Spain being actioned.

I don't know if you watched the recent excellent BBC drama "This City Is Ours" - I mentioned to a friend the doubtful scenario of smuggling a body out of Spain with no record of exiting the country. That would presumably eventually trigger the 90 day residence rule - and alert police.

I'm of an age to remember being on my parents joint passport - name and date of birth only, no photo - and we were just more or less waived through at borders.

jimi_man

la531983 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Interesting question.

We came back via Malaga airport a week ago - the passport control officer took a quick look at our passports and glanced at our faces then placed an exit stamp on each.

It didn't appear that any electronic record of our leaving Spain was made, however I may be wrong on that.

Probably held it against a RFID reader as there is a chip in the passports.

They don’t work like that. You need to place the passport page with the MRZ into a scanner which then reads the information on the passport page. This information is also necessary to access the information contained on the chip. 

If they didn’t place it on a scanner then I guess they weren’t interested in any database checks (which would have been done on entry). Just making sure you entered satisfactorily and hadn’t stayed too long. However there isn’t a joined up database of all the entries and exits of each person (yet) so it has to be done manually. If it looks too difficult (loads of stamps) then it’s probably in the too difficult box. 

Nebulous2

NoodleDoodleMan said:

la531983 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Interesting question.

We came back via Malaga airport a week ago - the passport control officer took a quick look at our passports and glanced at our faces then placed an exit stamp on each.

It didn't appear that any electronic record of our leaving Spain was made, however I may be wrong on that.

Probably held it against a RFID reader as there is a chip in the passports.

Thanks for clarification - it wasn't obvious to departing passengers (me at least) that there was an official record of entry and exit into Spain being actioned.

I don't know if you watched the recent excellent BBC drama "This City Is Ours" - I mentioned to a friend the doubtful scenario of smuggling a body out of Spain with no record of exiting the country. That would presumably eventually trigger the 90 day residence rule - and alert police.

I'm of an age to remember being on my parents joint passport - name and date of birth only, no photo - and we were just more or less waived through at borders.

I went to France, on a school trip, in a bus, without a passport. If my memory serves correctly the teachers simply had a sheet of paper with all our names, addresses and DOBs. 

The out and in stamps to record 90 days in Europe has raised a lot of concerns, but  I haven't come across anyone who has had problems. 

I've spoken to people who say they haven't had their passport stamped on the way out, but mine has always been. Sometimes on top of other stamps, so it would be hard to delineate it. 

A friend has an app on his phone where he records his visits and it tells him how many days he has left. 

NoodleDoodleMan

"I went to France, on a school trip, in a bus, without a passport. If my memory serves correctly the teachers simply had a sheet of paper with all our names, addresses and DOBs."

That sounds like a group passport. I thought they had been done away with - apparently not, however only valid for certain countries.

https://www.gov.uk/collective-group-passports

katejo

jimi_man said:

la531983 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Interesting question.

We came back via Malaga airport a week ago - the passport control officer took a quick look at our passports and glanced at our faces then placed an exit stamp on each.

It didn't appear that any electronic record of our leaving Spain was made, however I may be wrong on that.

Probably held it against a RFID reader as there is a chip in the passports.

They don’t work like that. You need to place the passport page with the MRZ into a scanner which then reads the information on the passport page. This information is also necessary to access the information contained on the chip. 

If they didn’t place it on a scanner then I guess they weren’t interested in any database checks (which would have been done on entry). Just making sure you entered satisfactorily and hadn’t stayed too long. However there isn’t a joined up database of all the entries and exits of each person (yet) so it has to be done manually. If it looks too difficult (loads of stamps) then it’s probably in the too difficult box. 

I had to place mine on a scanner and the gate let me through.  I then went to the kiosk but the guy there didn't stamp it. I have in and out stamps for all my other trips but not this one. 

Doshwaster

I think full implementation will need to wait until both ETIAS and EES are fully implemented so that there will be a digital record of your ETIAS application and EES will record entries and exits to make sure that you are within the Schengen time limits.

Plus it will be down to individual governments and airports as to how much effort they put into this.