Checking out of Schengen For Non-EU Citizens

[Dockhead]

Anyone know whether you are supposed to check out of Schengen and get your passport stamped when you leave? I've never done this before. I know for sure that you don't check out of the UK when you leave; only when you enter.

I don't want to make any mistakes, as I'm skating on thin ice in Schengen with more than 90/180 but with a temporary Finnish residence permit, so technically legal. I would hate to have to prove it, however, as my temporary residence permit is only in Finnish, which I doubt anyone here can read. Besides that, it's temporary.

I have just left Schengen by air to go to London for a day on business. The Danish passport guy didn't look through my passport at all, or ask any questions. I don't know whether this relaxed attitude is representative. There is, apparently, no database of Schengen entries/re-entries, so the only way a question would arise, AFAIK, is for the border guard to go through your entry/exit stamps.

[MarkJ]

It can be a pain to get properly stamped out.
In Nice in France I had to go to the airport. The first time Immigration said I have to go to the port.. I argued to no avail...
second time I found it, you had to go to the tax refund window (like, go figure that one!) and then they had to go find the stamp with the little boat on it.

but its important.

[goboatingnow]

There is no specific requirement to check out of Schengen. There are some national rules pertaining to yachts in some countries.

But the onus on proving you are compliant rests with you. You are guilty till you prove you are innocent. Hence the usefulness of the exit stamp. But they are increasingly hard to find.

Dave


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[atoll]

keep your airline boarding passes if you cant get a stamp

failing that walk around the terminal muttering "bomba",translates to "good" in quite a few languages..................authorities will only be too happy to stamp you out once they realise you were only commenting on the good duty free prices (only available to non eu citizens) aloud.........

[chala]

I just come out of Europe, managed to dodge surface to air missiles, flew between Syria and Iran. The border guard at the departing airport could no find the entry stamp in the passport, was quiet frantic about it. I find it for him. So this border guard did mind about entry and departure stamps but it may be different in some slack countries. By the way the stamps do not read Schengen just the country of entry and departure.

[goboatingnow]

The schengen stamp looks like this, it has the country of entry/departure, a symbol of a boat, plane , train ( a cute steam engine or car , the relevant date and a icon indicating entry or exit


dave

[Dockhead]

I'm in Germany, waiting for remnants of Bertha to blow over before continuing to Kiel.

Last week I had to fly out of Copenhagen for some meetings in London. Although I am now way over my 90 out of 180, the Danish border guys didn't even look at my passport pages, either coming or going.

Today, the German border police came by in their Darth Vader RIB and asked for passports. They, likewise, didn't even look at my U.S. passport other than to get the number to write down in their journal. We had a Russian citizen on board, however, who was close to reaching the end of 90/180, and here more attention was paid. I said "he's got a week left; he's flying out from Hamburg when we get to Kiel." And the border guys immediately stopped hunting for stamps, handed back the passport, and said "thanks; saves us from adding up the dates".

For whatever it may be worth to anyone, these are my experiences so far with the Schengen situation. YMMV.

[CarstenWL]

when we get to Kiel

If you want to share some stories about your journey or think I could be of help let me know once you are in Kiel.

Carsten (working in Kiel - living in Laboe)